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

To: Jim who wrote (3602)	1/1/1999 11:00:00 PM
From: Dr. Harvey	Respond to of 5827

Jim, you are on the right track there; I have said all along that the infrastructure argument was just a stall and diversion by those seeking to further their own cause.

To: Jim who wrote (3602)	1/2/1999 5:28:00 AM
From: Sid Turtlman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5827

Jim: You are right -- gas station convenience stores could sell methanol in 5 gallon cans until demand builds up enough to justify the installation of tanks. Keep in mind that methanol contains only half the energy per gallon that gasoline does (I forget the exact numbers, but it is something like 9980 Btu's/gal vs. 21,000 for gas) so you may have to stop frequently. And don't forget that with each 5 gallons you will also have to add approximately the same amount of water to create the steam for the reformer. But can it be done? Of course. Now you tell me: You, as a consumer, have a choice of cars. One of them, the fc car, is very expensive and requires you to constantly buy and carry around cans of fuel and water. The other one, a hybrid, has a similar level of emissions and gets 70 mpg from gasoline. In other respects the cars are similar. I think I can guess which one you, or at least 99% of the populace, will buy. Your Model T analogy isn't appropriate, IMO, because cars offered massive advantages over horses and carriages. A fc car is just another car - it isn't a space ship or time machine. The methanol infrastructure thing is NOT a showstopper. It CAN be solved, by anyone who wants to spend billions of dollars. All it is, is just one more strike against fc cars, and one more reason to think that Ballard's profits will be nonexistent for many years after the introduction of cars, whenever that may be.