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The 10K is due out within the next week. The numbers should prove interesting to say the least. PWTC paid over a million dollars for that boondoggle Sentry.
You're brave to venture over to the darkside. lol That's a 2 nut show over there. : )
A reasonable person will give someone else a chance to demonstrate their effectiveness. Unlike your near immediate critisisms of Walter, most here gave him time and benefit of the doubt to prove himself. Well, ample time has passed and his record now speaks clearly.
By the way, if not for logman and I, you and Walter wouldn't be sweethearts right now.
Maybe Bob has writer's block. : ) eom
You could try an all or none order. eom
That's a classic Gary. lol eom
Anybody else want to call Bob? lol No? lol
Nice signature Bob. lol Seems to capture PWTC investor sentiment right now. Go Walter!
You're brave. lol eom
Cool, thanks. Let's hope it holds water. eom
Screamer, that really was my point. Another "2 weeks" has passed since someone last got the scoop from Bob. Vinny and Rocko need to talk to Bob but in person. : )
Posted by: solidgold
In reply to: None Date:3/30/2007 3:34:00 PM
Post #28657
The Garden deal is moving on! I just talked to Bob on the phone. It's a new deal now with 100% ownership. Investors group is out and it's a direct deal with Garden financed by Garden for 3 years. Bob met with Garden guy last Wednesday and is putting $100,000 and stock in escrow. It should be signed by next Monday or Tuesday. He offered me to call him back on Tuesday and verify. Keep faith everyone and BUY! (not pumping JMHO).
9. He's stranded on Blue Island with Ginger and Mary Ann.
I believe you're right this time, but don't let it go to your head. : )
lol, you're probably right Bill. That reminds me of an email I just sent to BJW. I just forwarded it to you.
U.S. Energy Dept. Funds $14M for Plug-In Hybrid Battery Development
Source: UPI
[Apr 07, 2007]
SYNOPSIS: The goal is to improve battery performance so vehicles can drive up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging, about the average daily commute. WASHINGTON, April 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will provide up to $14 million in funding for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery development.
The Energy Department will co-fund the $28 million request made by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium. Developing a low-cost, high-energy battery is what experts believe will lead to commercialization of plug-in hybrid vehicles. The USABC and the Energy Department will accept battery proposals for the grants.
The goal is to improve battery performance so vehicles can drive up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging, about the average daily commute. Fuel efficiency is part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative.
"President Bush is committed to developing alternative fuels and energy-saving innovations for an improved and diversified array of vehicle technologies," said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. "By improving batteries for plug-in hybrids, we can help achieve the president's goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent within the decade."
The electrochemical storage technology must be capable of meeting USABC's performance, weight, lifecycle and cost criteria. Potential to commercialize the proposed battery technologies and bring them to market quickly will also be a consideration. The PHEV Request for Proposal Information deadline for submission is May 31.
Valence gets energized
Austin firm's twist on the lithium-ion battery moves closer to paying off for its faithful founder.
By Dan Zehr
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, April 09, 2007
An earlier version of this story contained an error. Go to our Corrections page for a full explanation.
Carl Berg helped found Valence Technology Inc. in 1989, and in the succeeding 18 years he's spent more than $100 million just to keep the Austin-based battery maker afloat.
It hasn't been the Silicon Valley billionaire's most lucrative investment — at least not yet.
Valence has sorted out production bugs that crippled it for the past 15 years, Berg said in recent phone interview, and the company finally could be moving toward its first profitable quarter.
"I think it's always a difficult, long process" to build a successful company, said Berg, a real estate developer and venture capitalist who ranked 322 on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans last year. "But if I would've understood batteries then like I do now, I wouldn't have touched this.
"Normally, I wouldn't stay with a company this long," he added, "but I still believe this is going to be the winning technology."
Berg has put his faith in a different twist on the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used to power millions of notebook computers and other consumer electronics. Valence and a crop of other firms are using a chemistry in their lithium-ion batteries that's safer and more stable than the cells in widespread use today.
The battery recalls issued last year by several computer makers illustrated the dangers of the current technology. But Valence's chemistry doesn't deliver the same pound-for-pound power.
So Valence and its rivals have focused on applications where the more popular lithium-ion batteries would be too great a risk — hybrid vehicles, motorized scooters, power tools and cell phone towers, to name a few.
"You have many of these cells in a large area, and you don't want something to happen that will cause a big fire and create safety issues," said Ahmad Pesaran, principal engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. "That's where this technology is teetering on the edge of breaking through — as the next battery that goes into a Prius" or another hybrid car.
