GigaOM » Smith Electric Vehicles

Chinese companies slowly collecting discounted U.S. electric car assets

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:01:54 +0000

Electric car startup Fisker Automotive is reportedly weighing investment and acquisition offers from Chinese auto tech companies. Bloomberg reports that there’s a $350 million offer for 85 percent of the company from Chinese state-owned car maker Dongfeng Motor Corp, and Reuters reports that China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (which owns Volvo) has another offer for a majority stake with a deal between $200 million and $300 million.

If Fisker is able to close on either of these deals, it could move its business to China and gain the funds to start manufacturing its second car the Atlantic, as well as start paying back its loan to the Department of Energy. Fisker has been looking for suitors — partners and acquirers — for months, as it wrapped up a year with an incredible amount of problems.

But $350 million for 85 percent stake is a major discount on the original valuation of Fisker. The company has raised a billion dollars in funding, and at one point back in 2011 had raised money at a reported valuation of $2.2 billion. But in 2012, the company struggled heavily and I had heard that it was looking to raise money last year at a significantly lower valuation. Clearly, when discussions are for majority stake deals for between $200 million and $300 million, there’s been massive discounting.

Fisker isn’t the only energy tech company that’s looking to sell for a discount to Chinese conglomerates. Lithium ion battery maker — which sold batteries for Fisker’s electric car — went bankrupt and its assets are being sold off to Chinese auto tech giant Wanxiang for $256.6 million. A123 Systems held the largest IPO in 2009, raising some $371 million, and went public at $20 per share. A123 also raised more than $350 million from private investors when it was still a startup.

Wanxiang has also invested in struggling electric car company Smith Electric Vehicles. Battery maker Boston Power also turned to Chinese investors to take its electric car battery business to the next level, as did Protean Electric. Electric car company Coda Automotive — which is also struggling — has a joint venture with China battery maker Lishen and a deal with auto maker Great Wall Motors Company.

Chinese companies and the Chinese government are very interested in amassing next-gen technology for electric cars. China is projected to be the largest electric car maker and market in the world, and is already the world’s largest auto market.

It’s not just electric car assets that Chinese companies want. Wanxiang invested $420 million into GreatPoint Energy, a company based in Cambridge, Mass. that converts coal into cleaner-burning natural gas. And Chinese power company Hanergy acquired the assets of Miasole for $30 million (Miasole had raised hundreds of millions of dollars from private investors).

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A more sober approach to electric cars via auto veteran Bob Lutz

Katie Fehrenbacher — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:21:40 +0000

Over the past two or three years “electric vehicles have been way over hyped by the media,” and it’ll actually be a lot more of a gradual transition, says auto industry veteran Bob Lutz, during a phone interview from the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show on Monday morning. By 2020, I’d expect only 10 percent of cars sold to be electric, says Lutz.

Lutz, who is well known for his outspoken opinions, has a unique vantage point on electric cars. As former GM Vice Chairman, he acted as the public face of the Chevy Volt, and once said that startup Tesla had inspired him and GM to seriously tackle vehicle electrification. Lutz retired in 2010, and now is on the board of startup VIA Motors, which converts gas-powered vans and trucks into extended range electric cars for company fleets.

The reality is that many electric vehicle startups struggled in 2o12, like Better Place, Coda, Fisker, Think and A123 Systems (battery maker). The media reports from a few years back claiming a sudden and swift transformation to electric cars now stand in stark contrast to these current difficulties.

VIA Motors could be an example of a more sober approach to electric cars. As Lutz explains it, the fuel-savings that companies, like Verizon and PG&E, can gain by buying extended-range electric vans and trucks from VIA Motors is a lot easier sell economically, than the fuel savings from electric cars for consumers.

Verizon has bought two of VIA Motor’s extended range electric vans (a pilot purchase), which Verizon technicians will use to drive to customer sites and install its fiber network and support its wireless and wireline network. Verizon’s Chief Sustainability Officer Jim Gowen told me that Verizon will evaluate the fuel savings of the VIA Motors vans this year, and he expects that multiple vans could save a 100,000 gallons of fuel over a year.

