GM's EN-V to use Valence Batteries

Today in Shanghai General Motors, GM, said its EN-V concept car will use batteries made by Valence Technology Inc (VLNC - Quote and charts). As reported here, GM and its Chinese partner SAIC will showcase the "Electric Networked-Vehicle" launched Wednesday in their joint pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which opens May 1 and runs for six months.

The EN-V, pronounced "envy," us a two-wheel, two-seat all electric car with a top speed of only 40 kilometers per hour (24 mph) has a small footprint designed to be driven in congested city streets.

"By 2040, GM says, there will be 1.2 billion cars on Earth, and 60 percent of humanity will be living in cities. For megacity countries like China, the explosion in use of conventional automobiles has already turned into a nightmare of smog, jammed roadways, and nonexistent parking."

This is great news for shareholders of Valence Technology, which has a factory to build its batteries in China:

"The 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter (about 5 foot by 5 foot) EN-V appears to build on GM's earlier work with Segway Inc. in developing the PUMA, or Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, vehicle. It will use the same types of battery cells as the Segway and the same battery supplier, Valence Technology Inc., said Christopher Borroni-Bird, GM's director of advanced technology vehicle concepts."

For commentary on Valence including my recommended buy and sell levels, read "Kirk's Investment Newsletter."

Disclaimer: I have been accumulating Valence in my newsletter explore portfolio and personal portfolios. From buying and selling to take advantage of its volatility, I have good profits already in VLNC with a "break-even" price well below today's price. In an attempt to increase my overall return, I plan to continue to trade around this core position to get my original investment out and then generate cash from the volatility with the remaining "profit shares." I expect Valence to be a very volatile stock so risk control is essential. For more, see Kirk's Two Investment Letters.

More Articles:

• December 16, 2008 Valence to Supply PVI with Lithium Phosphate Energy Storage Solutions (Lithium Ion Batteries)

• February 16, 2008 OEMtek Uses Valence Batteries for 100 MPG Prius Conversion
  
  
• February 08, 2008 Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential

Valence to Supply PVI with Lithium Phosphate Energy Storage Solutions (Lithium Ion Batteries)

Yesterday Valence Technology, Inc. (Charts) announced a leading European manufacturer of industrial vehicles will incorporate Valence as the enabling battery technology for its electric vehicle platforms.

Intraday Chart for Valence Technology Inc.

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec 16, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Valence Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNC Charts), an international developer of safe lithium phosphate energy storage solutions, announced today that it has entered into a multi-year non-exclusive supply agreement with PVI for Valence's U-Charge(R) XP Energy Storage Systems. PVI develops and manufactures commercial electric vehicles including electric buses under the GEPEBUS brand and trucks in partnership with Renault Trucks.

Under the terms of the supply agreement, Valence will provide lithium phosphate battery systems and engineering support to power four commercial EV platforms. Valence will begin shipments to PVI in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Based on PVI projections, revenue for Valence from this supply agreement could represent approximately $3 million in fiscal 2010.

"This is a major milestone in our company's history," said Alastair Johnson, vice president, worldwide sales and marketing for Valence. "Since this represents our first supply agreement with a major automotive OEM supplier, we are delighted to be associated with PVI, especially given their work with leading companies such as Renault Trucks. PVI has a long and successful track record of developing innovative commercial vehicles. This agreement speaks to the value that a vehicle developer such as PVI places on Valence's safe battery chemistry, proven production capacity and technical vehicle integration support."

PVI and Renault Trucks recently announced an agreement to develop concept trucks and demonstrators of light commercial EV vehicles including an all-electric version of the Maxity. The first demonstrator will be powered by Valence lithium phosphate batteries. The all-electric Maxity represents a significant advancement of how goods can be transported in urban environments with zero emissions.

"This is an exciting time for PVI with a number of significant projects in our pipeline," said Pierre Midrouillet, managing director of PVI. "The supply agreement with Valence is critical because the battery is the enabling technology for our electric platforms. Valence's chemistry provides both safety and long life not found in other lithium-ion batteries. After extensive testing and qualification we have been impressed by Valence's lithium phosphate technology and system integration support. We will be incorporating Valence solutions not only into the all-electric Maxity concept truck, but also into a number of our other EV projects."

