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I'm pretty sure we would have heard if Doctor Moller had passed on.
Not that there's anything happening now, but Doctor Moller's passing will be the true end of the story.
A week ago (February 7th), another Moller patent:
U.S. Patent 6808140 - Vertical Take Off and Landing Vehicles
...expired. This appears to cover a twin engined Moller concept, presumably an M200 design. It can be seen here: U.S. Patent 6808140
This means that the only remaining patent of Moller International or Paul Moller that remains in force is:
U.S. Patent D736140 - Vertical take off and landing vehicle (Essentially the most current design for the M400 with foldy wings) - Expires August 11, 2029
A week ago (October 12th), another Moller patent:
U.S Patent 6450445 - Stabilizing control apparatus for robotic or remotely controlled flying platform
...expired.
This means that the only remaining patents of Moller International or Paul Moller that remain in force are:
U.S. Patent 6808140 - Vertical Take Off and Landing Vehicles - Expires February 7, 2023.
U.S. Patent D736140 - Vertical take off and landing vehicle (Essentially the most current design for the M400 with foldy wings) - Expires August 11, 2029
I haven't posted here in exactly a year.
Why isn't that hard to understand. Nothing has been happening, so there isn't anything to write about.
What *has* been interesting is that almost no one else has posted anything either. No posts whatsover for seven months, then a request for information on how to sell Freedom Motors shares, and an article from Popular Mechanics about batteries. That's it for the last year.
In terms of posts on the Freedom Motors blog - there have been a grand total of two in the past year. The December update references the most recent newsletter, which features the usual shaggy dog stories about how Freedom Motors funding is just around the corner, but hasn't quite happened yet (with some COVID inspired variations on the usual theme). The newsletter also explains regarding the exchange of Moller International shares for Freedom Motors shares (proposed back in 2019 after Moller shares were deregistered) - "until funding for Freedom Motors is received, it is not reasonable to complete an offer to exchange MI shares for FM shares." The December newsletter also states "FM receives numerous requests to buy its stock" while also stating that discounted shares at 97.5 cents each are available. These shares have been available at that price since January 2019 - presumably there hasn't been a lot of interest.
The most recent blog post was in early February. It was only a paragraph long, and contains so few specifics that it's not even worth commenting on.
In media, the only recent references to Moller International are as a historical note in reference to other companies working in the personal VTOL/air taxi space, as an explanation for why some people find the concept hard to take seriously, or as an analog for a dodgy looking company in the field.
Even the true believers here seem to have given up. Too bad, really - they were entertaining.
Sorry, I missed one patent:
U.S. Patent 6808140 - Vertical Take Off and Landing Vehicles - Expires February 7, 2023.
(It's listed under Paul Moller rather than Moller International, so it doesn't come up in the same listing as the others).
This covers a Skycar concept with two big engine nacelles, with small fans in the nose and tail (I assume for pitch control during vertical flight). I think this was the M200 concept.
A minor milestone today - Another one of Moller International's patents has expired.
U.S. Patent 6325603 - Charged cooled rotary engine -- was filed on June 24, 2000, and thus expires today.
This means that the only Moller International patents that haven't expired are:
U.S. Patent 6450445 - Stabilizing control apparatus for robotic or remotely controlled flying platform - Expires October 12, 2021
U.S. Patent D736140 - Vertical take off and landing vehicle (Essentially the most current design for the M400 with foldy wings) - Expires August 11, 2029
The dominant reaction by the Facebook crew was that the Sabrewing craft (essentially a drone) somehow "stole" Moller's design.
Well, if Sabrewing "stole" Moller's design, then Moller "stole" his design from the Bell X-22. The only resemblance that the two craft have is that they are both lifted/propelled by ducted fans at the four corners. (As was the Bell X-22). Otherwise, I don't see any of Moller's hallmarks -- no vanes to redirect the thrust, no foldy wings, and most important of all, no rotary engines. (Ed de Reyes has gone over to the dark side and embraced <gasp> electric propulsion!)
Ed does state that the Sabrewing design was "influenced by his earlier work as an engineer and test pilot on the Moller 400". It also states that the design was influenced by the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk.
