100 MILES PER GALLON?; BAT SHARES UP 1,725% SINCE JAN. 2.Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer Is BAT International for real? The share price of the company has increased 1,725 percent since Jan. 2, purely on the promise - some might say hype - that it has developed an environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] engine technology that could boost cars' fuel efficiency to as much as 100 miles per gallon Noun 1. miles per gallon - the distance traveled in a vehicle powered by one gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel unit, unit of measurement - any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange; "the dollar is the United States unit of . Trading, as a result, has been frenetic fre·net·ic or phre·net·ic also fre·net·i·cal or phre·net·i·cal adj. Wildly excited or active; frantic; frenzied. [Middle English frenetik, from Old French frenetique . On Thursday, a staggering 24 million BAT shares changed hands - more than Amgen Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AT&T combined - and an Internet discussion group dedicated to the company logged more than 7,000 messages in less than a month. This heightened excitement about BAT comes despite the facts that it has signed only one minor development deal this year and no one knows the company's true finances. It hasn't filed a financial statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission because it isn't required to do so, although its president says it's making money and plans on filing soon. Said one engineer familiar with BAT who asked to not be identified because of his relationship with the company: ``These guys are responsible for a lot of press releases, and not necessarily following up on their technologies as such. But there are always an awful lot of these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. that never (make it to) the next step. It just happens with a lot of small start-ups.'' At the heart of the debate is the ``pulse charge'' engine technology BAT demonstrated Tuesday at the California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. racetrack in Fontana. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. independent observers hired by BAT, a modified Geo Metro The Geo Metro first appeared in Chevrolet-Geo showrooms in 1989. It was a rebadged version of the Suzuki Cultus, sharing many of the drivetrain and interior components. The Metro was a direct replacement for the Chevrolet Sprint, a subcompact hatchback that was several inches using the technology averaged 93.8 miles per gallon of diesel fuel during three tests that covered a combined 150 miles. BAT President Joseph LaStella said that to achieve such fuel efficiency, the pulse-charge system requires the addition of no moving parts Moving parts are the components of a device that undergo continuous or frequent motion, most commonly rotation. "Parts" only include the mechanical components which does not include fuel, or any other gas or liquid. to existing engines and would require no major retooling by engine manufacturers who might want to incorporate it into their products. And it is with those manufacturers that BAT might ultimately stand to make money. LaStella said he expects to soon begin selling nonexclusive licenses for the pulse-charge technology to automakers for about $50 million each. That could be a tough sell. Though the company said it has received inquiries from each of the Big Three U.S. automakers about the system, only Ford sent a representative to observe the test and no deals have been discussed. ``We're skeptical,'' Chrysler Corp. spokesman Scott Fosgard said in an interview before the demonstration. ``It just doesn't add up. From our initial analysis, we don't see results that would support their claims.'' James Heffel, an engineer at the University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of ten campuses of the University of California system. , Center for Environmental Research and Technology, attended the test Tuesday and said he's taking a wait-and-see approach. ``We've tested enough (other cars) to not get too excited,'' Heffel said. ``We really just want to get it on the (dynamometer dynamometer /dy·na·mom·e·ter/ (di?nah-mom´e-ter) an instrument for measuring the force of muscular contraction. dy·na·mom·e·ter n. An instrument for measuring the degree of muscular power. ).'' Heffel attended on behalf of Ford Motor Co., which he said wants to conduct its own tests on the engine with a dynamometer. With a ``dyno,'' as it's known, engineers can see the horsepower, fuel consumption and emission levels engines reach under different circumstances. Still, if BAT's claims bear out and it's able to sign multimillion-dollar deals with the world's automakers as the company hopes, Tuesday's closing price of $1.46 will seem cheap in a few years. The company's stock price has increased from 8 cents since Dec. 29 to as much as $3.25 mostly on the prospects of those deals, not on its balance sheet. LaStella said BAT had sales of only a ``few hundred thousand'' dollars last year, zero in sales the year before, and a negative net worth of $229,847 on Dec. 31, 1996, the date of its most recent published balance sheet. LaStella acknowledged that BAT's recent engineering claims might sound too good to be true, but added that he is stung by skepticism that paints him as a potential swindler SWINDLER, criminal law. A cheat; one guilty of defrauding divers persons. 1 Term Rep. 748; 2 H. Blackst. 531; Stark. on Sland. 135. 2. Swindling is usually applied to a transaction, where the guilty party procures the delivery to him, under a pretended . Because the company had fewer than 500 investors and $10 million in assets at the end of fiscal 1997, it's not required to file earnings statements with the SEC. LaStella said, however, that the company will begin filing within three weeks. ``I'm an established engineer,'' he said. ``I'm sorry if I've got a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of accent. If it makes me sound like a (swindler), then listen to my words, not my accent.'' BAT was involved in a minor skirmish with Ford in 1993 when it began marketing Ford Rangers modified to include BAT electric power cells. Because of the extent of the modifications, Ford insisted BAT remove from the vehicles any Ford logos and threatened to cancel warranties on the Rangers. But BAT has its share of backers. Lance Lamberton, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. , said his company was happy to broker a recent technology-sharing deal between BAT and Skoda Plzen, a multibillion-dollar engineering and industrial concern in the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. . The deal was based in part on the pulse-charge system. ``We're a technology-driven company,'' Lamberton said. ``If we didn't believe in BAT we wouldn't have introduced them to Skoda.'' Founded in Utah in 1991 with the goal of building battery-powered vehicles, BAT moved to Burbank in 1994 to take advantage of low-cost office and production facilities offered by CalStart, a nonprofit consortium of transportation engineering firms. In addition to internal combustion engine Internal combustion engine A prime mover, the fuel for which is burned within the engine, as contrasted to a steam engine, for example, in which fuel is burned in a separate furnace. technology, the company continues to research and develop electric vehicles. THE FACTS WHO: BAT International Inc. WHAT: A developer of electric automobiles and bicycles HQ: Burbank WEB SITE: www.baat.com MARKET: Nasdaq's Bulletin Board TICKER SYMBOL Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors : BAAT FINANCES: Unknown Company president Joseph LaStella says BAT had sales of only a ``few hundred thousand'' dollars last year and a negative net worth of $229,847 on Dec. 31, 1996. Since BAT International is traded on the Bulletin Board and had fewer than 500 investors and $10 million in assets at the end of fiscal 1997, it's not required to file audited statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) BAT President Joseph LaStella hopes to license his company's ``pulse charge'' engine technology. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
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