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Technology Stocks : FCL - FuelCell Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sid Turtlman who wrote (81)	12/9/1997 4:37:00 AM
From: Bill Jackson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 407

Sid, The ERC battery is an offshoot of traditional rechargeable batteries. The lead acid is the best known, as it has a very high current capability(low internal resistance), the nickel cadmium is next and I suppose the nickel zinc is an offshoot of that. Is the cel voltage around 1.2 Volts?? The lower cell voltage will balance the lower density metals used, and so the energgy density will be similat to lead acid. If they have a CO2 filter they will be able to avoid the carbonate buildup that bothers alkaline electrolyte batteries that are not fully sealed. Have they been able to solve the dendritic growth problem??. Hybrids(diesel/Gas/Propane/etc +battery) are quite viable as long as the batteries have a long life(at least 5 years) of continuous use. If the batteries die fast they impose a huge recurring cost on the system. However at some point you want to breath clean air and so you mandate that cost to get the clean air. In 10-20 years they will finally get serious about this. The ultimate will be a fuel cell, if and when perfected, and at that point the electric vehicles made by ERC can be retrofitted with fuel cells, as the electric motors are expected to be very long lived(if kept dry) Bill

To: Sid Turtlman who wrote (81)	12/9/1997 2:13:00 PM
From: Lou Daniels	Respond to of 407

Sid- I am new to this thread but I have done some work researching ERC and Ballard. I am curious about the nickel zinc battery from a competitive perspective. Energy conversion Devices has an advanced Ni mh battery which they term an "ovonic" battery. Apparently, it is superior to an ordinary Ni mh. Also, Matsushita, who is a licensee of ECD, unsuccessfully attempted to have the ovonic patents invalidated. Matsushita, as I understand, is Toyota's supplier of Ni mh for it hybrid electric vehicle.