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Not many investors noticed in September 2008 when Warren Buffet took a 10% stake in Hong Kong-based battery maker BYD Co. Ltd. for $230 million.
They should be noticing now.
Shares in BYD, which also makes cell phones and automobiles, have quintupled in a little more than 12 months, meaning that Buffet's investment is now worth more than $1.5 billion.
But Buffet's interest in this little-known Chinese stock isn't the main story here. In fact, the investing icon is simply focusing a bright spotlight on an industry that could serve as a major profit play for years to come.
The real story here is battery power, a technology market that's heating up in a big way. Just the market for rechargeable batteries is expected to zoom from $36 billion in 2008 to $51 billion in 2013.
And yet the battery market gets less attention than solar or wind power, its higher-profile (but less-technologically developed) cousins.
Modern battery technology is the keystone of the global push to find an energy alternative for oil. In fact, a specific new category of rechargeable batteries is actually a "breakthrough" technology that has the potential to replace as much as 148 billion barrels of oil over the next 50 years, a potential savings of $10.4 trillion - even at current prices.
And oil prices will certainly blast well above the current $78.50 a barrel as supplies diminish.
What these numbers don't tell you is that there's a powerful catalyst at work, one that's behind the big push to develop new, rechargeable battery technologies: the electric - or "hybrid" - car.
Billions Bet on "Third Element" Technology
While last year's record oil price of $147 a barrel served as a wake-up call for the car-driving consumer, it was also the catalyst that shifted the plug-in-auto industry into high gear.
In response to the oil price surge in 2008, U.S. President Barack Obama promised to invest at least $150 billion on alternative energy during his term.
But a big chunk of his $787 billion stimulus bill will finance development of a new, rechargeable battery technology for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV).
The technology in question: Lithium-ion.
Sometimes referred to as the "Third Element" - because of its No. 3 position on the Periodic Table of the Elements, lithium is believed to have been one of the few elements synthesized in the "Big Bang" that created the universe.
Now it's a key ingredient of the new class of rechargeable batteries needed to jump-start the plug-in car market. The other ingredient is capital.
President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act allocates $2 billion for the development of battery systems, components and software for advanced lithium-ion batteries and for hybrid electric systems. Another $300 million will support an Alternative Fueled Vehicles Pilot Program.
While those allocations will nurture the continued development of lithium-ion technologies, another program is aimed at hybrid-vehicle buyers: Starting this year, buyers of commercial plug-in electric vehicles can receive a tax credit of up to $7,500.
And that was just a down payment: The $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program will make sure the industry itself continues to develop.
Automakers have latched onto lithium-ion battery technology as the road to the future. Right now, nearly every automaker on the planet is gearing up to flood the market with some form of electric-powered car:
- Daimler AG (NYSE: DAI) plans to roll out a hybrid version of its S-Class sedan later this year. The entire Mercedes lineup eventually will be available as hybrids in the next five years.
- Tesla Motors Inc., of San Carlos, Ca., has already delivered the Tesla Roadster, a stunning electric two-seater that sells for more than $100,000.
- Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (ADR OTC: NSANY) retooled a factory in Smyrna, Tenn. to produce a pure electric vehicle. Nissan expects to sell as many as 50,000 units of the hybrid Altima in its first year.
- Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is bringing out the pure electric Transit Connect commercial fleet van in 2010 and plans to invest $550 million to retool a Michigan truck plant to manufacture a pure electric Focus in 2011.
- Chinese carmakers Hafei and Coda are planning to bring a mass-produced electric car to market in California in fall 2010.
- And General Motors Corp. (OTC: MTLQQ, NYSE: GRM), is counting heavily on new-technology lithium-ion batteries to power the Chevy Volt, its revolutionary and much-hyped PHEV, which is due to debut next year.
A Global Power (and Profit) Play
For further confirmation that the PHEVs are more than just a passing fad, look at the money being invested by governments across the globe.
Aabar Investments PJSC, an investment company wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, recently bought a 4% stake in Tesla Motors from Daimler. And Aabar Chairman Khadem Abdulla al Qubaisi says the fund is planning several more electric-vehicle ventures with Daimler.
"When we acquired our stake in Daimler in March, we identified a number of potential areas for co-operation between our two businesses. One of these was a desire to focus on the development of electric vehicles," al Qubaisi said.
But here's the real kicker: Aabar Investments is using Abu Dhabi oil revenue to finance its foray into these oil-supplanting battery technologies.
