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Milhouse

Milhouse
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  • The NYT's John Broder takes Tesla's (TSLA) Model S up and down the East Coast from Washington on Interstate 95, where the company has installed Supercharger stations 200 miles apart. Things start dandily enough, but then the weather cools, and Broder has to endure freezing feet and white knuckles because he has to turn the heating off to preserve power. Eventually, he needs a tow truck to pick him up because the car runs out of juice[View news story]
    Do you ever use satellites? For television or telephone service? GPS?

    I am not even going to go into the indirect benefits, from materials to computing to fuels etc.
    Feb 10 10:50 AM | 9 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 206: Feb. 6: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications Norfolk Southern [View instapost]
    I have a feeling that the Tesla earnings release is going to be more complicated than many of us can decipher, so your analysis will be more than appreciated.

    There seems to be a marked discrepancy between the skeptics and the true believers regarding that company and its products.
    Feb 10 09:31 AM | 6 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 206: Feb. 6: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications Norfolk Southern [View instapost]
    Thanks for posting that, ii. I hadn't seen it before.

    "Generally speaking, batteries need a 4x improvement in charge acceptance and a 3x increase in cycle life to meet OEM demands for 2013. Lead-acid batteries, ultrabatteries and ultracapacitors are all vying for share in the Gen2 start-stop market. No OEM is committed to a single future technology, although most of the OEM testing is focused on improving AGM batteries. Most OEMs (e.g., BMW) are waiting to see the final specs on Gen2 AGM batteries before turning their attention to alternatives such as ultracapacitors. If lead-acid manufacturers can produce an improved version at the current price point, AGM will continue to dominate the start-stop market, in our view."
    Feb 9 06:50 PM | 4 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 206: Feb. 6: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications Norfolk Southern [View instapost]
    "Brian Warshay of Lux Research reported that he expects the market size of a variety of grid storage solutions will reach $113.5 billion by 2017. While lithium batteries currently represent 80 percent of mass storage revenue, their participation is expected to decrease to 13 percent by 2017. In that same timeframe, vanadium flow batteries, which are just establishing their beachhead in the market, are expected to become the leading battery technology with a 30 percent share."

    If PbC could get a fraction of that "$113.5 billion" that would be OK with me.
    Feb 9 09:22 AM | 9 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Corning: A Glass Definitely Half Full [View article]
    Thanks for a well-written article. Plenty to think about.

    In my cursory examination of corning, I don't really like the earnings trend.

    In 2010 revenues were 6.63b and earnings were 2.28ps

    In 2011 revenues were 7.89b and earnings were 1.80ps

    In 2012 revenues were 8.01b and earnings were 1.16ps

    I consider increasing revenues and shrinking margins to be a trend here, and don't consider that to be a positive sign going forward.

    What am I missing?
    Feb 7 10:53 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 206: Feb. 6: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications Norfolk Southern [View instapost]
    Net loss for the fiscal 2013 third quarter was $15.4 million or $0.20 per share as compared to the prior year period net income of $68.2 million or $0.84 per share.
    The Company reported a net loss for the nine months ended December 31, 2012 of $135.8 million or $1.76 per share as compared to net income of $59.4 million or $0.72 per share in the nine months ended December 31, 2011.

    Just wait until the CC tomorrow, I can almost guarantee a mention of "new restructuring initiatives". Glad I got out.
    Feb 6 04:55 PM | 8 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 205: Feb. 3: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications Norfolk Southern [View instapost]
    Maya,
    This is exactly what kept my money in Exide last year and prevented me from purchasing any Axion until a month ago. I kept saying to myself, "the automakers would not keep putting AGM into s/s cars if the batteries did not work well." Makes sense.

