Electric cars vs Fuel Cell cars - the argument for both!

Image by Joi via Flickr

Electric Vehicles - EV's

Electric cars from Tesla Motors to the Chevy Volt, Toyota and Hyundai have been the talk of the investment community for the past 2 years. Lithium players have benefited from the hope of this technology and new Junior miners are jumping into the space looking for fresh Lithium deposits. However, according to John Peterson, the technology itself may not be a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine found in 98% of vehicles today.

John Petersen, an alternative energy expert with a strong background in electric battery technology, makes a very good argument for investors to shy away from the hype and keep a solid foundation in "facts" instead of "hype". I recommend you read this informative article at Seeking Alpha. Once you have read this, and digest the argument, you may no longer wonder "who killed the electric car"! It may be that the electric car killed itself.

However, this begs the question, why is Honda going with it's new fuel cell vehicle? Is Honda's management stupid or has it done due diligence that makes it run in the opposite direction of the herd mentality! Why has Ford contracted with Azure Dynamics to have their electric drive train in Fords new, "Truck of the year".

After all, a herd mentality led to the over production of SUV's in the 1990's. A herd mentality led to every asset and stock market bubble in history, including the meltdown of 2008. Mr. Petersen makes a very strong argument for seeking a contrarian investment strategy when it comes to Electric vehicles replacing the internal combustion engine. Here is our contrarian view.

Fuel Cells

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the entire universe. When astro physicists send out "signals" into the universe to look for intelligent life, they always include the atomic weight of hydrogen in their message. That is how common this element is. Pure hydrogen is also the best fuel for fuel cells used in cars and buses. There is, however, a problem with storage of pure hydrogen, given it's volatility, however at the outset of the production of the internal combustion engine, volatility of gasoline was also a problem, which was eventually overcome. The production and storage of pure hydrogen will also, eventually, be overcome. Where does that leave the fuel cell industry in the meantime?

Natural Gas is the most abundant and cleanest source of hydrogen today, and it is already in production throughout North America, which houses the largest deposits of natural gas on the planet. That gas has only recently become available in abundance, thanks to the fractionation technology developed to extract it from Shale (Shale gas). Natural gas is also easily utilized in fuel cells and although it doesn't have a neutral effect on the environment as does pure hydrogen, it is a much cleaner fuel that any other fuel available, especially when used in fuel cells.

Fuel cell buses are already on the road and in production at this writing. You will see them ferrying athletes and spectators to the Winter Olympics in February. Fuel cell trucks (running on natural gas and eventually pure hydrogen), fuel cell ships and finally large fuel cell stacks to replace coal fired electric plants. Can a battery do these things?

Natural gas and eventually pure hydrogen fuel cells may be the future of transportation, the future of back-up power and the future of power plants in general. Lithium will power the wireless market and, with advances in technology, may power electric vehicles. North America will lead the way, (China is ramping up) and this will no doubt affect your Retirefunds over the next few years, no matter where the market is today!

The argument for Lithium
Electric vehicle drive trains

Vehicle fleet niche-NYT

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Nanomanufacturing naturally will follow Nanotechnology.

Image by PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory via Flickr

Manufacturing always follows an advance in technology. Automobile technology preceded Auto manufacturing. Aircraft technology preceded Aircraft manufacturing. Wireless technology preceded wireless manufacturing, and so on and so on.......

Just the same as when there was "any" technological advance in history, Nanomanufacturing (Nanoman) is following Nanotechnology (Nanotech). It is a natural course of business. Technology gets invented, business finds uses for that technology and engineers manufacture the instruments needed for that technology to deliver value to the masses.

In 2009, there are exciting things happening in Nanomanufacturing, however, to follow the jargon of the scientists and engineers making these things happen, is like an Englishman trying to understand someone speaking in Urdu. After awhile you get tired, throw up your hands and say, I don't understand. That is why much of the new technology in the pipeline is flying under the radar of investors, so they make the mistake that it doesn't really matter until someone in the investment community can explain it. That my friends, will be too late.

Thinking that nanotech or nanoman is new, is also a mistake. Many scientists agree that the birth of nanotechnology can be traced back to 1959 and a lecture and subsequent paper by Richard Fenyman called "There's plenty of room at the bottom"! The anniversary of that paper will no doubt be reflected upon in December of this year by those in the nano manufacturing community as the 50th anniversary of the birth of Nanotechnology.

Don't be surprised! Many technologies existed for decades before the masses became generally aware of their value to the human race. Fuel Cell Technology being one of them. That technology was first invented more than 100 years ago and it is only now gaining prominence as a revolutionary green technology with the ability to save the planet as the actual fuel cells are now being produced by manufacturers. Solar power has been toyed with for centuries as has wind power. Manufacturing and production is the last part of the evolutionary journey of every technology useful to mankind.

However, Nanomanufacturing will impact all of the above technologies, as well as, well, almost every other technology and industry on earth from Medicine to aerospace, from steel production to agriculture, from computers to camping. If it can be manufactured in the traditional sense, then someday, it will be manufactured at nanoscale. Without getting into all the details, here are just some of the products on the drawing boards of a number of companies racing to be first in their field:

1. Airplanes that weigh 6 times less than current airplanes, and can get 200 mpg of fuel.

2. Batteries, that look and feel like paper, but can deliver 6 times the power of any conventional battery and can be used as the "skin" of a vehicle, or as wall paper or any similar use. (oh yes, they're bio degradable too).

3. Steel that is six times lighter than, and 10 times stronger than current steel.

4. Injectable nanobots for cleaning your arteries of plaque buildup to avoid stroke.

5. Gold tipped nano solar arrays, that will increase the electrical production of solar panels by 100 fold.

6. Roof shingles that last longer than any current roof, and double as solar panels powering your home.

7. Clothes that are self cleaning, warm or cool your body in tandem with the weather, and act as battery packs for any devices you wish to operate.

8. Wall paper that can change color and design with the flick of a switch, and doubles as both TV and Computer screen in any size happen to want that day.

9. And how about using Seawater (Nano particles of sodium and water) as a battery to power electric vehicles, which is now being researched extensively by a California Company. (Jules Vern anyone)

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Many elements actually change their properties at the Nano level (One Billionth of a meter)

The Nanoman revolutions is upon us, so do your research and find out which companies are going to win in their respective markets, because those markets will be huge. If you wait until they are already shipping huge quantities of their products, and analysts are already covering them, it will be too late, because the big dogs will have already driven up the stocks by buying up the companies.

More to come......

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