PWAC – News Releases.

I have been keeping an eye on Power Air Corp PWAC.OB, since I wrote this article for Ecotality Life in December of 2007. I thought that their unique use of zinc as a fuel cell fuel had merit and I wanted to follow their progress. Most of the developers of portable fuel cells are going down the path of methanol as a fuel source.

Power Air’s development progress has been steady and I have been waiting for them to start bringing products to market. The press release linked at the top of this article is the first news of actually selling some of their products. They will be offering their portable fuel cell rechargers through the SkyMall in-flight catalogs. Nice!

You can see some more information on Power Air’s portable recharging systems through this link. The company is also developing indoor backup power generators based on their Zinc Air Fuel Cell technology. These generators can provide up to 3,000 watts of backup power. They have a marketing agreement with a division of Tomkins PLC for the portable power generators but the agreement is over 2 years old and I have not seen any progress in getting those products to market. That is too bad, at a reasonable price I think the market would be huge for fuel cell backup power generators.

Using fuel cell technology to power portable electronic devices is a huge market and has been a big bulls-eye the industry has failed to hit so far. I have been hoping that Power Air’s technology might be the solution to overcome the obstacles that have prevented the commercialization of fuel cell power.

Power Air Corp. is a micro-cap company ($15 million) whose stock has fluctuated between 10¢ and 20¢ per share. My criteria to actually consider buying the stock is the generation of actual revenues from selling their products (hasn’t happened yet) and the stock clearing 50¢ per share. At that point I believe the company will have taken their technology from the theoretical stage to the commercial. The news that their products will be offered through SkyMall is a big step in that direction.

Note: I currently have no position in PWAC.