Latest Articles from John Petersen

Alternative Energy Technologies and the Origin of Specious

John Petersen — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:40:25 Z

Thanks to a recent comment from JLBR , I've found a new hero in Dr. Peter Z. Grossman , an economics professor from Butler University who cogently argues that government attempts to force

Electric Vehicles and the Natural Resource Cliff

John Petersen — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:29:14 Z

We all love to whine and complain about oil prices because we buy gasoline regularly and that makes the price changes obvious. To solve this overwhelming problem, myopic visionaries with rose

Battery Recycling Realities for Energy Storage Investors

John Petersen — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:10:20 Z

One of the most fervently debated and poorly understood topics in energy storage is the subject of battery recycling. What percentage of the raw materials that go into a battery can be

Electric Vehicles: The Opportunity of Which Decade?

John Petersen — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:42:40 Z

Hardly a day passes without some talking head breathlessly describing electric vehicles as the opportunity of the decade. The fine point most investors miss, however, is that the decade they're

Alice in EVland Part III; Cost Benefit Analysis For Dummies

John Petersen — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:11:31 Z

Sometimes I think bloggers like me are the real dummies. We spend so much time delving into the minutiae of a stock or sector that we manage to obscure the big picture with too much detail. I've

Plug-in Vehicle Subsidies; Taxing Peter To Buy Paul's New Car

John Petersen — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:14:11 Z

Industrial subsidies have been an important feature of the American economic landscape since the late 19th century for one simple reason – they work. After the steam locomotive proved its ability

Energy Storage, The Valley of Death and The Elephant Hunters

John Petersen — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:12:59 Z

Most readers know I'm a lawyer who works in small company finance. Clients come to us in their earliest development stages and upgrade to a larger law firm when they need more comprehensive

Plug-in Vehicles and Their Dirty Little Secret

John Petersen — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:02:10 Z

Over the last few months I've had a running debate with some die-hard EVangelicals who insist that plug-in cars will be cleaner than simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive Prius class HEVs.

Why Energy Storage Investors Must Understand Newton's Laws

John Petersen — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:03:00 Z

Vinod Khosla , the founder of Sun Microsystems and an icon of cleantech venture capital investing, is famous for bluntly telling audiences that " Economics matters, NOTHING that defies

Why Cheap Will Beat Cool During The Next Decade Of Vehicle Electrification

John Petersen — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:24:26 Z

Last Friday I received my copy of the presentations from September's European Lead Battery Conference in Istanbul. Most of the presentations were written for a technically astute audience and

Active Power – A Solid Investment Opportunity And A Valuable Object Lesson For Investors

John Petersen — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:14:45 Z

In December 2008 I went hunting for opportunities in the energy storage sector and selected six pure-play stocks that seemed seriously undervalued. I bought Enersys (ENS) at $6.00, Exide

Is Lithium-ion A Dead-End Electric Drive Technology?

John Petersen — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:22:55 Z

Last week Energy Secretary Steven Chu addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun. After watching the video presentation several times I can't help but wonder whether the

Kandi Technologies – An Intelligent Vehicle Electrification Plan

John Petersen — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:34:58 Z

The last thing regular readers expect from me is an article praising a vehicle electrification plan, but I've seen one that overcomes most of the problems I've been writing about for the last

Alice in EVland Part II; The Hall Of Mirrors

John Petersen — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:36:54 Z

Mark Twain reportedly said that " Figures don't lie, but liars figure ." Truer words were never spoken. On November 22nd the EPA issued an official fuel economy sticker for Nissan's

Axion Power and BMW Report Impressive Performance Test Results

John Petersen — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:04:52 Z

After seven years of cautious disclosures about the development status, performance and market potential of its serially patented PbC® battery technology, Axion Power International (