A rapid cash-burn rate and other woes may point to further downside for fuel-cell maker  Ballard Power Systems, Barron's said Saturday.

But Barron's said it's hard to see the company as a bargain given that its planned main product-- fuel-cell engines for autos and trucks -- remain at least 10 years away from mass use. Also, investors are still waiting for the company to introduce a portable backup fuel-cell generator for indoor use that the company had indicated would be on the market last year.
       
H.C. Wainwright analyst David Kurzman, who has a "sell" recommendation on the stock, told Barron's that Ballard would be more in line with its alternative-energy peers at a price below $10.DaimlerChrysler and Ford own large stakes in the firm and are seen as potential capital sources, a factor that has helped underpin its share price.

Barron's said the company's cash burn rate is also troubling to investors. The company burned about $60.8 million in the first quarter, leaving it with around $360 million, equal to about $3.45 a share.

The company is likely to use up another $60 million to $80 million by the end of the year, while a restructuring charge could draw down
cash reserves by another $36 million, the article said. What's more, Ballard has set no cost-reduction targets. Kurzman said the company could use $350 million in reserves by the end of 2003, leaving little cash.

The analyst suggested that a secondary stock offering to raise cash could add 20 million more shares, diluting stakes in existing portfolios and further eroding Ballard's price.        
                 

The House Science energy panel late last month held its most recent hearing on the administration's Freedom CAR fuel cell program, which would replace the Clinton-era Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles as the federal government's prime research effort teaming with U.S. car companies. 

The advent of a new automotive power system would put at risk as many as 200,000  Michigan jobs and could suck $ 10 billion out of the state's economy just in its first year, the chief executive of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., recently told Congress. 

VIEWED from the proper angle, Detroit's Renaissance Center — six medium-high office towers surrounding a cylindrical 73-story giant  is a mighty glass hand giving the finger. Hulking by the iron-gray waters of the Detroit River, this is the führerbunker of the tired old industrial economy: the headquarters of General Motors. 

These days, the company is on a PR tear to tell the world it is "reinventing the automobile." At the Detroit Auto Show in January, the company rolled out a radical prototype called the AUTOnomy, and a drivable proof-of-concept version debuts in September at the Paris Auto Show. How radical is it? It dispenses with just about everything that makes a car a car, such as the engine, transmission, steering wheel, and gas tank. Rather than spitting out carbon monoxide and other smog-causing gases, it emits nothing but water because it runs on hydrogen. With few moving parts, it will last for decades. It will generate more electricity than it uses and be equipped to apply the surplus to power the owner's house. Manufacturing will cost a fraction of what it takes to build a traditional car, because the AUTOnomy will contain many fewer components. And it will be ready for mass production by the end of the decade, which in the automotive world is a week from Tuesday. 

Ballard's Electric Drives and Power Conversion Division Introduces 80 kW High Speed Natural Gas Genset 

Global Thermoelectric Inc.'s fuel cell systems to be tested in Montana 

The Japan Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Demonstration Project (JHFC) will be directed by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). GM, other automakers and energy companies will take part in the project, with a goal of better understanding fuel cell technology and how to create a hydrogen infrastructure. 

The Japanese firms are Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.,  and the foreign firms are German carmaker DaimlerChrysler AG and U.S. automaker  General Motors Corp. 

The test is intended to assess the effectiveness, environmental friendliness and safety of fuel-cell motor vehicle projects, the association said. 

The joint test will be sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and last for three years through the end of March 2005. 

There are several types of fuel-cell motor vehicles, such as those powered by hydrogen itself or hydrogen generated from methanol or gasoline. 

The planned test will also be joined by petroleum companies and gas firms, which will set up five facilities in Tokyo and Yokohama to provide hydrogen for the vehicles. 

Although both companies cited a successful joint development phase, each company will separately pursue fuel cell hydrogen technology
development.  Air Liquide will continue these development activities within Axane as a 100 percent Air Liquide owned company.

Those "pollution-free" electric vehicles loved by the California Air Resources Board wind up getting their energy from coal-burning plants in Utah, and they waste a lot of that energy pushing it through hundreds of miles of those ugly high-tension cables and towers. 

A study titled "Well-to-Wheel," released at the Hart World Fuel Conference in Brussels offers some interesting insights. A sequel to a North American "Well-to-Wheel" study published by General Motors, BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and the Argonne National Laboratory last year, the  latest study assessed 36 fuel routes and 18 propulsion concepts in a hypothesized 2010 environment.