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Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike Klobouk who wrote (3347)	12/2/1998 10:08:00 AM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 5827

Can you show me where Ballard has reported in print the results of the Chicago bus trial?

To: Mike Klobouk who wrote (3347)	12/2/1998 7:59:00 PM
From: Sid Turtlman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 5827

Mike: A development stage company showing up at a stock hyping forum is NOT the same thing as reporting honestly about its technical progress, pro and con. Anyone who goes to the various fuel cell industry forums knows that Ballard shows up with hoards of marketing people and fancy brochures, but never presents papers with any details the way other fuel cell developers do. The Chicago buses are a good example. How does one know that they were a flop, other than the information that has leaked out from Chicago? Only by working backwards from what Ballard has not said. The original announcement of the deal with Chicago was announced in the fall of 1995, saying that the buses would be put in service for a two year trial period starting in late 1996. They didn't really start running until spring 1998, then they get yanked out of service after a few months. The best the company could say in its Q3 report is that during the quarter the trial "continued" and that a lot was learned from it. English translation: Well, now we learned what DOESN'T work! The Chicago buses were manufactured by New Flyer buses, one of the biggest in North America. In addition to the conventional buses, it has an extensive line of electric buses and trolleys. If the electrical systems kept breaking down, as seems to be the case, that implies that there is something very unstable about the output of the fuel cells in ways that Ballard didn't think would be the case. (The fuel cells themselves broke down also, supposedly.) If Ballard can't get a bus running on hydrogen to work right, one wonders what will happen when they try to hang a reformer onto the fuel cell to extract and purify hydrogen from methanol. I'm not saying it can't be done, but this adds a smidgen of uncertainty about the matter, wouldn't you say? The Mercedes article was pretty clear. It wasn't 1000 buses in the first year and then growing from there, it said 500 buses in the first year (2004) and then 1000 per year thereafter. If the Mercedes spokesperson was misquoted, please let us know when the statement is corrected.