But conversions could be a limited business. VIA Motors told us last year that its vehicles cost 35 percent more to buy up front, but that the fuel savings provides a return over time. Smith Electric vehicles has also been focused on the corporate fleet market, and withdrew its IPO plans last year.

The road is hard for even a more sober approach to selling electric fleets. While VIA Motors was expecting to start volume production on its extended range conversions in 2012, Lutz tells me that the company is now expecting to start production in the late Spring or early Summer.

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Smith Electric Vehicles halts IPO plans

Ucilia Wang — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:32:34 +0000

Another electric vehicle maker has put the brakes on a plan to go public: Smith Electric Vehicles announced late Thursday that it would no longer pursue an initial public offering.

That doesn’t mean the Kansas City company no longer needs money. Smith said it will seek private capital instead. Its CEO, Bryan Hansel, said in a statement:

“We received significant interest from potential investors, however, we were unable to complete a transaction at a valuation or size that would be in the best interests of our company and its existing shareholders. We have instead elected to pursue private financing opportunities to support the execution of our business plan.”

Smith makes all-electric trucks for commercial use, from food and equipment delivery to shuttle buses, and customers include Coca-Cola, Fed-Ex, Staples, and Sainsburys, as well as the military. The decision to forego an IPO doesn’t seem so surprising considering earlier this year it said it plans to raise $40 million privately.

Smith said back in February that Chinese auto manufacturer Wanxiang Group had signed a letter of intent for a $25 million equity investment into Smith and an up to a $75 million investment in a joint venture between Smith and Wanxiang to make electric school buses and commercial vehicles. A variety of electric vehicle makers and battery makers have been looking to Chinese investors and manufacturers to scale up their businesses.

Smith sold 270 electric vehicles in fiscal year 2011 and 90 in the first six months of 2012. In the long run, Smith says it has customer interest for another 2,220 vehicles, which it will produce between 2012 and 2015. Smith generated around $50 million in revenue for the fiscal year 2011 and had a net loss of $52.2 million.

Smith was a modest winner of Department of Energy stimulus funds, and won $32 million in grants. Obama also visited Smith’s factory back in 2010 (see photo) and gave a speech about green jobs. Obama has a plan to get 1 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2015.

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How a Chinese conglomerate became a cleantech powerhouse

Katie Fehrenbacher — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:28:49 +0000

“Cleantech is the new frontier for civilization,” Pin Ni, the President of Wanxiang America, told me in an interview this week. While Wanxiang might be an entirely unfamiliar name in the U.S., it’s one of China’s largest industrial parts companies with $13 billion in revenue and 45,000 employees. Wanxiang’s American division is sizable in its own right, with around $2.5 billion in revenue and 6,000 people.

Wanxiang has emerged as a company that has been making some really aggressive investments into U.S.-based cleantech startups, and the firm has invested in quite a few companies that had hit a wall financially. Most recently Wanxiang said it planned to invest up to $450 million into ailing lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems, which could eventually give Wanxiang 80 percent ownership.

A123 Systems, based in Waltham, Mass. has been bleeding cash for months, with weak sales and a battery recall for a line it produced for electric car maker Fisker Automotive. It was on the verge of being delisted from the Nasdaq. Ni described A123 Systems to me as one of the clear leaders in lithium ion battery manufacturing that has been facing significant financial challenges. Wanxiang will work to help A123 get “financially stabilized,” said Ni.

Wanxiang also invested $420 million into GreatPoint Energy, a company based in Cambridge, Mass. that converts coal into cleaner-burning natural gas. At the time that deal was described by the Wall Street Journal as “the largest ever by a Chinese corporation into a venture-capital-funded U.S. company.” GreatPoint Energy planned to use the money partly to build a large-scale plant in China to convert coal into natural.

But before Wanxiang’s investment, GreatPoint Energy’s technology had stalled in the U.S., partly because U.S. shale natural gas had emerged as so cheap plentiful. GreatPoint’s technology showed great promise, but “economically they were finished in the U.S. The shareholders had decided to not give the company any more money,” said Ni. However, in China, GreatPoint’s economics worked far better.

