Well. Just back home today from the Ballard AGM.
I had an opportunity to talk (and listen to other conversations) with managers from both the stationary power plant and transportation areas. It was very interesting to hear their responses.
Please take all of this with the understanding that words were said. However, I got the impression (in fact I was told in some cases) that the folks really couldn't talk any more on some of the subjects. Here are my notes:
1. It appears that Ballard will not pursue the small fuel cell areas pursued by the Hockaday folks. Ballard, at this point, does not see it as being economically viable.
2. Ballard is working on a light hydrocarbon reformer.
3. Ballard is developing a prototype for the British submarines that the Canadian government just bought. There is no contract in place with the Canadian government. (However, and this is my comment, the Canadian gov't has put a significant amount of money into this company.) Points made on this are: if contracts come about, then because they are special defense applications, there is much potential for profit; also, there could be significant opportunity to market this application to other countries, companies.
4. The vision is small fleets of buses before 2004.
5. Ballard is talking with Toyota. What is being said is your guess.
6. The gas reformer that has been developed (I think by Epyx) is a proof of concept only. From what I was told, there is still a long way to go to get a real gasoline driven system available.
Notes from the actual meeting:
1. There is strong participation by Ford, Daimler-Benz, GEC, etc.
2. Ebara is the world leader in pump manufacturing. Also world leader in zero emission technology.
3. 1998 goals include:
a. effort will be made to bring on partners for portable fuel cells
b. secure follow on orders for fuel cells
c. management of growth
d. conversion from R&D organization to Manufacturing organization (hope to gain much from their partners in this area)
e. deal with the competition (ONSI, Toyota), however, competition is good too
f. help to facilitate fuel infrastructure development (ie. Methanex)
4. 3-1 stock split approval
5. Increase in the number of directors. Rationale for more directors is: through the development of partnerships, partners will want to place their own member on the board. Ballard must always be in the position to have a majority of members on the board. This appears to be very sound thinking.
6. The submarine applications currently created by Ballard have only been tested on land.
7. Ballard is targeting for a weight/power ratio for fuel cells to be equal to that of ICE's by 1999
8. GM is doing work on a reformer
9. We will be the first to market
10. Concern with only 2 major suppliers of platinum was raised by an audience member. The Ballard president response was - because the fuel cells will replace some ICE's and ICE's use platinum (in fuel), the actual amount of platinum used in the world should decrease as a result of fuel cells (or stay approx. same)
11. Partners are working on the "how to create/store hydrogen issues"
12. The vision is a fuel cell in every home, similar to furnace in every home
13. The CFO has sold some of his stock recently. A question was raised regarding his rationale in doing so. He indicated that as a wise investor, one creates an investment strategy and then must be disciplined to carry it out (ie. diversify your portfolio, don't put all your eggs in one basket - rather sound I think.)
From a brief discussion with the Ford representative on the Ballard board, I got the following: The work toward the development of a reformer (Ford and Mobil) is still really at the talk stage. The intention, from what I could get from the conversation, is that they do not want Ballard and Mobil to be redoing the same work. From what I understood, there is definitely a synergy in all of this.
I also stopped by the Ford demonstration at Stanley Park. I had a chat with a Ford representative as well as a BC Gas representative. It appears that really, all the parts are in place to set up commercial fleets of vehicles to use natural gas, etc. Talking with the BC Gas representative is, that's the direction.
My comment on this is: well, if Ballard is really working on a light hydrocarbon reformer (natural gas?), then these commercial fleets could become wonderful targets for the initial roll out of fuel cell based vehicles.
All in all, the meeting was very interesting and exciting. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering it.
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