PVI joins a diverse group of nearly 100 companies that are actively testing or have already implemented Valence's patented energy storage solutions. Valence's technology powers a variety of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) including cars, buses, trucks, scooters and motorbikes. With over 400 international patents, Valence holds an extensive domestic and worldwide IP portfolio for phosphate cathode materials, the critical technology pathway for next generation energy storage. This extensive portfolio includes the important categories of Lithium Iron Magnesium Phosphate along with next generation materials Lithium Vanadium-based Phosphate (LVP) and Lithium Vanadium-based Fluorophosphates (LVPF). The patents also extend to Valence's innovative single-step preparative method, known as the Carbothermal Reduction (CTR) process, a key step for large scale, low cost manufacturing.

About Valence Technology, Inc.

Valence Technology is an international leader in the development of lithium phosphate energy storage solutions. The company has redefined lithium battery technology and performance by marketing the industry's first safe, reliable and rechargeable lithium phosphate battery. Founded in 1989, Valence today offers a proven technology and manufacturing infrastructure that delivers ISO-certified products and processes that are protected by an extensive global patent portfolio. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Valence has facilities in Nevada, China and Northern Ireland. Valence is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol VLNC. For more information, visit www.valence.com.

About PVI

PVI designs and manufactures trucks for specialized applications in small and medium sized series. The company produces 400 to 500 vehicles a year and employs a staff of 200 at its plant in Gretz, France (Seine-et-Marne). PVI is a Renault Trucks partner for alternative fuel technologies in trucks, such as CNG or full electric drivelines. PVI also develops electric buses, sold under its division brand "GEPEBUS". For more information, visit www.pvi.biz.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results, including realization of any revenues from the PVI supply agreement, may vary substantially from these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. The risk factors that could affect actual results are discussed in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2008, and the reader is directed to these statements for a further discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Valence Technology, Inc.

IR Contact:
Pierpont Investor Relations
A. Pierre Dubois, 512-527-2921
Director of Investor Relations
or
PR Contact:
Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications
Travis Small, 617-443-9933 x356
Vice President

Read Comments and Discuss VLNC here

For commentary on Valence including my recommended buy and sell levels, read "Kirk's Investment Newsletter"

Disclaimer: I have been accumulating Valence in my newsletter (testimonials) and personal portfolios and have good profits already with a "break-even" price as of today of $0.08 per share. In an attempt to increase my overall return, I plan to continue to trade around this core position to get my original investment out and then generate cash from the volatility with the remaining "profit shares." I expect Valence to be a very volatile stock so risk control is essential.

More Articles:

• February 16, 2008 OEMtek Uses Valence Batteries for 100 MPG Prius Conversion
  
  
• February 08, 2008 Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential

Read Comments and Discuss VLNC here

VLNC: Valence Green Techonlogy Update

The price of oil has corrected significantly off its recent highs. One reason I liked Valence as an energy hedge is it has technology that will be required to reduce carbon emissions. That means there will be demand for its products even if gasoline returns to $20 a barrel!

Long term, I expect Valence Technology to do well (see "Products Using Valence Batteries Today" below) but it can be a great trading stock too. That means I expect to continue trading Valence around my core long position to generate cash much like an ATM!

Click charts courtesy of stockcharts.com to see full size images

Today I took profits in Valence Technology (VLNC Charts) after it surged to my "Auto Sell" profit taking level of $4.45 where I automatically sold 500 shares per the "Auto Sell" listed on the "Explore Portfolio Auto Buy and Sell Table" on page 11 of the current newsletter. These were some shares I purchased earlier in the month at $3.42 as I trade around a core position.

We made $491 or 28.5% on the buy made earlier this month (see table below) when VLNC corrected to the lower support level (dashed blue line shown on pg 27 of the August Newsletter) and we repurchased some of the profit taking shares at $3.42.

Profit = [($2213 - $1722) / $1722] x 100%
Profit = 491 / 1722 x 100% = 28.5%

A nice little gain in a bear market!

