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Ballard and Ford sign $69.1 million deal
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Ballard Power Systems announced a major agreement with Ford Motor Co. that will help to further commercialize fuel cell vehicles. On Dec. 3, Ballard announced a three-year $69.1 million agreement to supply Ford with fuel cell engines and related engineering and support services. "This $69.1-million order for the development of fuel cell engines is in addition to Fordīs September order of $34.5-million, and brings Fordīs total recent orders to over $100-million," said Ballard CEO Firoz Rasul. "This new order is further confirmation of Fordīs commitment to Ballard and to the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles." "We are proud to be an integral part of Fordīs fuel cell vehicle program," said Dr. Andreas Truckenbrodt, Ballardīs Vice-President, Transportation. "This is the first order under our 20-year exclusive purchase agreement with Ford for fuel cell engines." ``This is more about the view that there is an expectation of a relationship here and all that they're doing is quantifying the relationship,'' analyst James David of UBS Warburg told Reuters News. ``The magnitude of the deal is very significant in terms of dollar size and it's clearly a significant commitment by Ford.'' The announcement came within days of Ballard's acquisition of XCELLSIS and Ecostar Electric Drive Systems from DaimlerChrysler and Ford. The transaction, including a private placement of $55.0 million in Ballard common shares to DaimlerChrysler and Ford, was valued at $861 million. The Vancouver-based company is a world leader in the development of fuel cell power systems. For more information, www.ballard.com
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