Worldwide demand for batteries of all types - both non-rechargeable (primary) and rechargeable (secondary) is projected to advance at roughly a 7% annual clip through 2010, reaching $73.6 billion, according to a study published by The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based market-research firm.
Not surprisingly, the "World Batteries" study predicts that China will post the largest gains, while sales increases are also expected to be strong in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Poland, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
But it's the China market that promises to put a real charge into the worldwide battery business.
On the home front, Beijing is pushing its assault on battery power through its "20% by 2020" campaign, meaning that 20% of China's power needs will be served by renewable-energy technologies.
From a global standpoint, China is using its big advantage in labor costs to establish a leadership position in the worldwide battery market, and already has more than 50 factories cranking out product.
It's an aggressive plan, to be sure, but it's also cohesive and complete. And Beijing has the cash to make it happen.
[Editor's Note: Although it's a new technology, there's a clear leader in the lithium-battery-technology market.
The company's profit potential is stunning.
And Money Morning Contributing Editor Horacio Marquez has found it.
The firm in question is a global player with a solid market cap and is well known within the hybrid-vehicle sector. But surprisingly few investors know about the company, or have ever even heard its name.
It's no surprise that Marquez uncovered this gem, since he's forged a reputation for spotting profit plays long before the institutional money piles in. This profit-creating talent was one that Marquez displayed time and again during his years on Wall Street and is one that he now makes available to the subscribers of his Money Map VIP Trader investing service.
To learn more about this company - to get in ahead of the masses - and to find out more about Marquez's Money Map VIP Trader, please click here.]
News and Related Story Links:
- Power Electronics:
China to Overtake United States in Battery Market - China Daily:
China eyes 20% renewable energy by 2020 - Department of Energy:
ATVM loan program. - Fox Business News:
Reportlinker Adds Advanced Rechargeable Battery Market: Emerging Technologies and Trends Worldwide Report. - The National:
Aabar takes stake in Tesla. - The Freedonia Group:
Official Web Site. - Popular Mechanics Magazine:
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. - WhiteHouse.gov:
President Barack Obama. - WebElements.com:
Lithium. - Automotive News:
Mercedes plans more hybrids, AMG models.
It would be worthy for Brazilian readres to compare the potential of this industry with the actual perspectives of biofuels such
as sugar-cane ethanol and other energy sources based on extensive agriculture and low investment in technology.
Ethanol is not a substitute for oil, but only an additive that cannot exceed 15% of fuel used for vehicles; whereas, butanol is a total substitute. Unfortunately ethanol is often a by product of food for human and animal consumption and fetches a higher price for ethanol than as a food product – thanks to the powerful agricultural lobby. Political expediency stands in the way of the supply – demand equation, and accordingly the economy , or more to the point, the people suffer as a result of such policies that have really distorted the market and the illusion of free trade.
We have cars in Brazil runing 100% on ethanol since the 70's. No problems with them.
Alcohol in all gas stations. Flex cars that run with any amount of gas and ethanol you want to fill the tank with. Ethanol from cane, not from corn. It just depends of having it. But I do think it's not the future, just our present in Brazil. So the world depends on other developments, to stop the burning systems.
The other ingredient in a lithium ion battery, other than capital, is cobalt.
See the comments by Dr Irving Mintzer principal of MEG LLC, an energy consulting firm as he described a “nightmare scenario” at the Critical & Strategic Metals Summit in Washington DC this week. He is quoted saying that more supply of cobalt and neodymium are required.
The missing piece of the equation – safe, secure supply of cobalt.
WHAT ABOUT SAFETY OF HANDLING COBALT , ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION THROUGH DISPOSAL OF COBALT . IS IT SAFE ? WHERE WILL COBALT COME FROM TO SUSTAIN LARGE VOLUME OF LITHIUM BATTERIES ? WE MAY END UP IN POLLUTING SOMETHING ELSE AS WE DID POLLUTE AIR DUE TO CARBON EMISSION BY USE OF MASSIVE FUELS .
I continue to be amazed at the lack of rational thinking here co2 is what plants use during photosynthesis at the time of the energy exchange the carbon atom is split off and the byproduct that is released is o2, oxygen, which is what we require to breath, the conclusion here is that plants are a natural scrubber for the emmisions that everyone was so up in arms about the question is what are you medlesome arrogant self important job killing global proverty expansionists going to come up with to clean all the real environmental problems and poisons your movement has created. you are not nearly as smart and compassionate as you fancy yourself as, in the coming months there will be enough additional evidence come to light over the climate change fiasco that even al gore will have to go into hiding hopefully he will excuse himself from the country. its too bad the russians had to be the ones to expose it but far be it from me to deny credit where its due, i have cussed them much but for this one they deserve thanks oil has done more to promote freedom than anything else on earth it replaced the slaves and the rest is history.