Ni told me for U.S. cleantech startups, Wanxiang can provide valuable resources like capital, management, and help with expanding into China. Wanxiang is involved in all types of clean technology, from electric cars, to solar, to wind farms, to batteries. Wanxiang invested in another struggling company electric car company Smith Electric Vehicles.

When I asked Ni if Wanxiang looks for undervalued, under performing, cleantech startups, he said, it probably only looks that way because of the few press releases about these companies. Wanxiang also invests in energy companies that are thriving, says Ni.

But the reality of cleantech is that “we’re not there yet in terms of technology and cost,” says Ni, “the industry needs a lot of support from governments and private companies. It’s not a viable business as of today.” However, Wanxiang and Ni don’t waver on the sector in the long term: “There’s no question we need to get there.”

Wanxiang’s investments in U.S. cleantech companies aren’t without controversy; particularly for companies that have gotten money from the U.S. government, and then are building products in China. A123 Systems received a $249 million matching grant from the Department of Energy to build its factory, which will now be mostly owned by the Chinese conglomerate.

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10 ways Chinese investors are dominating cleantech

Katie Fehrenbacher — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:54 +0000

You’ve heard it off and on throughout 2011 and 2012: Chinese investors and the Chinese government are starting to aggressively fund U.S.-based cleantech startups from electric vehicle companies to clean power developers. There’s been a half dozen of these deals in recent weeks and months, so I thought I’d put together this list to point out the 10 big ones I’ve noticed:

1). GreatPoint Energy and China Wanxiang Holdings: At one point GreatPoint Energy, a company that converts coal into cleaner-burning natural gas, had an investor list that was led by the who’s who of Silicon Valley’s greentech ambitions, including Kleiner Perkins, Advanced Technology Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Khosla Ventures. But according to DowJones Venture Wire last week, GreatPoint Energy has now developed a $1.25 billion partnership with industrial parts supplier China Wanxiang Holdings, including a $420 million Series D equity investment.

The article calls the deal “the largest ever by a Chinese corporation into a venture-capital-funded U.S. company.” GreatPoint Energy will use the money partly to build a large-scale plant in China to convert coal into natural gas using GreatPoint’s process called hydromethanation.

2). Smith Electric Vehicles and Wanxiang Group: GreatPoint Energy isn’t the only one that’s teamed up with Wanxiang. I reported last week that electric car company Smith Electric Vehicles is in the process of raising $40 million from private investors. And days after that article, Smith announced that Wanxiang Group has signed a letter of intent for a $25 million equity investment into Smith and an up to a $75 million investment in a JV between Smith and Wanxiang to make electric school buses and commercial vehicles.

Smith filed for an IPO in November 2011. The company sells electric trucks and vans for companies’ fleet operations and counts customers like Coca-Cola, Fed-Ex, Staples, and Sainsburys, as well as the military.

3). Bridgelux and Kaistar: California-based LED lighting startup Bridgelux announced last week that it’s getting $25 million from Kaistar, a joint venture between two public Chinese companies, Epistar and Kaifa. Bridgelux plans to use the funds for research, development and manufacturing of LED chips and packaging for light fixtures.

Bridgelux had already raised a massive $220 million in private funding and in previous years Bridgelux was on the short list for an IPO.

4). LanzaTech and Chinese steel and coal companies: LanzaTech uses microbes and fermentation to convert the carbon monoxide from waste gas from industrial operations and other sources into biofuels and chemicals. Founded in 2005, LanzaTech originally hailed from New Zealand and in recent years has started building demonstration projects in China.

LanzaTech is already working with two Chinese steel manufacturers – Baosteel and Capital Steel — to turn waste gas from their operations into ethanol. LanzaTech said it has installed equipment for a demonstration plant at Baosteel and plans to start production later this year. Last November, the biofuel company also announced a plan to work with a large Chinese coal producer – Yankuang Group — to produce fuels and chemicals from synthesis gas produced by Yankuang’s gasification equipment.