Valence Buy/Sell History in my "Explore Portfolio"

Date	Action	Shares	Price $	Amount $	Running $ Total	Shares Held	Avg $/ share
12/31/04	BUY	1,000	3.13	-3,145	-3,145	1,000	3.13
08/21/05	BUY	1,000	2.51	-2,522	-5,667	2,000	2.84
12/20/05	BUY	1,000	1.78	-1,792	-7,459	3,000	2.49
12/30/05	BUY	1,000	1.42	-1,432	-8,891	4,000	2.22
01/10/07	BUY	1,000	1.37	-1,382	-10,273	5,000	2.05
10/22/07	SELL	1,000	1.97	+1,958	-8,315	4,000	2.08
01/08/08	BUY	1,000	1.64	-1,652	-9,967	5,000	1.99
02/12/08	SELL	1,000	2.49	+2,478	-7,489	4,000	1.87
03/26/08	SELL	1,000	4.79	+4,778	-2,711	3,000	0.93
04/09/08	SELL	1,000	3.75	+3,738	+1,027	2,000	All Profit
07/02/08	BUY	500	3.42	-1,722	-695	2,500	0.28
07/29/08	SELL	500	4.45	+2,213	+1,518	2,000	All Profit
=> As of 7/29/08 I hold 2,000 shares on "house money" with $1,518 in profits We can feel good about these gains in our "higher energy price hedge" to help pay for the more expensive gasoline.

Products Using Valence Batteries Today:

Segway Personal Transporters improved their rage from 10 miles to 24 miles with Valence Lithium Phosphate technology. The security force at Stanford Shopping Center in California (near me) use these to patrol the outdoor mall and parking lots. I've also seen "caravans" of them around the Google complex in Mountain View, CA


Enova Systems delivered California’s first plug-in hybrid school bus to the Napa Valley Unified School District. The bus cost $249,000, two-to-three times more than a conventional school bus, but it will reduce diesel engine emissions by up to 90 percent and be far more fuel efficient and save money on fuel!

EnergyCS: "Toyota Prius powered by Valence Lithium Phosphate batteries wins innovation award." You can see "Valence Technology" on the battery in the photo.


Brammo: The first first production, zero-emissions and battery powered plug-in electric motorcycle. The chassis integrates six Lithium Phosphate batteries from Valence Technology. The Enertia has a top speed of over 50 mph."


Kegel builds automatic bowling alley cleaning and conditioning machines that use Valence Lithium Phosphate Rechargeable batteries to greatly exceeded the performance and usability Lead Acid Batteries without using a power cord.

For more information, see "Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential ." Valence is a member of the Russell 3000 index. The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3000 U.S. companies representing approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market.

CSCO: Open Letter to Cisco's Board of Directors

To Cisco System's board of directors,

Do you know that $1B of insider selling needs the equivalant 1,000 investors investing $1,000,000 each to offset the selling pressure?

Click this chart below from the SEC Form 4 Sec Filings for Cisco Insider Trading and Stock Options to see the full details.
I owned Cisco stock in the past for a nice ride from $17 to $24. I sold it after the ride as I thought there were other companies who were far more "shareholder friendly."

These days many technology stocks, such as yours, are way off their 2000 highs so I am again taking a look at Cisco Systems for potential purchse.

Before I buy Cisco, I would like to know:

• Why should I invest my hard earned money into a stock where the insiders have sold nearly billion dollars worth of shares with only $424,802 in purchases?

and

• Are all you insiders waiting for the "3-gap-play" to buy at $17.50?
  
• If so, why wasn't there a mad rush of insiders buying at $17.50 the last time the stock was that low?

Maybe I will join you in buying at $17.50 if there is a rash of insider buying greater than insider selling. Otherwise, I may buy shares in companies where insiders have more confidence for the long term.

Compare Cisco to Valence (VLNC), a company I have dollar cost averaged into since selling my Cisco stock. Valence has nothing but insider buying.

Funny thing: I've made money on the Valence! This seems to confirm that insiders know real value and will invest their own money accordingly.

I have a hard time resisting a GREEN company with great growth opportunity when insiders are putting their own money into the stock rather than cashing in low priced options.

For more on Valence, see my articles "OEMtek Uses Valence Batteries for 100 MPG Prius Conversion" and "Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential."