Valence already has its batteries powering Segway scooters, cell phone towers and automated wheelchairs. It has lined up dozens of companies to test its batteries, including several hybrid and battery-powered vehicle programs. And it sells a smaller version of its batteries as a back-up power system for notebook computers and other consumer electronics.
But it still has a long way before its products become widespread. The company is working out final details on new packaging and electronics that control the larger battery systems, Berg said. And this variety of lithium-ion chemistry remains expensive.
But the challenge now is driving sales, not trouble-shooting the production and technical issues that dogged Valence for years.
One of the toughest parts of selling new battery technology "is building credibility in the market," said Sara Bradford, manager of the power supplies and battery group at Frost & Sullivan, a research firm. Large customers "want to have a credible source, both from a safety and reliability perspective. They want to know their orders are going to be filled."
Recently departed CEO Jim Akridge, who had decades of battery industry experience, finally solved the production problems during his tenure. With Akridge tiring of the constant trips to Austin from his home in Tucson, Ariz., Berg brought in former IBM Corp. executive and technology consultant Bob Kanode last month to take over as CEO.
Kanode, who brings deeper experience in sales and marketing, had worked closely with Berg over the past six months. He said he'll work to shift the company — and its 380 employees in Austin, Las Vegas and overseas — into sales mode.
"I'm here to turn the corner commercially," Kanode said.
Electronics makers still pine for longer-lasting batteries, but the list of potential battery uses have exploded beyond consumer electronics and PCs.
"The secret is to find the applications that can't move to the next level" without Valence's technology, Kanode said in an interview at the company's headquarters in North Austin.
The growing interest in hybrid vehicles is a prime example. Current hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries. Although they tend to be fairly stable, they can't deliver the same power and performance over the life of a charge that lithium-ion can. To make a jump forward in performance, Kanode said, they'll need a battery such as Valence's.
The company and several of its rivals — most notably A123 Systems, a six-year-old firm based in Watertown, Mass. — already have their batteries under testing in a variety of applications. A123 has gotten much more buzz in recent months, including a meeting with President Bush in February.
"A123 is doing exactly what we did in 1990, when we were the buzz of the country," Berg said. "I'm not too shocked at that. With our track record, we have to go out and prove to the world" that we can do this.
The world is waiting for that proof. Valence's shares peaked at $39.66 in March 2000, but they haven't topped $10 in the past six years. The stock closed Thursday at $1.14.
A123, a private company, has focused primarily on cordless power tools, including some popular Black & Decker and Dewalt models. Only more recently has it turned its attention to hybrid vehicles, said Bradford, the Frost & Sullivan analyst.
"For a long time, Valence was the spearhead in the industry," Bradford said. And although A123 is getting more press now, she said, "I still feel (Valence) has a very solid position."
Stiff competition
Both companies face stiff competition from the established lithium-ion battery makers, whose ranks include Sony, Sanyo and Panasonic. But even in applications where its more stable compound holds bigger advantages, there's plenty of room for several companies, Kanode said.
Take the market for lead-acid batteries, the ones found under a car's hood. The market for those batteries is $16 billion to $17 billion, he said, and Valence's batteries could offer better performance in many of the places lead-acid is used.
At the federal renewable energy lab, Pesaran and his team are testing a Valence-powered hybrid car. They plan to move on to A123's system next, he said.
"Competition is good, because they push each other," Pesaran said. "But also, because there's more than one company, people accept the technology better."
But the companies face the same barriers, the biggest of which is price. Their type of lithium-ion battery costs almost four times as much as auto manufacturers will pay, Pesaran said. A full battery system, electronics and all, can cost as much as $20,000, he said, but automakers want something more in the $4,000 range.
Those prices will drop if the technology catches on and companies can begin producing the systems in greater volume. And because the chemistry uses iron instead of cobalt, its raw materials are cheaper than those in the lithium-ion battery powering a notebook PCs.
Valence also has managed to sharply reduce its production costs by moving its manufacturing to established battery firms in China.
Other obstacles
But price isn't the only barrier Valence and its rivals face. As they build larger battery systems, the electronics needed to manage them grow more complex. If one of the battery's cells falters, Pesaran said, the whole system's performance can suffer.
And a more fundamental problem could be looming in the form of a patent dispute over the chemistry Valence and A123 use.
The chemistry that makes their batteries more stable has its roots in work done by John Goodenough, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Texas. The school and Hydro-Quebec, a Canadian utility that licensed Goodenough's technology, have sued Valence and A123, claiming they've infringed on the UT patents.
"We're confident to go forward," Kanode said of the company's patents.
