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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Latas who wrote (4133)	10/25/1999 10:43:00 PM
From: Michael Latas	Respond to of 8393

At the old figure quoted from ECD four years ago, that at 20,000 EV's per year we would be cost effective with conventional fuels at a battery pack cost of $4,000. That was for 26 NiMH batteries per pack, for a net cost per individual battery of @ $140. I was looking at these cost figures in order to get a perspective as to how much it might cost to have NiMH batteries for PV storage. How do we stack up from a cost standpoint? When we entered into our joint venture with the Russians it was stated that we would enjoy "substantial savings", due to their vast rare earth resources, plus considerably lower labor costs. This statement came out considerably after the $4,000 battery cost was given above. Now, my question is, in a language that we can all understand, what does a "substantial savings" mean per battery pack cost? Furthermore, we have gained considerable mfg'g expertise with our GM/Ovonic pilot plant in Kettering since that time as well. How has this impacted upon our current projected mfg'ng cost? Next, we have subsequently entered into a tentative agreement with China, subject to the State Dept.'s approval that has even a greater potential savings on raw materials, electrodes and labor over the Russians. How will this impact upon our cost? I would have to conclude that it would again have to represent rather "significient savings" on top of the Russians. I'm looking at our consumer batteries,EV's, HEV's, SLI's and storage batteries for solar applications among all of the other possibilities, which will include power tools, etc. Again, this time next year we should have our new nickel-magnesium battery technology with vastly superior storage capabilities that will impact on lowering our cost even further. We should have a very good handle on what those cost figures will pretty well represent right now. Enough for now. Regards.