On the 2020 investor day, Ballard estimated the volume of this global market to be worth 130 billion USD until the year 2030. Now the talk is of 250 billion USD, as conditions for fuel cells and hydrogen have drastically improved.
Buses, trucks, etc.
The Canadian company is now expecting individual orders for bus stacks to number 100 or even several times that. There are now cooperations with Wrightbus, Van Hool and Solaris in Europe, New Flyer, among others, in the US, Tata in India and Global Ventures in New Zealand. Somewhat of a paradigm shift can be discerned, since instead of battery-electric buses, hydrogen-powered buses are now increasingly chosen. For example, TC Transit in the USA had initially decided on 70 percent battery-electric and 30 percent fuel cells, but now wants the reverse. A large Californian bus fleet operator is even set on 100 percent hydrogen. This trend might spill over into trucks, as a result of emissions legislation, or ships and rail as well.
Following the first three regions, the provinces Shanghai, Peking and Guangdong, China has now announced special funding programs for hydrogen and fuel cells in four more. Ballard is represented in these new regions through the JV with Weichai. It is now able to equip 20,000 buses per year with FC stacks – the world’s largest stack and bipolar plate production in the world. Each of these regions is planning to put 5,000 to 10,000 H2 vehicles, primarily buses and trucks, on the road. One million in total are to be moving about China by 2030.
MOU with the Adani Group of India
Ballard has signed a memorandum of understanding with Adani, one of the largest business conglomerates in India, which opens the door for establishment of a joint stack production in the country, but also makes many further business relationships possible. Will the group with market cap of over 150 billion USD directly join forces with Ballard, like Weichai has, in a joint venture? CEO Randy MacEwen has already directly and personally met with CEO and company founder Gautam Adani – nothing more to it.
Warning
Each investor must always be aware of their own risk when investing in shares and should consider a sensible risk diversification. The FC companies and shares mentioned here are small and mid cap, i.e. they are not standard stocks and their volatility is also much higher. This report is not meant to be viewed as purchase recommendations, and the author holds no liability for your actions. All information is based on publicly available sources and, as far as assessment is concerned, represents exclusively the personal opinion of the author, who focuses on medium- and long-term valuation and not on short-term profit. The author may be in possession of the shares presented here.
Author: Sven Jösting, written March 15th, 2022