I will agree with you but most Polititions invest in oil and are makeing millions from the royalties!! I got a report that Obamaha, Clinton and many others a make hugh amounts of money from the oil companies and, of course, they have the money to do so, to invest!!
IN A RACE TO MAKE MONEY HUMANS ARE AGAIN RUSHING FOR COBALT WHICH WHO KNOWS MIGHT RESULT IN FURTHER DAMAGE TO ENVIRONMENT . IT IS GREED FOR MONEY THAT IS DRIVING POLLUTION EVERYWHERE . ULTIMATELY RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE WILL HAVE TO BE NUMBER 1 PRIORITY . HUMAN BEINGS WILL HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH LESS .
Great Article, mentions lithium, but seems to miss the importance of cobalt. On a 1:1 ration chemically with Lithium in the battery, and at 3 times the weight, and approximately 7 times the price per pound, cobalt prices going forward will be really driven of the price of lithium ion batteries (or Li-Co batteries).
And with 50% of the world's supply of cobalt coming from the DRC, it is apparent that North American Supply is critial. Producers such as Xstrata, Vale and Sherrit all have domestic (North American) production and/or refining capacity/capability, but these are typically byproduct sourced cobalt primarily dependant on the nickel price.
True primary source cobalt in North America will likely come Puget Ventures project in Ontario, Canada, and Formation Capital's Idaho project in the US.
It seems the hype around lithium prices has moved many stocks to 52 week record highs, and cobalt stock prices have lagged. It will be interesting to see where the cobalt price ends up in the coming months, and to see what annual production in 2007 versus 2008 and 2009 really looks like so forecasting for 2010 can be more accurate. With cobalt (and moly) starting to trade on the LME in the new year, cobalt will see some new eyes looking at it as an investment vehicle.
OIL SUPPLY IS DWINDLING IS BEING HEARD SINCE 1978 SINCE THE FIRST OIL SQUEEZ . NONE IS PREDICTING HOW LONG IT WILL LAST . THIS UNCERTAINITY IS DRIVING NEWER TECHNOLOGY , BEGIINING WITH BIO-FUELS AND NOW BATTERIES . WHERE WILL IT LEAD TO ? WHAT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT OIL`S LAST BIRTHDAY ?
Please supply me with information on investing in LITHIUM battries & Companies who is dealing in LITHIUM battries. thank You . I am already receiving your newsletter.
Hi there,
I am in Australia and we have a lithium project here that I am sure will be a big thing shortly as the plant is in the building stage due to start production in about november this year,it is "Galaxy Resources " google it and have a read am sure you will be impressed.
Good luck,Regards Mike
Rockwell Holdings is the best Lithium play, symbol ROC, trades around 25-27 range-but will bust loose…it rode quickly from 19.5 to 26…and is trading laterally-a matter of time b/4 it explodes. good luck to you…Oh and by the way, look into this company too: ESPH, very affordable, and they are the ONLY company in the world able to clean polluted frac water ON SITE in the gas/oil industry. Check out their technology online.
http://www.ecospheretech.com This company IS the goose that lays the golden eggs-I bought 42K shares at around 26 cents-it's making me wealthy! Close at around $1.15 yesterday. LOXOMO
I got into ISPH at 67 cents, but not so many shares as you. Do you think it still will run strong? What do they have to do with this Li Ion theme?
What do you know about Amerilithium? (AMEL) They seem to be buying up lots of lithium rich land. They recently came on the stock market. Is this a good play?
Thanks,
thank you!
hey, pls tell me which companies they propose ?
Please send info on the companies involved in subject electric battery tech. Thanks, Paul Sage
As retired but active Brazilian chemical engineer, am interested on impact pof Lithium on Biodiesel.
Will contact authors of article pubished by you.
Any more relevant informations ?
Thanhk you in advance.
Holger Heller
I am taking advantage of your lithium based recommendations, but would be interested in any publication of a way to invest in the cobalt opportunity suggested above. I am a satisfied life-time member.
Thanks for the info!