Sabrewing seems to have evolved out of Elytron/Converticopter, with Ed and Oliver Garrow being closely connected with both. The Converticopter web site is now returning a 404 error, so perhaps the company is defunct. There also appears to be a connection with Thorntail (remember them?). The mailing address for Sabrewing on the company's web site (www.sabrewingaircraft.com) is identical to the mailing address that Thorntail was using back in 2014.
The VTOL industry does seem to be shifting more in the direction of cargo drones, rather than passenger craft (see https://evtol.news/2020/03/06/cargo-evtol-matures/). It might be a matter of scale -- Passenger VTOL probably requires a craft with a minimum payload of 250 kg or so to be useful, while drones can do useful work at much smaller sizes, which can be scaled up as the state of the art improves. Also, if your cargo drone crashes, it's far less likely to generate headlines (and lawsuits) than a passenger carrying craft.
Who knows? It's certainly interesting that it wasn't considered noteworthy enough to mention in the newsletter.
It's also interesting that the newsletter doesn't say anything about David Sastry (who admitted that he is "not as engaged" with Freedom Motors as previously - make of that what you will), or anything about Naveen Madishetty (announced as the Freedom Motors Chief Advisor for Sustainability in India back in July, and then never referred to again), or the Memorandums of Understanding with Alturair and Stratus Environmental (announced December 2018 and then never referred to again). It's almost like they're making bogus announcements to fake credibility or something, although we know they would never, *ever* do that.
In fact, the only mention that anything related to Moller International has gotten on the blog in almost two years was the delisting of the stock, and the fire at Paul Moller's ranch. You kind of get the impression that Moller is an embarrassment that they wish they could make disappear, as it drags down any remaining credibility that Freedom Motors has left. The continuing expression of interest in Moller International in the comments on the blog, despite the lack of mention of it in recent times, may be an element in why the commenting on the blog was disabled.
Some of the fanboys on the Facebook page seem to have read the newsletter a little differently, stating that as a result of reading it, "they can see the light at the end of the tunnel". Too bad it's actually an oncoming train.
Alert the media. After two and a half months, Freedom Motors issues another newletter. Summary:
-"Before we ushered into 2020, we prototyped a 54cc compound engine that is projected to produce 10 hp on methanol and is the size of a grapefruit." What happened to the "ready for volume production" 530 cc engine? Why are they messing around with this and not trying to sell the engine that they (supposedly) are already equipped to mass produce?
-"our 150cc engine demonstration model with hydrogen as primary fuel is coming along well. We continue to engage our US based customer to complete this prototype. We estimate that we have accomplished over 90% of this model and wish to complete the remaining 10% within the next 8 weeks." I'm sure that the completion here "within weeks" is as likely as the Chinese joint venture or the Reg A stock offering, both of which were supposed to be happening "within weeks" and both of which vanished into oblivion years ago.
- "Singapore based customer [Alife - ha ha] wishes to visit us here in California and and establish a plan for their engine manufacturing. The executives of our Singapore customers are carefully planning their trip due to the coronavirus scare around the world." A well structured announcement in classic Moller style, promising nothing and leaving a perfect excuse for later when nothing actually happens.
- "We continue to assist our demonstration partner out of Canada who is in the final preparations for using our 530cc engine with biogas fuel. We hope to put this into operation within the next few weeks." Are they finally returning your phone calls? They started assembling their genset 18 months ago and they still aren't finished. Must be all that socialized medicine. I figure that this is as likely to be finished "within a few weeks" as the item above.
Plus four more paragraphs of stuff so non-specific that it's not even worth commenting on. I suspect that the only reason that they released an update was so that the blog didn't go three whole months without an update.
...And for those that (as always) will reply about the list of stuff that Freedom Motors has developed but not applied for patents on:
Presumably, the prospective investors that have looked at Moller International/Freedom Motors over the past few years have been able to see this. The fact that no one has put any money into the venture (see Dean's previous comments about how Paul seems to think that "joint ventures" work) suggests that the investors don't think that anything brilliant is in the vault.
My post of January 6th shows a list of stuff supposedly in the vault at Freedom Motors, according to the Freedom Motors website. All of the supposedly patentable ideas are improvements to rotary engines. Since no one seems to be particularly interested in Freedom's rotary engines, it's not too much of a stretch to presume that no one is interested in the improved versions either.