Kanode will look to add rising sales to the company's recent success in cutting costs. Although the company reported revenue of $11.9 million through the first nine months of its latest fiscal year, it also reported a $16.4 million net loss.
Valence has drastically cut the cost of producing its batteries, though. For the first time, Valence reported a quarter in which it made more revenue than it spent to manufacture its batteries.
Given those improvements, pulling in more sales could lead to a profitable quarter — which Valence has yet to have. Berg said that any one of several potential deals could double revenue and that he hopes the company will be profitable on a sustainable basis by this time next year.
A profit would be a long time coming, but Berg said he'll back the company as long as it increases sales and moves toward profitability.
And if it wants to get back the buzz it has lost to its younger rivals, he said, Valence will have to string together a series of strong quarters.
"Then the world will start to believe in Valence again," he said. "We've been around so long that most of the world has lost interest in the company. (They're saying) 'Valence hasn't done anything in 15 years, so why now?' "
"It all boils down to doing sales," he said.
dzehr@statesman.com; 912-5932
Best of show Turd soup. eom
I think we could come up with a whole list of Bernard Blunders. : (
Too bad PT has/had no marketing skills to have taken advantage of Austin's interest in plug-in technology.
Austin hopes to lead on applying plug-in car technology
3/31/2007 2:03 PM
By: Associated Press
AUSTIN -- Austin hopes to become the first U.S. city to put the emerging technology of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to use.
The city's utility, Austin Energy, has big plans for plug-in vehicles beyond just cutting down on gas consumption.
The city hopes the cars can eventually supplement Austin's electricity supply during peak hours.
Austin-based Plug-In Partners is a national coalition of governments, businesses and nonprofit groups. It's seeking to show automakers there's a market for the vehicles.
A few automakers are planning to roll out on a wide scale some version of a plug-in in the next several years with improved technology -- like the battery.
Mayor Will Wynn says mass production of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is widely considered the technology to have the biggest impact on oil dependence, oil price and emissions.
Delft researchers predict 'nanobattery' performance
Researchers at Delft University of Technology can predict how nanostructuring – the extreme reduction of structure – will affect the performance of Li-ion batteries. The nanostructuring of battery materials is likely to be common practice in the future, but it is not always performance-enhancing. The research findings have recently been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
A Li-ion battery is currently the smallest and lightest way to store as much rechargeable electrical energy as possible. However, the batteries are slow to charge and discharge, and this restricts their suitability for applications such as hybrid and electric vehicles. This sluggish performance is largely determined by the relatively long distance the lithium-ions have to travel through the electrode material in the battery. The speed at which the ions make their way through the electrode material is also slow compared to that in electrolyte (the fluid between the electrode material). The current strategy is therefore to nanostructure the electrode particles; that is to say, to make them very small (measurable in nanometres), and by doing so to shorten the existing route within the electrode material.
Yet the battery performance of materials nanostructured in this way has failed to meet expectations. To a great extent, these discrepancies were not understood. By using neutron-diffraction research technology, researchers at Delft University of Technology's Reactor Institute Delft (RID) have discovered that when the electrode particles are scaled down, the properties of the material structure change significantly. The phase balance that is generally present in this type of material changes and even disappears completely if the electrode sections become small enough.
Based on these findings, the researchers (Marnix Wagemaker, Wouter Borghols and Fokko Mulder) can predict how the nanostructures will affect the performance of the Li-ion batteries. They have concluded that the nanostructures of the electrode materials in Li-ion batteries is largely dependent on the material and the exact particle size. At a more general level, their findings are important for applications in which small ions diffuse into nanocrystals, such as hydrogen storage and the formation of alloys.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/duot-drp040207.php
In reading the following, has anyone requested financial information from the company?
Learn About the Markets
SEC Documents You Should Know
The Securities and Exchange Commission was created in the '30s, after the 1929 crash to help protect investors. One of the requirements that the SEC instituted to help keep investors informed are the filing requirements. Here's a list of the basic SEC filing requirements and forms.
Filing Requirements
All public companies are required to file financial documents with the SEC, unless they meet certain exemptions.
Public companies can be exempted from filing the standard SEC forms if they have less than 500 stockholders and less than $10 million in total assets. Exceeding either of these criteria requires them to file.
However, non-filing companies are required to provide shareholders with financial information on request. If you own stock in a non-filing company, you can call them and ask for financial data.
All other companies must file regular reports of all kinds with the SEC. Since 1996, these filings must be made in an SGML coded format in order to be easily stored in the EDGAR database operated by the SEC. There are numerous sources on the Internet for accessing these electronic filings.
http://www.briefing.com/GeneralInfo/Investor/ToolBox/LearningCenter/edu_SEC_Documents.htm
Good one Gamood. lol eom
I know what you mean Preamp, current management has lost credibility. Even if it's true, we're still 3 months late as projected in the last 10Q filing.
