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AccelRate’s
principal product is the world’s most advanced battery charging technology, reducing
charging time by as much as 80 percent
Technology
Battery Charging Technology
(APS-TSVX)
AccelRate Power Systems Inc.
1140 W. Pender St.- Suite 1370
Vancouver, BC Canada V6E 4G1
Phone: 604-688-8656
Reimar Koch
President and CEO
Interview conducted October 2004 by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
April 21, 2005
BIO:
Reimar Koch, President, CEO & Director
Mr. Koch is an entrepreneur with a proven history of building new ventures into successful
businesses. As CEO of Cellular Direct, he took this cell phone company from inception to a
multi-unit chain serving major corporate clients, achieving annual sales in the
multi-millions.
Company Profile:
AccelRate Power Systems Inc., a Canadian company with headquarters in Vancouver, British
Columbia, was founded in 1991. Since the year 2000, it has specialized in the development
and marketing of energy technologies.
AccelRate’s principal
product is the world’s most advanced battery charging technology, reducing charging
time by as much as 80 percent. The unique and proprietary AccelRate technology was created
for use with chargers for lead acid, nickel metal hydrate (NiMH), nickel cadmium (NiCd),
lithium ion (Li-ion) and other specialty batteries powering equipment large and small,
from cell phones to helicopters. The global battery and battery charging market is
measured in billions of dollars.
CEOCFOinterviews: Mr.
Koch, what was the vision when AccelRate began and where are you today?
Mr. Koch: “AccelRate has a revolutionary new patented
battery charging technology, which allows us to significantly reduce the time it takes to
charge batteries. There are fast chargers on the market but they would be considered
opportunity chargers because they take advantage of the battery’s high initial
acceptance of the charge but do not bring batteries to a full state of charge. With
AccelRate technology, we can fully charge a battery without creating excess heat by
reducing the internal resistance and doing it in about 20% of the time.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
type of batteries do you need to charge?
Mr. Koch: “Our patented technology covers a number of
battery recharging applications. We deal primarily with lead acid batteries with a focus
on industrial batteries being used in forklifts and large electric material handling
equipment. The technology also works with nickel metal hydrate, nickel/cadmium, and
lithium. We are doing advanced testing with lithium. Instead of taking five hours to
charge, we do it in one hour. At four hundred cycles, we have only lost ten percent
capacity, which is significantly better than traditional charging. It spans a wide
spectrum of chemistries and whatever batteries are used, consumers want to have the
rechargeable batteries charged faster.”
CEOCFOinterviews: How do
you sell this?
Mr. Koch: “Our business strategy is to license our
technology and in order to do that, our approach has been to first build the chargers, put
them in actual applications and have the chargers do what they are supposed to do –
sell themselves. We are in advanced stages of negotiations with leading charger
manufacturers to integrate this technology into their line of chargers because the
technology is proven to work within the existing infrastructure. We would also support
that manufacturer in bringing the product to market.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
is the outlook for market acceptance?
Mr. Koch: “The battery recharging industry has been
resistant to change. For us to walk up to a manufacturer and tell them “you are going
to change the way you do business and you are going to pay us to do it” is a tough
sell. There has been resistance but the technology’s many advantages are now being
widely accepted in the billion-dollar-plus per year recharging industry.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
kinds of people are using this now and how are you going forward?
Mr. Koch: “We have a private label manufacturer to build
the chargers to our specifications. The chargers are UL approved. They are in use in
industrial applications including warehouses and cold storage facilities where the
technology has performed under severe test conditions. We are in advanced negotiations now
with several charger manufacturers who are global players to market the technology
world-wide.
CEOCFOinterviews: Will
you tell us about the battery charger market in general?
Mr. Koch: “Everything that consumers buy from any store
shelf is moved by truck. Every truck is loaded with a forklift. More and more forklifts
are going to electric forklift because of safety regulations. We realize that we cannot
run a diesel engine inside a warehouse and have people breathing the exhaust. More and
more equipment is turning over to battery powered equipment. Traditionally, if you bought
a forklift, you would buy the forklift and three batteries. One battery would be uncharged
and on the forklift, the next battery would be on the charger for twelve hours, and the
third battery would be cooling. Our technology allows us to charge the battery in two
hours and with significantly less cooling period. Technically an operation could run a
forklift with one battery. We can reduce the number of batteries and battery chargers the
company needs and those cost savings are substantial.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Are
you doing anything to reach the end customer at this point?
Mr. Koch: “We are going on the strategy that it is
better to have one or two happy customers where expectation is being fully met vs. having
a wide range of customers where no expectation is being met. As a licensing company, our
licensees and manufacturers will be the ones that market it to their customers and end
users.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Why
should investors be interested and what should they know that perhaps they do not realize
when they first look at the company?
Mr. Koch: “The main reason is that the technology works.
We save customers time and money. Our income will be derived from licensing fees and
royalties. The market potential is massive. The company is well managed and its technology
is now gaining the attention of manufacturers, end-users and investors world-wide.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Will
you tell us about your funding as you are developing this since you do not have revenues
presently?
Mr. Koch: “We have been funding through private
placements; our last private placement was over subscribed. We are sitting with sufficient
cash in the bank to accomplish our goals. We are running a lean and clean operation. We
feel confident that we will have revenues going forward within the next quarter.”
CEOCFOinterviews: In
closing, as CEO what are your areas of focus throughout the day?
Mr. Koch: “We focus on becoming the leading provider of
time and cost-saving recharging systems in the world. Our corporate business plan is on
target and on budget, and our technology receives tremendous acceptance. Our efforts are
committed to ensuring this continues, and that shareholders are rewarded for their belief
in our company.”
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