Trader, I've been wading through the threads for about 4 months and in that time have only encountered one poster who knows anything about the subject, somebody named MKT Entropy. However, since battery technology is treated as secret-classified information, even Entropy could not offer more than an educated guess with respect to proprietary products.
Having said that, a careful watch on the various statements and claims may allow the layman to make semi- educated guesses. My best guess is that Valence is harboring two technologies, call them Gen. 2 and 3. Gen 2 will appear shortly. This product probably employs vanadium oxide anodes and has energy density about 30% greater than any current mass produced product. Gen 3 was totally secret but the CEO of Valence recently made the highly unusual public disclosure that this is "revolutionary" technology and that patents are in process.
There are competitive products in the works, notably by Moltech and Polystor, but these are not perfected and may take 1-3 years to come to market. Another company, Lithium Technology has, I am told, an attractive design although mass production is problematical for the present. I don't know where all the others stand(there are 16 in all) but I have seen or heard nothing that presents a serious challenge to Valence. Of those that are possibly capable of mass production in less than a year, I know of no specs, published or rumored on the net that can match (rumored) Valence designs in capacity or cycle life.
As I said, it's mostly guess work and a speculation by definition. The most important factor for the investor is the ability to bring products to market and that's what we're waiting for right now. |
