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

To: Hawkeye who wrote (3775)	2/3/1999 12:11:00 PM
From: Hawkeye	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5827

Bloomberg Automobile News Wed, 3 Feb 1999, 12:07pm EST BASF to Work With DaimlerChrysler, Ford Venture on Car Engines Ludwigshafen, Germany, Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- BASF AG, Europe's biggest chemicals maker, said it agreed to work with a joint venture of DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co. to develop methanol-based fuel-cell engines for mass-produced automobiles by 2004. BASF and dbb fuel cell engines GmbH of Stuttgart, Germany, agreed to develop a catalytic system in which a chemical reaction will extract hydrogen from methanol, using the hydrogen to fuel the engine. The partners didn't disclose any financial details of their agreement. The fuel-cell propulsion system is considered to be one of the best options available to carmakers for replacing conventional internal-combustion engines, BASF said, because such engines will be more efficient, use less fuel and cause less pollution than traditional motors. Generating hydrogen from methanol within the engine is considered more practical than loading a car's fuel tanks directly with pure hydrogen, which is difficult to handle because of its instability. Alongside Ford and DaimlerChrysler, the third owner of dbb is Vancouver, Canada-based Ballard Power Systems Inc., which specializes in developing propulsion systems based on fuel-cell technology. BASF has worked with Ballard and the former Daimler Benz AG in earlier stages of developing methanol-based fuel-cell engines. dbb was established as a joint venture when the partners decided such engines would be feasible for mass- produced passenger cars, a dbb spokeswoman said. Daimler Benz, which bought U.S. automaker Chrysler Corp. for $36 billion last November, had previously announced it wanted to produce a fuel-cell engine by 2004. BASF is the world's fourth-largest producer of methanol. Ford ranks as worldwide No. 2 among carmakers, while DaimlerChrysler is the fifth-largest.