I have a few shares of Zenn Motor company (ZNN) because they are investing in the technology of EESTor, which is capacitor-based. It may turn out to be a failed production attempt if the finer points of the technology can't be put into process, but I think it's worth a shot because the initial idea grates with the scientific 'experts' who have also been telling us hot fusion is "10 years away" for 40 years. Not a good argument, I know, but the potential is even better than any battery so far, if only for the ability to fast charge and better storage of regenerative braking.
If interested, here's most of the info in a nutshell: http://bariumtitanate.blogspot.com/2002/07/if-fascination-of-eestors.html
I want to invest in the future for my progeny.
I would appreciate any information you can give me regarding :
Blackhawk Expl. Inc Com BHWX
Our "electric grid" is not capable of handling electric cars right now if a majority of people buy them.
What we need are vehicles operating on natural gas.
The article refers to batteries as re-newable energy sources, this is not true, they are energy storage devices, the energy itself must still be generated elsewhere, usually by burning fossil fuels at a power station. Now if every battery powered car came with a solar panel and/or windmill for the top of the garage…..!
Terry is quite right. Your article may induce confusion, as it did the propaganda about hydrogen, the first element, which again is NOT a new fuel but a storage of energy generated by power plants. So I cannot understand how cloud lithium save alla the barrels of oil as maintained by the author.
Un fuerte abrazo desde Washington Horacio. Me ha gustado mucho tu articulo.
I for myself believe very much in electrical energy for cars. I am a shareholder of a small company named Li-ion Motors (LMCO) trading right now at around between 75 and 85 cts. per share. I believe this company has lots going for it. They just delivered cars to the Netherlands and Abu Dabi. Those cars are solely running on Lithium power.
For the cities a car like that is perfect. I do believe that the company has huge potential. And it is american made.
I believe in the furture of companies like this one in general but that it takes on Oil on a short term iI seriously doubt. In the future, for sure but people have to change their minds and adjust their way of thinking first before anthing significant can take place.
In Europe we already have the Government to help with developing cars with electrical power
and it is beginning to become more and more interesting. In Italy they have already around 5000 Fiat 500 running on just electrical power.
Be it as it may. There is still a long way to go.
P.S. pardon my typos, since my first language is german. Sorry again and have a pleasant day everybody
TK
like every succesful bussiness model diversify . we need all types of energy used , more nuclear , coal, battery, solar , geo thermal is amazing i think a major breakthrough is coming in this energy source, where water is pumped down into earth and turned to steam and then when comes up back though pipe it turns a turbine unlumited supply of heat, anyway our country just lets other countries just eclipse us because they are ambitious and we are full of political wrangling and our country will go down unless action is taken . just like china is doing we need to do the same if this country was run more like a bussiness we would be fine , it should be a prerequisite to own a succesful business in order to hold any kind of office much less the presidency , there are more requirements to buy a house than to be president!!!
and the world laughs as our democracy allows for corruption and stifles our needs like energy all they have to do to influence our country is lobby us and that is legal bribery our democracy allows for this , in the real world this is called conflict of interest and we would be fired from any corparation for this but not the people who are running the biggest bussiness in the world our country!!!!!!!! and i am sad to see and watch it slowly go down the drain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The author left out the most important point of all. To charge a battery you need electric power. In fact, you need a lot of electric power. If you plan to recharge your car's battery overnight you will need to beef up your wiring and the electric utility will have to beef up all the lines between your house and the new electric generating plant that they have to build to supply this power. This generating plant will burn fossil fuel unless you want to pay something like 18 cents a kilowatt hour for all of your electricity. The electric utilities have been afraid of electric cars for years because of the huge increase in capacity that they will require. In fact there is no reason to believe that electric cars will make any difference at all to the fossil fuel requirements. They will simply move it from the car to the generating plant.
The problem is most acute in places like California, where it takes forever to get permits to build either a plant to generate electricity or a power line to bring it in from outside. Thirty-five years ago the American Society of Civil Engineers stated that the cost of getting approval for a new power construction project in an urban area in California was more than the cost of construction and I doubt that the permit process is any easier now. The required lead time then was five years. So if you can't build a power plant, you can't bring in fuel from outside, and you can't build powerlines to bring power in from outside you are going to have a permanent brownout and then nobody will have enough power to charge their cars.