Think of the number of times over the past fifteen years or so that Freedom/Moller has claimed that some marvelous new thing is about to happen. Now, think about how many times that marvelous thing actually came to pass. Zero, right? (I don't consider the move from Davis to Dixon to be a marvelous thing). These guys lie the way that other people breathe. Nothing that they say is in any way credible.
From https://freedom-motors.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MI-FM-Moller-Granted-US-Patents-v2.pdf -- some information on items that Freedom Motors plans to file patents on:
Patent to be Filed
“A specific combination of engine displacement, engine RPM and brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) that allows the Rotapower engine to operate on the Otto cycle while using diesel fuel”
Patent to be Filed
“A much improved fuel/air charge pathway through the rotor developed to improve cooling of the rotor and vaporization of the charge”
Patent to be Filed
“A compound version of the rotary engine where two rotors are able to function in series rather than parallel”
Patent to be Filed
“Unique one-way valve to allow the charge to flow in one direction while not allowing it to flow in the reverse direction”
Patent to be Filed
“A rotor cooling arrangement employing a phase change of a liquid that allows almost unlimited cooling of the rotor”
Patent to be Filed
“Developed a seal and rotor housing coating material combination that along with a proprietary rotor housing wear surface finish, allowed the wear surface and seal life to exceed a documented 20,000 hours”
All stuff to do with improvements to the rotary engine.
In reading the latest Freedom Motors blog entry (a 2019 year-end wrap up), I can't help but take note of the things that it *doesn't* say.
* Nothing about the biogas program at Cape Breton University in Canada that was the subject of so much of their publicity in 2018.
* Not a word about the revoking of Moller International's shares.
* Nothing about the strategic partnerships with Stratus Environmental and Alturair (announced December 8, 2018, and then never referred to again).
* No further reference to the "software problem" that eliminated all comments on the blog.
* No indication of what benefit (if any, apart from the ability to stay in business) resulted from the $107,000 harvested from the StartEngine crowdfinding in late 2018.
* No further information about their (revived) partnership with Alife Air Automobiles of Singapore, and no verifiable proof that Alife still even exists.
Okay, what do they say that they did?
"We have accomplished a lot this year and we will continue to do so next year. We truly believe year 2020 will be the year of continued success and many accomplishments. A summary of accomplishments in 2019 follows…"
Signed MOU’s with many partners and formed incredible partnerships
* No specifics of what was signed with which partners, and MOUs aren't binding in any case.
Received firm orders for 3.4 million engines
* Is this in addition to the 3.3 million fantasy orders that have been floating around for the last decade, or have they just added 100,000 extra fantasy orders to the pile?
Received support from many investors and continue to do so
* I'm sure that there are shareholders left "holding the bag" when Moller International evaporated that would dispute this.
Building a prototype of our 150cc engine to run on Hydrogen fuel
* Oh dear. Changing directions again. What happened to saving the world through biogas?
It sounds to me like 2019 was a lot like like 2018 and 2017 for Freedom Motors (2019 was *certainly* a different kind of year for Moller International!), and I figure on more of the same for 2020.
I agree that just the decline in blog posts by itself doesn't mean that much.
But combine that with the fact that *nothing* from Moller/Freedom Motors has mentioned David since July (recall that for the past two years, he has largely been the public face of the company), and it strongly suggests that he has reduced his involvement.
Two years ago, I predicted that David's "arc" with Moller/Freedom Motors would match that of many others (Zack, Ed De Reyes, even Jeff!) -- Initial enthusiasm, followed by gradual disillusionment as the nature of the company came clear, and ending with departure. We seem to have witnessed that arc over the past two years.
An interesting question - is the Freedom Motors blog going the way of the dodo?
Postings have certainly slowed down. There have only been ten posts in the last nine months, and the only posts since the end of July have been to prompt people to look at the Freedom Motors newsletter. The most recent newsletter didn't even generate a post in the blog.
So it sounds like the blog is dying out. Another interesting question is whether David's involvement in Freedom Motors/Moller International is going with it, or is perhaps already gone. David hasn't been mentioned in any communication from Freedom/Moller since the end of July, and the reminders of updates to the blog that used to be sent in his name are no longer being sent. Any communication to people on the mailing list is now from Paul.
Circumstantial evidence, at a minumum, suggests that David has either reduced his involvement, or has gone away entirely.