Feel free to send me a note when you insiders at Cisco Systems start buying your own shares again using your own money rather than shareholder money.

Disclaimer. I have been accumulating Valence in my newsletter and personal portfolios and have very good profits already at the current price of $2.97. I plan to continue to trade around this core position in an attempt to increase my overall return. I expect Valence to be a very volatile stock.

OEMtek Uses Valence Batteries for 100 MPG Prius Conversion

Today's front page of the San Jose Mercury News business section has a feature story on how OEMtek's $12,500 conversion using Valence (VLNC) batteries can improve the gas mileage of a Toyota Prius by double or more.

The article states:

For $12,500, OEMtek says it can add a bigger battery pack to your Prius and double its mileage - to 100 mpg or more.

"There are people who want this right now, no matter what," said Cindi Choi, vice president of business development and the de facto chief executive of the six-employee company.

OEMtek will be ready to convert about 30 Priuses as soon as March, Choi said. It has battery packs on hand and continues to do durability testing and other late-stage engineering work. Its Web site (www.oemtek.com) has a "buy" link where customers can pre-order the vehicle.

and on the power plant:

Batteries come from Valence Technology, a Texas company (that I cover in "Kirk's Investment Newsletter") that says 80 companies have tested or used its batteries. Chairman Carl Berg is a Silicon Valley investor and real-estate developer. He's been doing test loops of the OEMtek cars from his Mission West Properties offices in Cupertino, averaging 89.81 mpg.

Valence recently announced a $70 million deal to sell batteries to the Tanfield Group, a British company that makes Smith Electric Vehicles vans and trucks.

"We think this can be a very major business," Berg said of the OEMtek BREEZ. "We believe there can be 100,000 people or more easily that will buy this add-on to their Prius."

The company website says:

“BREEZ upgrades your regular hybrid car to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) by adding a bigger battery pack & a standard electrical plug enabling you to get 100+MPG, reduce CO2 emissions by 50%, and costing you under $1.00 to fill-up.”

* BREEZ is a Plug-and-Play after-market solution that delivers an additional 9 kWh of energy storage using Valence Technology’s lithium phosphate batteries. (this is over 6x more energy than Toyota’s battery!)

• No removal of spare tire or original battery
• Hinged Structure allows access to spare tire
• Installation Time of 1/2 day
• 12-month Warranty

Toyota Prius + BREEZ

• OEMTEK’s Toyota Prius + BREEZ upgrades an existing Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicle into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV, to increase zero emissions miles by approximately 30 miles and to increase the Toyota Prius’ fuel economy from 45 mpg to over 100 mpg. We supplement the Toyota Prius’s original nickel metal hydride battery with Valence's lithium phosphate rechargeable battery pack, with 9 kWh of energy storage, increasing the usable energy storage by over six times

It should not be long before somoene has a solar panel you can put on the roof of your "plug-in electric vehicle" (PEV) at work or while camping to charge the PEV off the grid. I may email the 6-person company and suggest that task for employee #7.

Images from OEMtek's booth at the 23rd International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS-23) on December 2-5, 2007 (Click on photo for more images)

Read my article:

• Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential

Disclaimer. I have been accumulating Valence in my newsletter and personal portfolios and have good profits already at Friday's closing price of $2.56. I plan to continue to trade around this core position in an attempt to increase my overall return. I expect Valence to be a very volatile stock

Valence Technology: A Green Stock with Potential

Valence (VLNC Charts) will be a key player in reducing carbon footprints thought to cause global warming. Its safe batteries are also a strong candidate for laptop computers and other portable devices you don't want to burst into flames.

Thursday, February 7th, Valence announced a $70 million order with The Tanfield Group Plc (London Stock Exchange: TAN ) to manufacture and supply safe, Lithium Phosphate energy storage systems to power zero emission, all-electric commercial delivery vehicles. The Valence battery systems will be installed in leading-edge vans and trucks produced by Tanfield’s UK-based trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vans and trucks.

The stock jumped on the news and rewarded those of us who had been accumulating the stock in hopes they would commercialize their technology.