An electric car suffers from a lot of efficiency problems. First of all, the plant that generates the electricity can get efficiency of somewhere near 25%. Figure on a loss of 2% for the step-up transformer at the generating plant. Figure another 8% for the loss in the transmission line and stepdown transformers. This means that you now have 25% minus 10% of that means 22.5%. Next consider the recharging station. You will need at least 10 kilowatts to run a vehicle in the city. If you plan on using it for an hour to work and an hour back you need 20 kilowatt hours. If you plug into your normal wall outlet at 120 volts times 15 amps this gives you 1800 watts so 20 kilowatt hours would take 11 hours if efficiency of battery and charger are 100%. If they are 50%, which is still a high estimate, it would take you 22 hours to recharge. This means that you need to use wiring similar to that for an electric stove to recharge in a reasonable time.
In summary, electric cars do nothing to help the overall energy problem, they simply move it from one place to another. If you burn fossil fuel at a generating plant you will get better efficiency than if you burn it directly in the car but you have to take the electrical losses into account. The only advantage to utilities would be that electric cars would be recharged overnight when other electric power demand is low.
Several years ago a company called Rosen Motors developed a hybrid car that used a gas turbine (only one moving part) and used a flywheel to store energy. They stated that the total pollution caused by operating their vehicle was less than the pollution caused by burning fossil fuel in an electric generating plant if you took into account the losses in the electrical distribution system and the battery. At that time efficiency in batteries was in the neighborhood of 50%. I note that none of the proponents of modern lithium batteries produce figures showing efficiency of their products. Many of them do produce figures showing kilowatt-hours per pound but they are very shy about saying how much power you can actually take out of the battery compared to the power that goes into the charging device.
Why gold will surpass $2,500.
It remember to me the Aden sisters in the eighties!
By
Great but no mention that we still need oil/coal/natural gas to produce the electricity to recharge the batteries.. so we're still dependent on oil and coal.
the technological innovations are very important for the us economy growing.In all asia are the future of the energy.Also in the sahara dessert is the energy future.rafael d.
really money morning is very nice for trade commodity
the need is to asses the requirements of fossil fuels for the electric generation that would be used to charge batteries, i think it is much faster to go to natural gas for operation of motor car engines, since the changes are minimum compared to hybrid, etc. in the end what we end up is the combination of all sources of energy, and in the run, the best suited and cheapest will be the winner.
also, there is a cost of disposing of these bateries.
you could use lpg or natural gas for cars with cheap convertion kits for existing cars.
thanks, nestor g. ramirez
Why will gold reach $2,500 dollar mark
question, is not the simpliest and plentiful supply of nat gas made by boiling plain water with baking soda to form hydrogen gas?
Interesting give and take so far on this subject. I also wonder why Natural Gas is not getting more research as vehicle fuel. We appear to have a surfeit of gas and a safe and almost everlasting supply in most countries, and it is cheap right now. I am in Canada and we have some commercial vehicles running on natural gas. Why not put more money and subsidies into this. ? I have not heard anything much about passenger cars using the technology. Do you have any companies that are doing this? It may be less exotic but seems practical.
OK Lithium battery will be another big bussines and speculative spiralto make money!
But this "Eldorado" will solve not any of the energy problemns! Not at all !
If man wil learn a little bit physics and logic , will discover that this will be quite the oposite of what's pretend to be ! Physicaly this is just a hoax and terbile one ! Maybe for the big crowded city it is a short therm solution ! Maybe !
Pollution will be worst than now a days !
New mountains of garbage of old useless battery will rise ! Will be just another nightmerry as every mess man made !
Idiotic propaganda, big bussines , money or not, the fundamental laws of materia and energy changes and conservation of that are still there and not any moron software could change anything !
mr Dave has presentend good some aspects, but accordingbly with him there are al lot of other most negative forgotten aspects that comercial bla, bla, bla don'nt take in account !
Will be a disater as well as everything !
Great article.Yes,cobalt+lithium all will cause increased pollution. Underdeveloped countires like India , have been using compressed N'atural Gas in their taxis,cars and rickshaws as far as I can remember.Its CHEAP!..Isn't Honda Civic have a Nat' Gas driven car?..Since we Americans own the biggest car industry in the world, how come Obama's team can't force GM and Chrysler to build Nat' Gas trucks and cars?.We, in Oklahoma have 3 publicly traded Co.–Chesepeak,Devon, Sandridge and numerous smaller ones who i doubt if their CEOs and their Board members drive Nat" Gas cars, eventhough we have few Nat' Gas stations located around the vast Oklahoma City($1.29/gallon).Recently,we had engineering students from Bangla Desh, who have come to learn more about uses of Nat' Gas as an alternative fuel to Oil,.Guess what, this whiz kid, said that they make conversion kits to Nat' Gas for $350 !!! In Oklahoma it costs $2500 !..So why do our politicians not use this fantastic idea?? Boon T Pickens, is the only guy , who has American patriotism at heart, he wants to convert all 18 wheelers to Nat' gas, all truck stops will have Nat' Gas .PLUS we'll be less dependent on the Middle East Oil. Lets go to Nat' Gas..My next car is going to be Nat' Gas,,its cheaper.any more thoughts on this.First convert all Govt vehicles to Nat' Gas.