5). PowerGenix and China City Construction Corps: San Diego-based PowerGenix spent the past year hunting for a partner in China and announced in January that it’s forming a joint venture with China City Construction Corp. to produce its nickel-zinc batteries for the so-called microhybrid vehicles. By the end of this year, the joint venture, called CCCC-PowerGenix Clean Energy Co., plans to set up a factory to produce 400,000 batteries per year, or 200,000 watt-hours total.

6). TerraPower and the Chinese government: Nuclear startup TerraPower doesn’t have an official deal to build a reactor with China’s National Nuclear Corporation (despite media reports), but TerraPower investor Bill Gates (yes that Bill Gates) says that TerraPower is having preliminary discussions with the Chinese government over its nuclear tech.

TerraPower is developing nuclear traveling wave reactor technology, which is a relatively new type of small nuclear reactor design that can use the waste byproduct of the enrichment process, or waste uranium, for fuel. TerraPower’s backers have long said it will likely commercialize its technology first outside the U.S.

7). Brammo and the Hong Kong government: Electric motorcycle maker Brammo says it’s scored a deal to supply the Hong Kong government and police force with its electric motorcycles. Brammo says the Hong Kong government will replace its existing gas-powered motorcycle fleet with Brammo’s Enertia.

Hong Kong’s Water Supplies Department will use the Enertia Plus, while the Hong Kong police department will use the 2012 Enertia Plus “LE,” or the Law Enforcement edition, which has features for police. Brammo’s exclusive dealer in Hong Kong is JCAM Advanced Mobility Company.

8). Silevo and Chinese venture firms: California startup Silevo is building a hybrid solar cell design that uses single-crystal silicon as the base layer on which it adds a “tunneling oxide layer” and a layer of amorphous silicon to alter the voltage and current of the cells. Silevo raised $55 million in venture capital from investors, including three China-based firms: DT Capital (affiliated with Madrone Capital), NewMargin Ventures, and GSR Ventures (connected to Mayfield Fund).

Silevo is in the process of building a 30 MW factory in Hangzhou, China, and expects to bring the factory into full production mode during the first quarter of 2012. The company plans to add another 200 MW in 2013 if demand is there.

9). Boston-Power and the Chinese government: Boston-Power, a lithium-ion battery maker, raised $125 million in venture capital and Chinese government incentives to move its manufacturing base to China. Boston-Power plans to build a lithium-ion battery cell factory near Shanghai and a technology center in Beijing where its staff will work with customers to integrate Boston-Power’s cells into electric drivetrains.

10). Sunpreme and Chinese investors: Solar cell maker Sunpreme raised roughly $50 million in a series B round to build a factory in Jiaxing, China. Investors include International Finance Corp. (part of the World Bank Group), Capricorn Investment Group and China Environmental Fund III (managed by Tsing Capital in China).

Images courtesy of Boston-Power, Silevo, Dainis Matisons, PowerGenix, Bridgelux, Smith Electric Vehicles and GreatPoint Energy.

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Smith Electric Vehicles files to raise up to $125M in IPO

Katie Fehrenbacher — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:08:07 +0000

Electric truck and van maker Smith Electric Vehicles has filed for an IPO that could potentially raise up to $125 million (S-1 here). The company, based in Kansas City, Mo. has long said it planned to go public, and it bought the electric vehicle division of its U.K. parent company, the Tanfield Group, earlier this year.

Smith sells electric trucks and vans for companies’ fleet operations and counts customers like Coca-Cola, Fed-Ex, Staples, and Sainsburys, as well as the military. The trucks and vans are supposed to be cost competitive with diesel trucks.

However, Smith’s operations are still small. The company has only sold 320 vehicles for the year ending Sept. 30, 2011, but says in its filing that it has a backlog of 120 vehicles and has pre-sold 540 vehicles, which it will produce through July 2012. In the long run, Smith says it has customer interest for another 2,220 vehicles, which it will produce between 2012 and 2015.

For the six months that ended June 30, 2011, Smith generated $37.60 million in revenue, which was up from the $15.82 million in revenue it generated for the previous period in 2010. Like most greentech companies that try to go public these days, Smith is also not profitable. For the six months that ended June 30, 2011, Smith had a net loss of $21.28 million, which was a larger net loss than the $9.52 million that the company lost the year before.