Still hoping for some success here though. (eventually)
I would like to have seen the news come out in the a.m. Oh well, at least it's something.
Power Technology to Begin Manufacturing Maintenance Free, Absorbed Glass Matt Batteries Using Patented Electrodes
Wednesday March 28, 5:13 pm ET
HOUSTON, March 28, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Power Technology (OTC BB:PWTC.OB - News) announced today that during the week of April 2, 2007, a commercial battery plant will begin manufacturing the company's Valve Regulated, Absorbed Glass Matt, Maintenance Free, Lead Acid batteries for customer evaluation and testing. Batteries will be delivered to Kung Long Batteries Industrial Co. Ltd., a publicly traded expert manufacturer of lead acid batteries and to Power Battery Co., a privately owned battery manufacturer which has major locations in Patterson, New Jersey, Iberville, Quebec, Canada, and Romsey, England. Kung Long's stock is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the symbol 1537.TW. In addition, batteries will be delivered to other independent manufacturers for evaluation and testing.
About Power Technology -- Power Technology, Inc. (OTC BB:PWTC.OB - News) is an alternative energy Research and Development Company engaged in activities regarding alternative ``green'' battery technology using patented light materials with up to 50% less weight and significantly less lead content than conventional batteries. The Company is commercializing its battery technology and has built equipment and systems to manufacture its proprietary electrodes for its patented batteries. Please visit our website at http://www.PWTCBATTERY.com for more information.
.0004 X .0005 eom
That may be a good idea. He has some purse strings attached.
Stock has to be registered to be issued. I guess since those shares that were intended for the employee benefit program were never issued, Walter de-registered them.
He got banned from the board. eom
I'm cranky also. Seven months after releasing this ...
August 15, 2006 Power Technology, Inc. Begins Maunfacturing in New Pilot Plant and all we hear is we delivered plates to Axion. Wow! If we had more than a few shareholders left here we could start a wave. Somebody in the company missed Marketing 101. It's inexcusable.
Just don't let them know you have any real qualifications. lol
alopex, if you keep writing like that you might just land a job with Rushnet. lol
Interesting. Thanks Bob. Still hope for lead acid in a number of applications.
Summary
The SLA serves a market in which newer battery chemistries would either be too expensive and the upkeep too demanding. A modern replacement may simply be too delicate and fail prematurely due to harsh environment. For applications such as wheelchairs, scooters and small UPS units, the SLA has not found a suitable replacement that is both rugged and cost effective. But like any other battery, the SLA exhibits weaknesses and has needs that must be met to obtain a long and reliable service. They are:
* Always keep the SLA charged. Never store below 2,10 V/cell.
* Avoid repeated deep discharges. Charge more often.
* If repeated deep discharges cannot be avoided, use a larger battery to ease the strain.
* Prevent sulphation and grid corrosion by choosing the correct charge and float voltages.
My understanding of the matter is Walter has nothing to substantiate hasher's claim. If Hasher had a verbal agreement (not smart business practice)with Balak then he should confer with Balak for satifaction of the debt.
Even if hasher's claim is valid, why unfairly hurt the investors of PT by an onslaught of bashing the stock on a messageboard?
"I'll stop if you pay me money" is extortion even for collection agencies. There are laws against that.
While you're in the translating mood Bob, how about translating this?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=18009729
Comes up as extortion in my translation book.
Sorry mlf, I've still yet to learn not to respond in like kind. : ) I will discontinue to engage hasher. At least we know what hasher's motive is now.
"I never ever said there was no battery" let me refresh your convenient memory lapse.
Posted by: hasher5
Date:10/18/2005 11:28:55 AM
Post #11022
So, when the battery does not get delivered by Nov 1, will you be happy to state that the PR is BS??.. just like all of the PR's. Somehow I don't see that happening
I guarantee you that there is no battery and there is no "major" hybrid manufacturer talking to PTI.
I am currently going over the nuytco stuff and when I called mike reay, their chief engineer he said they would have the battery in 4-6 weeks. This was in early April. They are still waiting but I intend to post an update on that later.
I don't assign anything sinister to Walter, I believe he just lacks business sense. He's a lawyer not an experienced businessman. My opinion is a far cry from one who used their prior association with the company to convince others through a barage of false accusations such as there is no Pilot Plant, there is no battery, etc., that PWTC is a scam. All conveniently at the same time trading the stock.