Hail to the Chief: All of a sudden my S.I subscription seems worthwhile.BUT how do you feel ATF fits into this puzzle?
Here is an excerpt from another subscription.
The world's embracing Alternative Fuel
When last updated on these pages
Alternative Fuel Systems was trading at $1.22.
It was noted that natural gas vehicle (NGV) conversions using ATF technology in Mexico and India were expected to act as a ''wake-up'' call to the world.
While Alternative Fuel Systems (ATF-VSE, $1.72, 403-262-1833) continues to make rather spectacular progress, the vast global implications of ATF's mounting successes continue to go largely unnoticed.
The real story here is not in the first-phase revenues announced so far, but in the opportunity for tremendous future revenue streams as mass-scale global NG conversions begin.
When ATF announced last year it would be the exclusive supplier of conversion systems to the Mexico City natural gas vehicle project, the company said it would provide a model for the world. This prediction appears to be coming true.
On Feb. 8, ATF announced the latest in a series of global gas coups. Alternative Fuel Systems, Hydro Quebec of Montreal and the Kraus Group of Winnipeg are all to be involved in the City of Beijing's large scale natural gas conversion project.
ATF has been chosen to coordinate the team and supply NGV systems. The Canadian trio are already working together in heavily polluted Mexico City as part of the consortium to convert approximately 10,000 vehicles per year over the next 10 years.
Beijing intends to convert its entire public fleet, consisting of 5,400 buses, 10,000 microbuses and 60,000 taxis to alternative fuels in order to reduce local air emissions.
The conversions are to take place over the next several years.
This is the second agreement signed in China in less than a month. At the end of January, ATF finalized a contract in Sichuan Province with Sichuan Shutong Natural Gas Vehicle Co. Ltd., China's largest enterprise specializing in the development of natural gas vehicles (NGVs).
Shutong is in a cooperative partnership with the Canadian government to develop NGV technology with the Chinese government. The initial order calls for ATF to supply 3,000 Sherex/ATF two-stage regulators (ATF purchased the regulator division from Sherex Industries Ltd. of Ontario in 1998), a deal worth $1.7 million.
Shutong has scheduled 20,000 vehicles for conversion, and construction of 72 new CNG fueling stations over the next three years. ATF will provide for technology transfer, after preparing a licensing agreement for manufacturing and marketing rights for the Sherex/ATF regulator-based fuel management systems.
Two days before finalizing the initial order in Shutong, ATF announced a project in Bangkok, Thailand to test its Eagle (dual diesel) and Sparrow (gasoline) conversion systems and technology transfer, expected to lead to wide-scale conversion of gasoline and diesel engines in Thailand.
The agreement was signed by ATF and its Asian partner, Nippon Ecology Work Systems Corp. (ECOS), for a Dual Fuel Testing Agreement with the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority of Thailand (BMTA), and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT).
In India, China and Thailand, technology transfer and assistance in setting up testing/manufacturing facilities is part of the agreement.
No other company is landing similar deals. Large world centers are converting to NG and they are choosing ATF systems.
Ballard Power has yet to prove it can some day supply commercially viable fuel cell technology, and yet look at the market valuation.
The writing may be on the wall, but it is not in the Canadian press.
Over the last few months Alternative Fuel Systems has announced an alliance in the UK/Europe, a contract in India, the purchase of the Sherex regulator division in Ontario, continued engine development for Hino Motors, a Canadian government-sponsored pilot program in Santiago, Chile, receipt of payment for Phase I in Mexico City, two agreements in China and one in Thailand.
It could be that ATF is stepping on a few toes.
After the world's most polluted centers have made the investment in infrastructure to assure NG supply and construct NG stations, the demand for other solutions could decline substantially.
ATF is debt free, has approximately 25 million shares outstanding, and recorded a small profit in the first fiscal quarter of 1999 after completion of Phase I in Mexico City. |
