Ballard Power Systems has reducted its second-quarter loss to $11.1 million this year, from $17.3 million a year ago, and boosted revenue by 15 per cent.

The performance metrics are all in the right direction. Ballard is a company which I have admittedly been very sceptical about in the past (see my post from September 27th 2005) and here as well. The good news is that Ballard is starting to possibly look a bit like Amazon in the late 1990s; not profitable, too much hype, but just possibly, a great future (albeit in a much smaller niche).

The decision by Ballard's CEO. John Sheridan, to shift focus away from the automotive market and to focus on nearer-term markets, including fuel-cell powered forklifts and cogeneration projects looks shrewder by the day.

As I have remarked here before, the technology for electrically powered vehicles is already way ahead on cost and performance to fuel cells (see my post Electric vehicles may be closer than we think - from June 25th 2007). The trouble is that most of the big auto manufacturers are "overweight" financially and pr-invested in fuel cells. For them, to suggest a change of course at this stage would cause them huge embarassment . . .

I'm so impressed by the energy storage technology of Altairnano. What they need is for one of the big automakers to buy into their technology in a big way. In so doing though, an awful lot of egos are going to be bruised and more than a few fuel cell visionaries will be left high and dry.

Well bring it on; this is capitalism and it works.