gvander, I believe that the drive to make an "industry" attractive or not depends a lot on the growth of the end demand for its products. The need for portable energy storage systems for the next five years will increase quite rapidly, IMHO, and thus the drive for explosive growth in this industry remains intact. I doubt that methanol microfuel cells will ever be a reality and certainly not within the next five year (look how long it is taking VLNC and ULBI and few others to "productize a relatively well understood technology). I view many of the fuel cells program the same way I view injection molded ceramics for engine parts, GaAs as the semiconductor of the future etc, 20 years later, these are still materials of the future. The promise of fuel cells has even a longer history, and frankly, microfuel cells do not seems thermodynamically very attractive.
I also have problems seeing computers and telephones with fluid fuels, to much of a chance for spillage and spoilage. Manhattan Scientific does not instill in me a lot of confidence either, but that is probably a question of taste rather than "proof", I cannot find any SEC filings for them, making anything they say more "fancy" than facts.
Zeev |