I think CNG is a good idea for use in vehicles here in the U.S. Having been to Thailand several times the past few years I have seen numerous Chevy cars and trucks running on CNG. All types of big rig trucks too. One HUGE problem though. The gas needs to be compressed to fill the tank of the vehicle! I've personally seen lines in Thailand at CNG stations several kilometers long! It makes waiting lines of the 1974 Arab embargo seem small compared to what I witnessed. My friends stopped and filled their gasoline powered vehicle and back on the road within minutes. I don't think Americans will tolerate waiting in long lines for their CNG refuel. If refueling can be improved to only take minutes instead of hours, CNG could be a great way to wean ourselves from Middle Eastern oil.
50 years ago, i drove company cars, Gulf Oil corp, in eastern venezuela that had dual fuel systems, the cars used LPG and gasoline, to switch from LPG to gasoline alll you needed to do was to turn a switch……..now you can use natural gas which is cheaper. why this technology does not get sufficient efforts and investments for further developing it? it has been around for years, and everyone is crazy about the lithiun batteries. I beleve it is because you, the people, will end up paying twice as much for your cars, to use gas it takes a few dollars to convert the cars to the use of natural gas. and you can run a lot more miles on a tankful of natural gas than on a battery!
eagers for money change the way we need to do our imporvements……
lets get our feet on the ground!
CNG technology is well developed and has been around for at least fifty years.
The problem is that cng does not liquefy easily like lpg so it has to be stored in heavy and expensive high pressure gas cylinders that have limited capacity. Refueling requires a slow and expensive high pressure compressor station. Liguefied Natgas has to be chilled to extreme low temperature and constantly boils in storage. The tank has to be vent continuously to prevent explosion. It would be far too dangerous and expensive for consumer use. Qualified operators are required.
Yes CNG is an ideal motor fuel and the technology is there and it works. The inconvenience and expense rule out any widespread use.
Rafael
contact me to do analyses comc. a new battery systems
I would like to know why we in the U.S. are not able to buy 50-plus MPG cars, (small diesel and turbo-diesel) powered as I have seen offered in the U.K. Is there some collusion between big oil and congressmen to prevent the offering of these cars and keep us in the dark about them?
Much contentious debate! Where is a logical "I/O" analysis which details the various interdependancies and attempts to at least approximate their correlation coefficients? Ask, and try to answer a few basic questions for each viable alternative: What, How, Where, When, Why, How much (time, money, resources, experimentation,etc.). Test the various hypothesies, choose the most promising priorities and ensure that the research teams are in frequent and regular communication. Maybe even Gates & Buffet & Soros would donate to this charitable cause.
What is wrong with the car that uses a small gasoline engine to charge the battery? this would probably be the fastest way to reduce de use of fossil fuels, because the lithle gasoline engine only charges de battery. so there would not be any pressure on local energy suppliers, also no problems with electricity transmission. as fas as i am concerned i believe that a combination of cars that run on nat gas or LPG and others use this hybrid combination of small gasoline engine to charge the battery will make it.
is there any problem with this economics? or is it that battery producers are really lobbing strong? i just do not understand, there must be something behind the battery businesses, because they just pass the problem to the producer of electricity by burning more fuels to produce more electricity for charging the batteries.(made in china) ????? so where are the real savings of battery powered cars???
or better yet, who will be making the money? i bet it will be wall street!
anyone can help me? thanks, nestor g ramirez
a long time ago, about 40 years ago, i visited the postal services in atlanta, ga. usa, and the autos that distributed the mail used nat gas, when they returned to their base, from delivering mail, which is a fixed route, they connected the cars to be fueled up during the night, and i understand that was a succesfull network, what happened? is someone, or some company distroying these initiatives?
nestor g ramirez
Many years ago,10 plus, I ran across an article of a person who developed a hydro engine. The vechile could run on water and many other liquids. there is a trucking company in California who still to this day runs his fleet of semi trucks on water etc. Actually Neal Young has vintage care which runs on water. Why are these options not available or being used?