News Article

Contracts push Jadoo Power closer to market; Air Force is testing portable power supply, Energy Dept. increases grant
Date: Apr 04, 2010
Author: Melanie Turner
Source: bizjournals ( click here to go to the source)

Featured firm in this article: Jadoo Power Systems Inc of Folsom, CA



Jadoo Power Systems Inc. has delivered its first products to the U.S. Air Force for testing and entered into a $2.2 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy — $1 million more than the company initially was awarded in federal stimulus funding last year.

Jadoo Power, which produces fuel cell power supplies between 50 watts and 1 kilowatt, has delivered 10 units of its top product to the Air Force Research Laboratory, hoping it will lead to more military contracts. The portable power supply would be used to run medical equipment that stays with injured soldiers when they're evacuated.

Jadoo won its initial $1.2 million contract to develop such a power supply in 2008.

The Air Force's Air Mobility Command has expressed a need for 1,000 such units in late 2011, said Ken Pearson, Jadoo's chief operations officer.

But any future contract hinges on the product passing rigorous military testing. Any contract award would follow initial production of 40 to 50 units.

"Nothing's a slam dunk," Pearson said.

Testing is designed to flush out what works — and what doesn't. Already, Jadoo is working to improve certain aspects of the system, and the 15-employee company recently hired an additional senior mechanical engineer to help. It also is looking for a senior electrical engineer.

The goal is to help the Air Force's Air Mobility Command improve its medical evacuation system. Combat casualties are evacuated on stretchers that have life-support equipment attached. The equipment uses heavy converters and extension cords that together weigh 144 pounds. Jadoo's hybrid fuel cell power system, by comparison, weighs 36 pounds.

Power often is unavailable because of the type of aircraft being used. And even when power is available, outlets and voltage constraints limit the number of injured soldiers that can be transported at one time.

Jadoo's product, the Portable Electric Power Supply for Aeromedical Evacuation (PEPSAE), would eliminate the need for aircraft power to be used for medical equipment and it would reduce the weight by close to 75 percent.

The PEPSAE military system costs about $18,000, which includes a refilling station and something like a "power strip on steroids." The cost is expected to decline with high-volume manufacturing.

Jadoo expects to sell smaller 150- to 250-watt fuel cell units for about $2,000.

Jadoo Power's N-Stor canisters supply the hydrogen fuel necessary to power Jadoo's various fuel cell products. The canisters contain a metal hydride powder that absorbs hydrogen and releases it upon demand.

The canisters can be hot-swapped for more run time without power interruption. Four canisters can be refilled in less than an hour at Jadoo's refill station.

"There are many Department of Defense operations which require continuous, uninterruptable power for small or low-power electronic devices," Thomas Reitz, chief of the propulsion directorate's thermal and electrochemical branch at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, wrote in an e-mail. "A primary USAF example of this is medical monitoring of critical-care patients during transport from forward operating bases."

In that case, the equivalent of "several 100-watt light bulbs" is required for 12 hours or more, he said.

"Technology such as that developed by Jadoo has the potential to meet this need," Reitz said.

In addition to delivering its product, Jadoo recently hired two seasoned executives, Ken Vaughn as chief technology officer and COO Pearson.

Expanding other products
Pearson took Jadoo from its infancy in his home shop — fondly dubbed the "chicken coop" because his wife raised chickens behind it — to Jadoo's second round of funding, raising more than $20 million in private investment.

Pearson left Jadoo to help launch Utah-based Trulite Inc., which builds hydrogen fuel cell generators and hydrogen fuel canisters for commercial uses. The company is now in El Dorado Hills, and Pearson said Trulite and Jadoo might collaborate in the future.

Last year when Jack Crawford Jr., general partner of Velocity Venture Capital, stepped in as chief executive officer for Jadoo, Crawford and Pearson began talking about Pearson returning to help improve Jadoo's products, manufacturing and revenue. Velocity is an investor in Jadoo. Pearson rejoined Jadoo on Dec. 1.

Also last year, Jadoo was awarded a $1.8 million grant through the Department of Energy to design, build and test two 1-kilowatt clean generators that run on hydrogen derived from propane.

Jadoo executives hope to one day replace noisy, polluting, gasoline-powered generators with efficient, clean generators.

That program has since been expanded. Jadoo signed a two-year, $2.2 million contract with the DOE.
The city of Folsom has agreed to work with Jadoo to demonstrate the technology. The police department already has been using Jadoo's smaller, 100-watt portable power unit for a few years now. It has the unit on loan.

Chuck Schuler, a telecommunications engineer with the Folsom Police Department, said the device is quick to deploy, easy to use and reliable.

"I've had a hydrogen fuel cell on deployment for five days," Schuler said. "It's been a really good tool. I can push a button on it and it will tell me how much power is in it."

He's used the unit at the California Capital Airshow at Mather to power radio communications.

And when the Folsom Lake Crossing opened, Schuler said he sent an officer on horseback into a grassy field with the fuel cell unit in his saddle bag to allow the police department to successfully "push digital video" of the event.

"It's perfect for running a small communications system like we do," he said.

Helping first responders
Schuler said the Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System — a regionwide radio system — intends to purchase a 150-watt Jadoo system for first responders. The SRRCS landed a federal grant to buy two portable repeaters and two fuel cell units to create a means for communications during natural disasters or other emergencies.

Jadoo had $4 million in revenue in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2009, and expects revenue to be flat this fiscal year, with about half of its revenue from the DOE.

Pearson said he anticipates revenue to rise in fiscal 2011, along with job opportunities in engineering, manufacturing, operations and administration.

"We're lining up pretty good for fiscal 2011, starting in October, to approach $6 million," he said.