This past January, GM announced that it had awarded advanced battery development contracts to two suppliers to design and test lithium-ion batteries for use in the Saturn Vue Green Line plug-in hybrid SUV.
One contract went to the A123Systems-Cobasys partnership (Energy Conversion Devices (ENER:NASDAQ) is a strategic partner here), and the other went to Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions. This is a joint venture between Johnson Controls (JCI:NYSE) and Saft.
At the time of this deal, Johnson Controls was trading around $85 a share. Today, a mere four months later, the stock’s trading above $103.
Granted, you can’t put all those pricey eggs in the EV basket – but with a +22% gain in four months…who’s complaining?
Of course, there’s a lot more going on in this sector than just JCI, anyway.
Take a look at Hybrid Technologies (HYBT.OB), for instance.
Hybrid Technologies has landed a ton of great press lately. So much so I’m hesitant to touch on it for fear of telling you something you probably already know about.
Though admittedly, it is nice to see others catching on to what I’ve been droning on and on about for the past five years . . .
Over the past week or so the mainstream media has piled on Hybrid Technologies like contortionists on a Chinese bicycle shooting for a world record.
Here’s why . . .
Hybrid Technologies develops and builds lithium ion battery technology for vehicles, and if I may be so bold - they currently have some of the most kick-ass cars in the EV market.
Today, just 470 miles from Helena, Montana, America's greatest wealth boom is fast - and secretly - underway...
In short, thanks to a unique technological breakthrough, a group of scientists just unlocked the largest oil deposit in U.S. history...503 billion barrels worth. And they can now extract it for just $16 a barrel.
With oil above $115, news of this momentous discovery is already boiling over - at breakneck speeds.
To find out how each one could triple your money - this year - click here for your free report.
To date the company has built numerous models of electric vehicles--from the all-electric Smart Car to a 180-mph Ferrari-ish EV. At their most recent press conference they even let some journalists get behind the wheel. Lucky bastards!
Though needless to say, their most popular model, the all-electric Mini Cooper, was an absolute hit.
When driven by Popular Mechanics it got a rave review and they even said it had excellent acceleration, and was as valid as the internal combustion version.
Yeah…that’s the stuff.
Hybrid Technologies’ Mini can do over 80 mph, has a range of about 130 miles, and only takes six to eight hours to charge, so it’s just as practical for daily driving as a Prius, but with ZERO emissions.
Now, Popular Mechanics wasn’t the only one prattling off the praise.
Hybrid Technologies has also been cooed at by the likes of CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CBS, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
As I’m sure you understand, to hear a newsworthy story on any one of those networks is quite a miracle.
With these “journalists,” if the story isn’t based on a celebrity pregnancy, a horrific murder or the birth of 15 bunnies in Missouri, it has to be some pretty big news for them to cover it.
And I’ll tell ya, when you look at the way demand for alternative vehicles is growing, it’s no doubt that PHEVs and EVs are very big news.
Just look at these numbers . . .
In the most unlikely of states, a state synonymous with big oil, the number of alternative vehicles on the road is up 25% from 2005, with 966,365 improved-efficiency vehicles tooling around town.
That state is Texas, which is also the state with the highest number of alternative fueled vehicles. That’s a head-scratcher, if you ask me.
And while California comes in second with 837,743 AFVs, up 32.8% since ’05, Tennessee had 190,000 in ’06 and New York had 339,936.
The demand for PHEVs and EVs is growing and the news is finally catching up.
But, whoopity doo, so what?
The important question to ask now is not necessarily who’s driving these newfangled contraptions and where, but . . . “Why?”
Is it gas prices? The environment? Rebates and tax cuts?
The beautiful thing is that the answer to all of those questions is “yes.”
This is a solid market, my friends. No one-trick ponies here.
Of course, there’s the ever-present talk about global warming. It’s true that motivates some of the purchases. And it certainly motivates our politicians now, commie or fascist. Eek! Did that slip out? I meant liberal or conservative.
Never mind that now. This is serious.
The main motivator is money. Biiiig surprise there, I’m sure.
With $4 gallons of gas right around the corner this summer, the argument put forth by the hybrid naysayers--that it takes far too long to make up the cost difference in gas savings--is losing steam.
It seems the “gee willickers stick to your gas cans” crowd doesn’t get what the millions of drivers around the world do: Gas prices are not one of the Ten Commandments sent down to Moses from the great OPECian in the sky to be set in stone. They change drastically, and frequently, and generally go up . . . fast.
Not to mention, those tax incentives and government rebates help cut a decent chunk of change off of the bottom line.
People are getting fed up with being jerked around by OPEC, too.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Rising oil prices have increased Saudi Arabia’s annual oil revenues from $98 billion in 1998 to $200 billion today.”
While you’re struggling to make ends meet and cringing at the pump, some fat-cat sheik is tapping your wallet like it’s a well.
I know for a fact that you and I could both do without helping someone install a new pool in the desert or ship RPGs and katyusha rockets to war zones.
Anyways, I digress, back to the main point . . .
Electric cars and hybrids are starting to sell like push-up bras at a cheerleading convention.
And while GM, Ford and Chrysler are sitting around sucking their thumbs like babies and crying about not having the right batteries, the public is buying from companies like Hybrid Technologies.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hybrid Technologies made a deal with one of the Big Three to offer their electric version as an option.
It would make perfect sense.
You could buy the Mini right now. But it goes for a hefty $59,000.
Calm down . . . don’t draw and quarter the messenger.
The technology isn’t that expensive, it’s production.
But, the thing is, people have been buying them at that price anyway.
What do you think that says to the Big Three?
I don’t think I could publish the words they’re thinking, but I’m sure you can think of some of them.
GM has placed its stake on two battery companies that have not yet delivered.
Meanwhile, Hybrid Technologies, at $4.70 a share, has giddy journalists doing burnouts in NYC while GM just has a shell of a PHEV.
Stick with me friend, we’ll get through this comedy richer than ever . . .
Keep your hopes in the future but your sense in the present.
Field Palmer
Digg this
Post to del.icio.us
Reddit
Subscribe to