Following are the website address and the newspaper article that ran this
morning in a newspaper.
ottawacitizen.com
Fuel-cell company steps on the development gas
Ottawa firm closes in on $10M financing
Jeff Pappone
The Ottawa Citizen
Photograph: EVI vice-president Terry Kimmel with a fuel cell stack:
Company is seeking a cash 'comfort zone.'
Tired of being forgotten in a city mesmerized by telecommunications, a small
Ottawa-based fuel-cell company is expending some energy to put itself on the
map.
Energy Ventures Inc. (EVI) is set to begin a $5-million warrant offering
while, at the same time, courting potential partners with another $5 million
to invest.
Vice-president Terry Kimmel said yesterday that he hopes the combined effort
will end the company's days of relative anonymity.
"We expect to close (on the warrant offering and partnership) by the end of
the month, and we're going to be at the stage we need to be," he said.
"We're going to have the $10-million financing, we're going to be secure for
the next three years to roll our plan out, and that will give us the comfort
zone to form those strong business alliances that carry you through to the
next phase."
About 10 per cent of EVI stock has traded over the counter on the Nasdaq
market since a reverse takeover of a Delaware shell company two years ago.
The stock hit a 52-week high of $4 3/4 in January before slipping to the $2
U.S. range. It closed at $2 yesterday, up 5/16.
Although he's bullish on EVI's future, Mr. Kimmel fears that Honda R&D Co.'s
statement last week that fuel cell-powered commercial passenger cars are
about 10 years away will hurt the EVI's ability to raise the capital it
needs.
Honda made the statement when it introduced its Ballard Power Systems Inc.
fuel-cell powered car on Sept. 28. Ballard shares lost more than $22 --
falling from $165.05 to $142.35 -- in the days after Honda's announcement.
"To the shareholder, every fuel-cell company is aiming at the car market,
and that is 10 to 15 years out," he said. "We're not aiming at that market
today, but we will be painted with the same brush."
After the warrant offering, EVI will quickly double its 12-person workforce
and begin to accelerate its product development, he said.
Tucked away in a small lab on the National Research Council campus, EVI is
concentrating its fuel-cell efforts on a 150-watt unit designed to power
smaller devices, such as electrical appliances and battery chargers.
The company also develops and hand-assembles batteries in its 4,000
square-foot headquarters. A licensing deal with a New Zealand battery-maker
nets EVI a modest $100,000 U.S. in annual revenue.
EVI's fuel cells use methanol as a hydrogen carrier to power the units,
rather than using the gas itself. While running the cells on raw hydrogen
isn't a problem, Mr. Kimmel said, having access to that gas is another
question. Methanol is available almost anywhere -- it's used to fire lamps
and camping stoves -- but finding a hydrogen filling station is difficult,
he said. And, the infrastructure to install such a system would cost
billions of dollars, he added.
"We think we have a great technology with a lot of hope and we believe our
strategy of using methanol as our fuel will allow us early market entry," he
said. "What we want to do is build on a gradual basis, and what will allow
that to happen in an alliance."
While car-sized fuel cells are in the long-term vision, Mr. Kimmel said, the
company's short-term goal is revenue from the smaller units.
The prototype of the 150-watt cell should be ready in six to nine months,
with revenue beginning sometime in 2003.
"We want to under-promise and over-deliver," he said. "You can get caught up
in this fuel-cell hype very easily. We haven't gone out and over-promoted."
Terry Kimmel
Vice President & General Manager
Energy Ventures Inc.
Tel. 613-990-9373 Fax. 613-990-9464
e-mail; Terry.Kimmel@NRC.CA
energyvi.com |