Smith Electric Vehicles is a modest winner of Department of Energy stimulus funds, and won $32 million in grants to build electric trucks with on-board telemetry systems. Obama also visited Smith’s factory back in 2010 and gave a speech about green jobs. Obama has a plan to get 1 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2015.

Smith was on our 10 greentech IPO picks, but for 2010, not 2011.

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A123 Systems Posts Lower Sales, Widens Loss in Q1

Ucilia Wang — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:52:23 +0000

Auto makers aren’t making much money (if any) off of electric cars yet. The same thing is true for the makers of the batteries that will run them. A123 Systems, which provided a shiny example of a stellar cleantech exit in 2009, on Monday reported lower sales and widened its loss for the first quarter.

Revenue hit $18.1 million for the first quarter, down 26 percent from $24.5 million from the year-ago period. A123 posted a loss of $53.6 million, or 51 cents per share, an 85 percent increase from a loss of $29 million, or 28 cents per share, from the same quarter in 2010.

The company made its debut on the Nasdaq in September 2009 with $17 per share and ended the first-day of trading at $20.29 per share. The $371 million IPO was the largest in 2009 and held up as an example of an innovative battery startup in the emerging electric car market.

However, A123’s stock has fallen quite a bit since then and closed at $5.89 per share Monday, before the company announced the earnings. The company has received hefty federal support, including a $249.1 million grant in August 2009 to build a factory in Michigan.

A123 opened that factory only last year and ramped production earlier this year. The company needs to build out that factory to eventually reach 600 megawatt-hours of annual production?

A123’s CEO, David Vieau, said the financial results fell within the company’s expectations. He added that the second quarter will be “an inflection point” for revenue generation because several customers are boosting their production now. The good news he wanted to highlight included the start of production for Fisker Automotive’s first car, the Karma, during the first quarter and a deal to supply 5 kilowatt-hour batteries to Smith Electric Vehicles starting in the second half of this year. A123’s other customers include BMW, Daimler and Navistar.

Developing and building batteries is a capital intensive business, and A123 is up against established players in Japan and Korea, from Panasonic to LG Chem. To support its expansion plans, A123 sold more shares to raise $254 million earlier this year. A123 also is angling for a $230 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

A123 also targets the energy storage market and counts AES Energy Storage among its customers. AES has installed A123 batteries in projects, including a 12 MW project in Chile and AES recently ordered 20 MW of batteries for another project in Chile.

Photo courtesy of A123 Systems

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Green IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times

Jeff St. John — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:03:06 +0000

Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

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Tale of Two Electric Truck Makers: Smith and Modec

Josie Garthwaite — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:00:19 +0000

President Obama at Smith's facility in Kansas City, Mo.

Is it a good time to be an electric truck maker? Well, the answer depends on who you ask.

According to Bryan Hansel, the chief executive of Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., the answer is a resounding yes. The company has seen demand grow “exponentially” over the last year, he told us in an interview recently, and along with government support, $58 million in new funding from private investors, and the recent uptick in oil prices, times have never been better.

But times are quite a bit tougher for another electric truck maker: Modec, based in Coventry, United Kingdom. The 7-year-old company reportedly has £40 million (about $64 million) in debt and has just entered administration – a process similar to bankruptcy filings in the U.S. According to representatives from Zolfo Cooper, the firm appointed to try and save Modec, the electric truck maker is experiencing “severe cashflow difficulties.” (Navistar and Modec have not responded to requests for comment as of this writing.)

Common Ground

The surprising thing is that Smith and Modec actually share some common ground. Both companies trace their roots to the UK and in recent years have moved into the U.S. Lord Jamie Borwick, former head of the London taxi maker Manganese Bronze, founded Modec in 2004 in Coventry. Then in 2009, the company formed a joint venture with Navistar to build electric delivery trucks for North, Central and South America. That same year, the UK’s Tanfield Group, which makes aerial work platforms, formed SEV U.S. in 2009 through its British electric vehicle unit, Smith Electric Vehicles UK.

