Balqon/Winston Energy Announce EV Sale at VX2011

Bill Allen, president and CEO, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation: Good afternoon, everyone. I am Bill Allen, President of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, and it's a pleasure to welcome you all to this very exciting announcement. We are here at the fourth annual VERDEXCHANGE Conference, which brings together marketmakers and market leaders from around the world, to talk about the green economy, clean and green technologies, international partnerships, and economic solutions to our environmental challenges globally. They come together here today at the University of Southern California, one of the world-class research institutions here in the L.A. area, a center of innovation in a market that is a center of innovation. Los Angeles County has a $500 billion economy, made so because it's a truly international economy. Our number one trading partner is China, and we're delighted that we have a very exciting announcement this afternoon between a great Chinese company and a great American company. What they're talking about today is the culmination of work in two countries and in two regions that are committed to a cleaner, greener world and to creating economic opportunity in the pursuit of these environmental objectives.

VERDEXCHANGE, for four years, has been bringing such parties together, to talk about how the brightest folks from around our world can share ideas about public policy that incentivizes behaviors on the part of business, individuals, governments, and communities to have more responsible use of our planet's resources, and to, at the same time, bring new kinds of jobs, new sectors, new industries, and new innovations that will power the 21st century economy globally.

I'm delighted to have the pleasure of introducing an entrepreneur who has helped us clean and green our ports. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two largest ports in North America. The Port of Los Angeles has been very supportive of this particular company, whose announcement we'll hear today, because they have played a significant role in helping develop the cleaner movement of goods through our region. Goods movement in the L.A. area supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. It supports a manufacturing area that is the manufacturing capital of America.

But to move these extraordinary goods through our region in clean, responsible ways, we need technology entrepreneurs like Balwinder Samra and his company, Balqon Corporation, which have developed technology that allows for zero-emissions movement of these goods. In the additional development of their energy storage work and their electric drive systems for heavy-duty trucks, they've expanded their market and expanded their opportunities with an extraordinary company from Shenzhen, China, called Winston Energy. Together, they have an exciting announcement today, so on this wonderfully innovative campus, in this wonderfully innovative community of Los Angeles, it's my pleasure to introduce one of our greatest technology innovators, Mr. Balwinder Samra.

Balwinder Samra, CEO, Balqon Corporation: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank David Reich from the Mayor's Office for being present here; Bill Allen, for introducing me, from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation; Chris Cannon, from the Port of Los Angeles, thank you for coming, and also David Abel, for letting us host our press conference at this unique conference. What better venue could we have picked in announcing the creation of green jobs in Los Angeles? Today, we announce a receipt of purchase order of $16 million from Winston Global Energy, a limited Hong Kong-based company for Balqon electric drive systems, creating 150 green-tech jobs in Los Angeles. It's the heavy-duty truck market we embarked upon in 2005, where we started to develop drive systems for the Port of Los Angeles, so we could clean up the ports and reduce pollution. Today, that technology is being used in the global marketplace, in buses, trucks, in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Two years ago, I recall Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa coming to Balqon Corporation and articulating a vision to me, saying he wanted Los Angeles to be the green-tech capital of the world. Today, we think we have taken a modest step of creating 150 jobs in fulfilling his vision. Yet, we can assure the Mayor's Office that we will continue this effort until we make Los Angeles the green tech capital of the world. Last year, we continued our pioneering work in developing the world's first zero-emission RV, which travels 200 miles on a single charge. That product was shipped to China, to Winston Battery Limited. Where we stand today, follows the success of that testing, receiving an order for 300 drive systems very similar to the product we had shipped to create a bus market in China for small- to medium-size size buses. These vehicles will also be equipped by batteries developed by Winston Battery Limited and fast-charging systems that allow these vehicles to be charged in less than 20 minutes. Now, I would like to introduce an entrepreneur and inventor of rare-earth lithium battery technology, Mr. Winston Chung, CEO of Winston Global Energy, who will say a few words. I would like to thank him for selecting Balqon Corporation as a strategic supplier. Thank you.

Winston Chung, CEO, Winston Global Energy (via translator): Thank you very much. I am very delighted to be here to meet with experts from around the globe in Southern California at this particular conference. I am the inventor of the lithium rare-earth battery installed in this vehicle. Right now, we have 6.5 billion people in the world, and I am the only one that can develop such a wonderful technology. Right now in the world, there are 57 countries doing business with me and using my battery in their applications.

In this century, the entire human race is facing two different disasters. The first one is a lot of pollution, which is very harmful to the health of human beings. The second threat is actually the energy crisis-the petroleum crisis. The technology innovation is moving slower. My goal is to develop something to completely replace petroleum and to develop a new way to use energy. Ten years ago, I predicted that in 2025, the emission type of vehicle will have disappeared from the world. It is a very difficult task.

One of the very important elements is you need to have a very high-performing battery. Also, you need to have a very high-performing driving system. Right now, we have a good combination with the best battery technology from China, the lithium rare-earth battery technology, in combination with one of the best integration systems from Balqon Corporation. We found the best combination. In the combination of the efforts from both countries, from China and the United States, there are testing data that show on this towing vehicle, you can tow from 30 to 50 tons of container, and then it shows significant improvement to saving energy and protecting the environment. My invention focuses on the battery, but without a very good driving system, it cannot go very far, so my goal is working with the best driving system company in the United States, Balqon Corporation, and to put the two things together, and move closer to his goal.

The technology and the integrative solution can not only be used on this truck but also can be used on all kinds of different applications, including buses, shuttle buses, RVs, yachts, and can even drive a big container boat across the ocean. For this particular one, my goal is to charge in 20 minutes and drive 300 miles.

I am releasing the second generation of the Winston battery. The batteries have already improved significantly, so with the second generation battery in this type of application, in this truck, can actually charge in five minutes and drive 1,000 miles. I am proposing to actually increase my investment in the city of Los Angeles and county of Los Angeles to expedite the research and production of such a good driving system. At this time, I am purchasing 300 of these drive systems from Balqon Corporation, importing them into China, and putting them into different kinds of applications. Each set of drive systems costs about $50,000. I estimate the purchase of 500,000 sets each year for this kind of drive system. I am going to produce out from Balqon and also purchase from Balqon.

With increasing production, the cost of such a wonderful drive system will lower and lower, so it will attract more investment and more entrepreneurs. With this very good combination of lithium rare-earth battery technology and also the drive system technology,

I hope that the city and county of Los Angeles can solve a lot of job problems and create a lot of green jobs. China has a population of 1.3 billion people, and right now it has one-third the number of vehicles compared to the United States. China actually is moving at a very fast pace into the electronic vehicle business. But in China, there is no company that can produce such an efficient driving system, even though the entire country is moving very fast into the electronic vehicle business.

I will increase my investment in Balqon Corporation, helpin them expedite production and reach the capacity of 500,000 drive systems per year. Thank you very much everybody.

David Abel, Chair and Managing Director, VERDEXCHANGE VX2011 Conference: What a pleasure to close the 4th annual VERDEXCHANGE Conference, which brings together California global and western states green economy marketmakers, with the public announcement of this sale by a California manufacturer of electric drive trains to a Chinese rare-earth battery developer for advanced electric vehicles.

The consummation of this transaction is what it's all about in a flat world-well-informed, global procurement rewards innovation wherever developed. It is important to celebrate and emphasize that California and Los Angeles are, and wish to remain, a global trading center for green economy products and services.

Thus, VX2011 is delighted to host today's Balqon/Winston Global Energy press conference.