You mean the scooter from Alife, which went out of business two years ago, and only ever made twenty scooters (all of them with conventional, non-rotary engines? (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/end-of-the-road-for-home-grown-motorcycle)
Of course, Freedom Motors says that Alife is back in business, and they never, ever, ever, ever tell untruths.
For that matter, all of the Freedom Motors newsletters from the past two years can be seen here: https://freedom-motors.com/freedom_media.html
Take a look. See all the people and projects that were announced with great fanfare, and then never referred to again.
Here's the text of the newsletter
To: All Newsletter Subscribers
From: Paul S. Moller
MOLLER INTERNATIONAL
This newsletter is a follow up to two recent newsletters that I sent out. If you did not receive either of these, please follow this link where links to copies are available. Many MI stockholders have been asking when they can exchange their MI shares for FM shares. Unfortunately, nothing happens quickly when the Government is involved. The exchange process must be approved by the SEC as to its fairness to both FM and MI stockholders. This process will be expensive and includes audited financial statements for both companies. Since MI has no funds, the cost must be borne and justified by FM.
Question: What makes a stock exchange worthwhile for some MI stockholders?
Answer: Many MI stockholders purchased their shares before MI became a public company. In this case they own nearly equal amounts of MI and FM shares. These shareholders have little reason to convert since liquidation of MI, if it were to occur, would have little effect on the value of their investment. Most MI shares were purchased after MI became a public company and the share price dropped to pennies per share. These very large stockholders would lose their entire investment if MI were forced into liquidation by its creditors, or if MI continues to be unable to raise capital.
An additional consideration is the possibility of FM or MI being mandated to become a reporting company. Both FM and MI have an enough non-accredited stockholders that once its assets exceed $10 million, it must, under SEC rules, become a reporting company and its stock could be publicly traded if it wished. MI’s debt would make it necessary to raise approximately $35 million before this could happen. FM has agreements in place that could require it to become a reporting company within the next few months. In this case FM could choose to become a publicly traded company.
Question: What makes a stock exchange worthwhile for FM?
Answer: FM sees the use of its engine for personal aircraft applications (PAVs) as a future high-growth engine market. MI cannot fund the production and FAA certification cost of an aircraft engine, while FM is reluctant to fund this cost without being a major stockholder in MI.
FM has indicated an interest in exchanging 100 MI shares for one FM share and will honor that offer even if the valuation indicates a higher ratio. On the other hand, FM will accept a lower ratio if that is indicated by the analysis, provided that enough MI shares are offered to be exchanged.
Please, be patient during this process. Very significant developments are occurring within FM, including an agreement to purchase a large block of FM shares concurrent with creating a volume Rotapower® engine production facility in India. You will know the details of this agreement long before you need to decide whether to exchange some of your MI shares for FM shares. It should also be noted that while FM owes MI over $2 million for contract work it did in the past, these funds when received by MI are needed to meet its pressing financial obligations.
If you did not respond to my previous Newsletter regarding exchanging shares, you may do so under the assumption that the exchange rate is unknown. Once it is known you can then decide how many MI shares you wish to exchange.
The previous response to exchanging shares was high, but not high enough to provide FM with an acceptable ownership of MI. Those exchanging their MI shares for FM shares will also benefit from maximizing the amount of MI shares that FM acquires.
Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions which I will answer in my next Newsletter. Email me at paul@moller.com or paul@freedom-motors.com. My cell phone number is (530) 760-7177.
There is a document at the SEC EDGAR specifically stating that the stock was revoked. No ambiguity about it. The stock is now Monopoly money.
Moller may have said that their stock was only delisted. They also said lots of other provably false things in the past. Like the fact that the planned test flight in October 2011 was cancelled because too many people wanted to come and see it (rather than because they didn't have anything close to a flyable vehicle to demonstrate). Or the fact that they have provisional orders for millions of engines (despite having had this order backlog for over a decade, and never actually selling any engines). Or saying that they would make every effort to prevent the stock being revoked, when after the fact it's clear that they didn't do anything. Or that they had this amazing deal to invest 250 million dollars in the company from PSC (despite the deal relying on the revaluation of the now worthless Zimbabwe dollar).
It's not just that Moller regularly lies (although they do). It's also that it isn't even **good** lying.
Of course, I know the response. "This time is different".
Nope.