Setting up shop stateside allowed the companies to benefit from government investments in electric vehicles under the Recovery Act. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $32 million in stimulus grants for Smith to build 510 trucks with on-board telemetry systems, and $39.2 million for the Navistar-Modec EV Alliance to build electric trucks at an old RV plant in Elkhart, Indiana.

In addition, Smith and Modec have each delivered vehicles for major corporate fleets. For Modec that includes FedEx, UPS and supermarket giant Tesco. Smith counts Coca-Cola, Staples, Frito-Lay and AT&T among its customers. The companies’ trucks are even said to travel the same distance: 100 miles on a full charge.

Paths Diverge

Despite their similarities, some key differences have set the two electric truck makers on divergent paths. Hansel tells us he believes Modec missed the boat on some crucial design specifications in light of the U.K.’s driving license categories. The U.K. license requires vehicles weighing between 3.5 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes to have a commercial vehicle license, which adds cost for fleet operators. While Modec’s trucks weigh 5.5 tonnes, they offer a payload (2 tonnes) comparable to trucks in the lighter vehicle class, says Hansel. So buying a Modec truck essentially forces a customer to commit to not only go electric, but also to pay the extra cost of a driver carrying a commercial license, without getting a bigger payload, says Hansel.

Smith, on the other hand, offers a range of vehicle sizes and payload capacity, points out Hansel: “I think they had the wrong product. We’re more accessible to fit the general marketplace. If I’m going to pay for a commercial driver, I want more payload.”

Modec began producing vehicles in March 2007, after investing $30 million in research and development over five years, including a 6 million effort to make the final product at least 98 percent recyclable), according to the company’s website. Modec has sold just 400 of its electric vehicles, the Financial Times reports. UPS, which began testing a Modec van in early 2008, placed an order for 14 vehicles last month. Tesco, meanwhile, has not come back for more since its initial order of 15 Modec electric vans back in 2007, according to FT.

Smith, meanwhile, is gearing up for expansion. The company’s latest $58 million financing round will help fund its January 1 acquisition of Tanfield’s British electric vehicle unit, SEV UK (Tanfield retains a 49 percent stake in the combined company). Smith is now producing more than 40 trucks per month, according to Hansel. While the company is “predominately” focused on building its U.S. business and setting up decentralized, regional manufacturing, Smith is also “actively looking at new markets.”

The Future of Electric Trucks

Modec’s troubles do not bode well for electric truck makers. “You never want to see anyone fail. It’s not good for the industry,” said Hansel. Modec‘s position on the financial brink could have a silver lining, however, if it spurs more public investment in commercial EVs in the UK, suggested Hansel. “There’s not a lot of us out there,” he said, expressing hope that the UK will see a “big outcry” from people questioning, “Why would we let a company like this go?”

When it comes to government support and private investment, U.S. electric vehicle companies “definitely have an advantage,” compared to competitors across the pond, said J.D. Power and Associates powertrain analyst Michael Omotoso. Europeans are generally “happy with their diesel trucks and passenger cars,” and are less compelled than the U.S. to subsidize electric vehicles, he said, offering a note of skepticism that Modec’s fate will trigger a rush to subsidize the UK’s plug-in vehicle market. Given the state of the economy in the UK and other EU countries, Omotoso added, “I don’t think the atmosphere is right for a push towards EV subsidies in the car or truck market.”

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Green IT’s Q4 Winners: Wind Power, Solar Power, Smart Energy

Jeff St. John — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:00:09 +0000

Greentech marked its best year ever in 2010, and part of that is thanks to the wealth of activity across sectors during the fourth quarter. Global investment in clean energy surged, and while wind power remained the biggest greentech area, solar power saw the fastest growth. The energy efficiency sector appears to have more room for smaller players to make their mark amidst a rapidly maturing market. Meanwhile, China’s stance as a growing greentech giant continued to complicate its relationship with the United States. Companies mentioned in this report include General Electric, Intel, ZigBee, iControl, People Power and EnerNOC. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.