Click the charts, courtesy of Stockcharts.com, to see full sized

Last quarter, Valence reported a loss of $5.7 million, or 5 cents per share, for the three-month period ending Dec. 31. For the first nine months of fiscal 2008 ended Dec. 31, Valence reported a net loss available to common shareholders improved to $15.0 million, or $0.13 per share on total revenue of $13.0 million.

Going from maybe $20 million a year to perhaps $100 million a year will not be an easy task but it is a problem everyone wishes to have.

From the Pres Release:

Under the agreement, Tanfield will purchase up to $70 million of Valence products in the contract’s first phase and Valence has already received a firm purchase order for the first calendar quarter.

The agreement will also result in Tanfield becoming the first volume customer for Valence’s third generation Lithium Phosphate Epoch™ technology, a battery system equipped with an advanced management system that monitors and automatically adjusts cell performance so battery packs operate at their optimum performance capacity. Epoch benefits include a fail-soft capability that is designed to eliminate system failure caused by a single cell and to have a life cycle comprised of more than 2000 charge cycles when deep discharged in demanding electric vehicle applications.

“The Valence Epoch System which we introduced at the December 2007 EVS-23 show has the potential to move the industry closer to the tipping point when EVs and plug-in HEVs will be broadly adopted and deployed,” said Robert L. Kanode, president and CEO of Valence. “We believe that Valence is the first Lithium Phosphate battery producer to have the sourcing and manufacturing capability and start-to-finish infrastructure to immediately ship safe, reliable, Lithium Phosphate energy storage systems in the quantities demanded by the electric vehicle market. For the past six months we have been working to scale up our proven operational capabilities to meet anticipated demand.”

Darren Kell, Chief Executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, said “We are constantly looking for new, cost-effective technologies that can improve our zero emission commercial electric vehicles and broaden our customer base. The Valence battery pack is an efficient, inherently robust and reliable system that gives us greatly increased flexibility in vehicle design.”

From Valence's web site:

"Our phosphate-based Saphion® Lithium-ion technology is a break through battery chemistry for mobile computing and for large format applications such as back up power supplies and electric vehicles.

Saphion® technology, is safe and stable. It delivers high cycle life, great energy density, no maintenance, superior rate capability and long service life. These characteristics make Saphion® technology suitable for not only the traditional Lithium-ion markets such as the consumer and computer industries, but also for emerging markets not currently served by Lithium-ion technology, such as the telecom, utility and motive markets. Saphion® technology offers the power of Lithium-ion with the safety, environmentally friendly and cost benefits of phosphates."

Warning: Valence has had its optimists in the past as the price volatility shows. I like to buy stocks like this AFTER they have crashed with the hopes they eventually bring their technology to market. With this $70M order, it looks like I may have done so again.

Disclaimer: I have been accumulating VLNC in my newsletter portfolio and my personal accounts with some trading around the core position. I have a gain at the current price with plans in place to take profits as it goes higher and protect profits should something happen.

Grilled Bear Meat on the Menu

Groundzero posted the following comment in our facebook group "Spiral Forum: Trading Futures with Groundzero Discussions" to Glen's comment "The bears are feeling the heat right about now...."

Yes, and these bears have no idea what is still in store for them over the next few weeks...

GZ (December 6, 2007)

I replied here with the following observation:

If we come out of the hole like we did in 1998 after we had the big banking bottom in 1998, they will be in deep trouble. I recall my "(newsletter) explore portfolio" (started Sept. 30, 1998) went from being down about 20% in October (1998) to finishing December (1998) at up 58% followed by 117% more in 1999 (performance graph.) I think some of the four letter stocks I like (today) could be on some naked short lists, a new trick by bears to drive prices down.... so if they get insolvent, their broker/dealer backers will have to cover... it could be a bloody mess as some of us stock up grilled bear meat to feast on for the next ten years.

Being "naked short" means someone sold shares they were unable to borrow. Thus, if they are forced to cover short due to a margin call, they will have to go find shares to buy at any price. If you think a short covering rally is big, wait until we see some naked shorts forced to cover.

Recent 10 to 20% one day gains in stocks I have such as VLNC, VRGY and FNSR will look tame to what a naked short rally could look like.

Just think about how much these little stocks could move up if the investing public were to one day return to high risk growth stocks that go up.