Multibaggers for future

Alternative energy storage and powertrain investments have been on rise lately. Apart from many venture capitalists taking a U-turn on their investment policies ( Vinod Khosla being the prominent one), encashing the old industrial investments and dedicating significant portion of their corpus for clean technology (Former president candidate Al Gore's Generation Investment Management Fund et al). After the recently completed investments of Berkshire Hathaway in BYD and GE ’s investment in A123 (battery manufacturer) and Think Global (makers of TH!NK City electric vehicle), an Israeli company has raised US$12m in Series A funding for the development of electric vehicle propulsion technology. Quercus Trust and 21Ventures LLC jointly invested in ETV Motors . The company is developing micro-turbine technology , another possible ‘game changer’ in plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) market. ETV is contelplating the vehicle propulsion system as a combination of high voltage lithium

Automotive battery market is heating up. Last week, the state of Michigan approved investments by four battery producers amounting to US$1.7 billion . Lithium-ion battery technology, which is often touted as the most mature technology for the automotive use dominated the investment space in the state. However, the week also witnessed a rather unusual deal between battery major Exide Technologies and relatively unknown Axion Power International . Axion is a small company focusing on Lead Carbon battery technology. The company is working on the similar lines as Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in developing the activated carbon battery. Axion Power is taking a slightly different approach with its battery technology replacing the negative electrode with microporous activated carbon. The company is confident that by doing so it will be able to overcome major drawbacks of lead acid batteries namely high weight and low energy density. Whil

Are we out of the woods now??? I'm not sure about it, but going by the laws of physics it looks the worst is over. After the months of bad news flow, even the absence of bad news is positive for the markets. So here we go, US automotive sales in the first quarter is a down by some gruesome number and the US treasury department continues to burn lots of green after the Detroit automakers and their supplier entourage for the cars no one would like to drive five years down the line. But the government can be spared on the ground of being a mere economic agent for the redistribution of wealth. Some individual portfolio investments in the current gloom however stand out. Warren Buffett has invested in a Chinese automobile and battery manufacturer BYD thinking that electric is the future of automotive industry (People will drive something afterall…the Oracle has also secured a pillion ride in Harley Davidson). This ‘never say die’ spirit is impressive, eventually everything that goes d