    The turning point for me was when both JCI and Exide informally capitulated and began scrambling for a better solution. Li for JCI and ultracaps for Exide. In fact, JCI said that s/s "will require a non-lead acid solution." They didn't just say it, they said it publicly. They didn't just say it publicly, they printed that statement and made it part of a presentation. There is no way in my mind that a company would claim its product(s) were inadequate for the future unless that was truly the case.

    So if you are wondering where all the s/s AGM complaints are, I would bet they are sitting in a huge pile on some executives' desks at JCI and Exide. And they come from the automakers themselves, not from individual customers, who probably don't really care if their s/s systems stop working after a while.
    Feb 4 01:12 PM | 6 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Powerwave Technologies (PWAV -76.1%) files for bankruptcy protection after losing money in four of the past five years. The maker of antennas and amplifiers for wireless communications lists debt of $396M and assets of $213M in its Chapter 11 filing. [View news story]
    May, 2007 Smart money magazine picked PWAV as one of the "The Ten Stocks For The Next Ten Years".

    If I had a subscription, I would consider cancelling it.
    Jan 28 11:10 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Has The TSA Opened The Door For Implant Sciences To Make $500mm And Maybe More? [View article]
    This is a good article, but I think there are a couple of items missing.

    First, you did not point out the superior technology that IMSC employs. Competing products use and emit radiation, which requires higher training and maintenance costs. IMSC's have no radiation source, and also have much faster clear-down and self-calibration, making them easier, faster, and cheaper to use.

    Second, you have a target market cap of $120million. When you consider that the fully-diluted share count is 128 million shares, that target does not really represent a double from current share price. Paying down the debt will prevent them from becoming fully diluted, but this is an issue which should be addressed.

    Third, you did not point out the exceptional management team they have assembled, with industry professionals from GE and Morpho, and a former director of the TSA itself. This will go a long way toward making inroads into government purchase contracts.

    A lot of good information, though, and I realize you have limited space to make your point.

    I am long IMSC
    Jan 21 12:31 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 200: Jan. 19: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    That's a good link (it always helps me to have illustrations:)

    I noticed that this patent covers batteries connected either in parallel or in series. I would assume that for a locomotive, they would want to connect in series to take advantage of higher voltages. Is this correct?

    Also, will the PbC battery strings self-equalize in either configuration?

    TIA
    Jan 20 12:08 PM | 4 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 199: Jan. 17: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    Argonne lab taps Johnson Controls for battery development

    http://bit.ly/XJI4ap

    "She also mentioned that the goal of JCESR has been succinctly summarized in the slogan “five-five-five:” development of an advanced electric vehicle battery with five times the energy density and power of the existing batteries, costing one-fifth of those and ready in five years."

    Coming up with a slogan is probably a lot easier than meeting that goal. I won't be holding my breath.
    Jan 18 01:55 PM | 9 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 199: Jan. 17: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    That's Hill WILLIAM to you, sir...
    Jan 17 03:58 PM | 8 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 199: Jan. 17: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    The guy in that video mentioned that not long ago, a 747 cargo plane crashed in the middle east due to a battery fire...so this goes beyond just the bms for the dreamliner, it sounds like.

    Scary stuff
    Jan 17 02:55 PM | 2 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 199: Jan. 17: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    If I'm not mistaken, Denso is an OEM supplier to several Japanese car companies, such as Honda and Toyota. The fact that they are gearing up for s/s production in N. America is a very positive sign that the Japanese are indeed moving forward with s/s for the American market. Hopefully they supply whichever Japanese major is now considering PbC.

    Thanks for the link!
    Jan 17 12:10 PM | 4 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Axion Power Concentrator 198: Jan. 16: Axion Power PbC Batteries Continue To Demonstrate Effectiveness For Railroad Applications [View instapost]
    Thanks for that post, ii

    I think the most important piece of info in this is that we now have an approximate price point for their system...

    $1200-1400? We should be able to come in well below that. (I am assuming that is the cost of the batteries alone, and not a whole system).
    Jan 16 05:21 PM | 10 Likes Like |Link to Comment
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