Moller International is purely entertainment for me.
I had doubts when I first read about them more than sixteen years ago. And subsequent events have more than justified that initial skepticism.
The entertainment value decreased a bit when Jeff disappeared, but it still has its moments.
Well, if you have certificates, you could use them for lining a birdcage.
I'm sure they're printed on the wrong kind of paper, which excludes toilet paper.
Why would Freedom Motors want to go public?
That would mean... <gasp> having to report results to the SEC, and have accountants, and all that awful stuff.
I'm sure that they're having a lot more fun with being a private company, where you can just make up your results, arbitrarily decide what your share price is, and there aren't any bad people from the SEC spoiling everything.
Now that Moller International has been revoked/delisted, it can now be a zombie corporation, and remain undead forever!
According to the annual reports, the Moller International shares that were sold before the company went public (October 2003) sold at prices ranging from $7.50 to $0.90 each.
If some of these guys had as many shares as they used to claim they had, they certainly *ought* to be pissed.
I would presume that the current plan with Freedom Motors is what the plan was for Moller International from 2003 - 2015 -- Fake credibility to fool someone into funding them.
I don't see the collapse of Moller International as changing that. They're not in a position to do anything else.
I would be *really* interested to know what Jeff feels about Moller being delisted...
Last October, Paul was offering to sell Freedom Motors shares at $0.75 each (half the so-called market price), but you had to buy at least 2500 shares. Then in January, David posted that "A large FM stockholder must liquidate its stock ownership" and was offering shares at $0.975 each, but you had to buy at least 2000 of them. Most recently, the offer is $1.00 each, minimum of 1000 shares, and lesser amounts will be considered if there is interest.
The recent newsletter confirms that Moller's "every effort possible to keep from being delisted" ended up being no effort, as realistically, there's nothing they can do.
They suggested the possibility of being able to convert Moller International shares to Freedom Motors shares. But I'm pretty sure that the conversion rate that they were talking about will have shifted dramatically with the collapse in the share price today -- instead of 100 Moller shares to 1 Freedom Motors share, we're probably talking 2000 to 1 now.
I know that Moller International and Freedom Motors never bother to have anything like stockholder meetings, where they can get asked questions and stuff. But if they did, what questions would you want to ask? Here's a starter list:
1. Was the trial at the Canadian University that you’ve stopped providing updates about completely imaginary, or was the engine just so lousy that they were disgusted with it?
2. Three years ago, Freedom Motors generated a lot of hype about the Rotapac 15KW generator, and then we never heard anything again. Did this actually exist, or was it just an attempt (yet again) to fake credibility?
3. When did the money from last fall’s stock selling exercise run out?
4. Can you provide any evidence beyond your own press release that Alife in Singapore still exists as a viable company?
5. What activities of the company are the “advisory panel” (Anjan Bose, Andee McCoy , Sudheer Kuppam) announced last fall contributing to? Can you point to any evidence beyond your own announcements that these people have any connection with Freedom Motors at all?
6. Recently, Paul Moller stated that Moller International is “making every effort possible to keep from being delisted”. Can you show evidence that anything is being done?
7. Why was commenting on the Freedom Motors blog discontinued? Why is it that not a single comment has been made to the blog since the new commenting system was implemented?
8. Of the four million orders that you claim to have for various Freedom Motors engines – how many of the orders are from companies that still exist, and how many of them date back to before 2014?
9. Is there any update on the PSC deal, or does everyone there finally comprehend that it was complete fantasy on someone’s part?
If you have a real working example of this world changing engine, then why are you wasting your time trying to sell it to losers like Moller International?
There are lots of other companies competing in this space with real programs and real flying aircraft. The limitations of electric propulsion in this area (battery mass, in particular) are well known. Why not try to convince someone that's actually flying (and has a chance to accomplish something), rather than a company that hasn't flown anything in more than fifteen years?
My sentiments exactly. Inventionstocks' assumption is that not filing with the SEC is the only concern that Moller International has, and that if that is fixed, the stock price will promptly increase fifty times.
Paul Moller has millions of shares of MLER. If this could be fixed that easily, don't you think he would do it -- out of self interest alone?
