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

To: Futurist who wrote (4171)	11/5/1999 2:55:00 PM
From: WALT REISCH	Respond to of 8393

Well, my gut feeling is, if he isn't working for us (full-time), then this announcement is not good. On the other hand, the position he is taking with ERIM, could have a bigger influence on the acceptability of ECD's technology - IMHO.

To: Futurist who wrote (4171)	11/6/1999 10:02:00 AM
From: Michael Latas	Respond to of 8393

Ken Baker leaving ECD after such a short period of time is indeed a big disappointment. A real bummer. The odds are that we will never really know the real reason behind his move. I only hope that he was able to make his contribution to ECD as was anticipated. He continues to serve on our board, which is still very positive. We all have the right to draw our own conclusions, for better or for worse. I have given a great deal of thought to his move. Things are not always as they appear to be on the surface. There are a number of different possibilities to conclude. EV's have taken a back seat to HEV's big time over the past year throughout the world. I wonder how much influence this played in this move. And, the HEV market is moving very slowly, to say the least, for now. GM is not even in the market yet. There may not have been anything further for Ken to do full time to change this outcome for the next year or two. This would make sense to me. I guess it remains to be seen. The good news from everything I hear is that our NiMH HEV battery is a truly outstanding proven product. I personally feel the HEV's are going to be a lot more popular than the auto industry would lead us to believe. Honda states they anticipate selling 5,000 HEV's in the US their first year. I don't believe that figure has anything to do with demand. It's just all they plan to make for the US their first year. Honda has an excellent reputation for a quality product. Take a look at what Toyota did with their Prius in Japan. They sold 24,000 their first year. They had an inferior misch-metal battery that provided very sluggish performance and still sold that many vehicles. From all that I have read and know about Honda's HEV performance it is comparable to ice vehicle performance. So, in my opinion, Their vehicle will appeal to techies, the ten percent of of market that want to be the first to have any new technology, those who care about the environment, and the biggest market of all, those people that will literally drive across town to save a nickel a gallon for gasoline. How about those consumers who will skip their neighborhood gas station to shop to save two cents a gallon. The market is full of these people. 70mpg performance represents big savings and will allow their owners bragging rights, while allowing them to beat the system. It remains to be seen as to what unfolds from here on out. Regards.