Interesting that, only three weeks after the stock was delisted from the Pink Sheets, someone from Moller finally got around to admitting that there was an issue. It doesn't really say what they intend to do, and I suspect that there isn't a lot that they *can* do. I've always suspected that there was a very good reason (beyond the company being dormant) why MI stopped reporting financial results, and I don't think that the reason why they didn't want to report their results has gone away.
The newsletter also included an update from Freedom Motors that wasn't really an update. Same old sh*t, apart from another trip to India for Doctor Paluru.
My guess is that if they haven't mentioned it already, they're not going to. Mentioning it doesn't help them.
It will be interesting to see what happens on Monday.
I can supply some information about who wants (or more accurately, wanted) Freedom Motors engines, and what I think is the source of the claim that they have letters of intent/memorandums of understanding/conditional orders for 3.5 million engines.
Take a look here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/1202/12027879.pdf
…and you will find a long document filed with the SEC. It’s related to the proposed Reg A stock offering that never happened. On page 157 and subsequently, you can find the letters of intent. They’re all from the 2008 – 2012 time period.
I’ve totaled the demand for engines on the various letters (some don’t actually state quantities), and I get 3.24 million engines, which matches up pretty well with the 3.5 million engines that Freedom Motors claims to have conditional orders for.
At least 2.4 million of the total is from companies that are now defunct, so obviously those orders no longer exist. Visionary Vehicles still exists, but their current car concept is pure electric, so the 250,000 engines per year that they projected (I recorded that as 250,000 engines in my summary) won’t be needed. Alturdyne is a real enough company, and mentioned a potential demand for 500,000 engines in a total market, but didn’t actually claim they could sell that many. (The president of Alturdyne *is* a director of Freedom Motors, so there is an unquestioned connection here).
Other companies are real, but stated in their letters of intent that the engines had to be under a certain price. David has made clear on the blog that their current engine isn’t remotely low cost, so that excludes them. I can’t find any information about Madami International, which suggests that their 80,000 engines aren’t required.
However you slice it, it’s clear that most if not all of these potential orders don’t exist. This is even before considering the fact that anyone who wanted an engine seven to eleven years ago probably obtained one long ago from someone else.
I suspect that the delisting is something that the management at Freedom Motors/Moller International have known was coming for some time.
This may very well be why the comment feature on the Freedom Motors blog was disabled back in March. I can imagine some of the commentary there now if it hadn't been...
It's also possible that this message board may be discontinued if the stock is permanently delisted. I've seen it happen before for other delisted stocks.
Isn't it interesting that the Freedom Motors blog - usually so quick to respond to anything that might darken their reputation (like the recent fire at Paul's farm) - hasn't said a word about the suspension of trading in MLER?
Within the SEC statement, it says "Respondents shall file an Answer to the allegations contained in this Order within ten (10) days". There isn't really much that they can say to contest this -- they haven't filed financials for four years and it's a matter of public record.
Follow on consequences from this (which include a possible twelve month suspension in trading, or for the registration of MLER securities to be revoked completely) also affect "new corporate names of any Respondents". So they can't just dump MLER and start a new company. I assume that this doesn't apply to Freedom Motors, as it already exists as a free standing company.
They have seven days to respond. We shall see what happens.
The problem with anyone from Moller or Freedom Motors saying anything that cannot be independently verified is that they have absolutely zero credibility.
I have been following the antics of this company fairly closely for almost fifteen years. I've heard lots of things that they said they were going to do during this time frame. And I can only recall a single case where they said that they were going to do something and actually did it -- when they moved from Davis to their current location. By contrast, in the same time period they made innumerable announcements of joint ventures, planned production of various craft, public demonstration flights, memorandums of understanding to sell engines, annual objectives from shareholders meetings -- the list goes on and on. And not a single one of these things happened.
With this kind of track record, it's foolish to give an organization the benefit of the doubt. When they have such a long record of not doing what they say they're going to do, I can't trust a thing that they say unless it can be independently verified. I don't accept "This time is different" without some pretty convincing evidence that it really is. (Past positive performance is no guarantee of future positive performance, but consistent past negative performance *is* a good predictor of future negative performance).
They can claim that they have worthwhile rotary engine improvements that haven't been patented. I can't prove that they don't. However, given the long list of announcements mentioned above, that isn't credible by itself. Going by the evidence - no indication on financial statements of any investment in R & D, equipment almost completely depreciated (indicating little to no spending on equipment in the past decade or so), the fact that none of the numerous potential purchasers/investors thought that the company was worth purchasing/investing in, no indication that the company is capable of setting objectives and meeting them - My take is that either what they have isn't considered to be worthwhile by anyone that has looked at it, or alternatively, they don't have anything.
The same Alife that went out of business two years ago.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/end-of-the-road-for-home-grown-motorcycle
I'm sure that's why no contact information for Alife was listed in the press release.
Do they think people are stupid, and that no one is going to look up the fact that they signed an essentially identical deal five years ago with the same people that went nowhere?
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2014/01/07/600887/10063319/en/Freedom-Motors-Signs-Engine-Development-Agreement-with-Singapore-s-ALIFE-AIR-Automobiles.html
It's just as well they disabled comments on the blog...
Evidently, there was a fire at Paul Moller's ranch on Sunday.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/07/16/skycaps-paul-moller-destroyed-dix-on-fire/
According to the article, two prototype Skycars were destroyed in the fire.
There has been a post on the blog by David Sastry confirming the fire, The blog post states that there is a lot of inaccurate reporting in the articles about the fire, but does allow that "a few historical models of Dr. Moller’s vehicles were lost as well". There were no injuries, and Paul Moller's house is undamaged.
I assume that you're asking why the planned flight demonstration in October 2011 was cancelled?
The officially stated reason (I'm not making this up) is that they were concerned that there were going to be so many people coming to see the demonstration that there wouldn't be suitable facilities to accommodate them. The demonstration was thus indefinitely postponed while a more suitable site for the demonstration was sorted out. (A bunch of sponsorship opportunities were also identified in the same press release).
No further demonstrations have subsequently occurred. Two years ago, Moller International tried to sell the Skycar prototype on ebay and highlighted that it was still in the configuration that it was in when it flew in 2003. These two facts make it pretty clear that the planned demonstration in 2011 was a sham, probably to attract investment.
The latest update from Freedom Motors is that there's no update. Today marks two months since there has been any update on the blog.
Last fall, they solicited $107,000 in funding. By their own figures, this funding must have run out some time ago. And what have they accomplished since? (Cue sound of crickets).
It's also been about two years since Freedom Motors said that they would have proof "within weeks" of how suitable the Rotapower engine would be for operating on sour biogas.
While we're on the subject of what was happening in years past -- Two years ago, they were trying (and failing) to sell the M400 prototype on eBay. Five years ago, they were in the middle of trying to sort out a deal with Thorntail Aviation. Six years ago, they were "within weeks" of starting a joint venture to produce Skycars in China. Eight years ago, they were in the run up to the much publicized demonstration flight of the Skycar (planned for October 2011) that was cancelled a few weeks before it was to occur. Ah, nostalgia.
Given that the stock has lost 99.9% of its original value, I'm sure that anyone who has owned it for more than a couple of years feels somewhat burned.
(Stock was $7.50/share some time in 2002, and is currently $0.0072/share, in case anyone wonders about the math).
That's kind of my point.
Lots of people have previously said that the problem was Paul's management, and that fixing this would solve the issues with MI and Freedom Motors.
I indicated that the Management has changed, and that things have stayed essentially the same. Obviously, the problem isn't (just) management.
In the past, I've referred to changes that MI or Freedom Motors have made as "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic". The changes haven't addressed the fundamental issue, which would appear to be that they just don't have what they claim to have.
Paul seems to have been pretty quiet recently. Moller International itself is clearly dormant, and Freedom Motors isn't much more visible. Subhash and David are the public front of the company (to the extent that anyone is visible), but aside from posting on their blog about once a month, the company has zero visibility. Some actual numbers -- there were as many posts on the blog over the first twenty days as there has been in the last *seven months*.
As for taking over the company -- Subhash has now been CEO for eight months, and David has been COO for almost two years. For all intents and purposes, that takeover has already happened. I think that this serves as an answer to the people that always said that the problem with MI and Freedom Motors was that Paul was strictly a technical guy and someone else should be managing. Well, someone else *has* been managing for some time now, and nothing has visibly changed. A lot of announcement were made last fall (during the Startengine fundraiser, which I'm sure was just a coincidence...) about new management and new strategic advisors, and there's no sign from the outside that anything has changed.