One of 50 units installed on trucks and generators at Butler Concrete & Aggregate
VICTORIA – Empire Hydrogen Energy Systems Inc. is growing fast, and they’re looking for investors to help them speed up their journey to an even brighter future.
Empire’s product is a box that uses electrolysis to split water into hydrogen/oxygen gas that is injected into any large diesel engine such as a transport truck, heavy equipment or generator. This usually results in 10-20 per cent better fuel economy and cuts emissions in half. Butler Concrete and Aggregate Ltd. has installed the units on 50 of their ready-mix cement trucks and generators.
“We are really in a growth mode now,” says Executive Vice President Andrew Evans. “Our sales have doubled this year. Now we’re looking to raise $5 million in equity to accelerate even further.”
A private company with 10 employees, Empire has 220 shareholders already.
Executive Vice President Andrew Evans completes the installation on a container lifter in Surrey
“We are ready and able to go public at any moment. That’s certainly one of our plans,” Evans states. “We’ve spent over 10 years in research and development in order to create a bullet-proof product. We’re selling 20-30 units a month, and we believe very soon we’ll be at 50-100. The reason for the success is that we’ve taken that time to create a very strong product that works in the real world.
“Electrolysis is easy; electrolysis on a moving truck in a Canadian winter is much, much harder. We’ve tested 200 units on real world trucks, buses and generators. Companies are saying ‘Yes, I’ll install one of these units because I know they work’.”
Empire Hydrogen systems are now being tested on Sobey’s trucks in Victoria and Vancouver, and they are selling a number of units from a large truck service centre in Abbotsford.
“Our customers are spending at least $100,000 a year in fuel for each truck. If they can save 15 per cent on that, it becomes an easy decision. We’re at the stage where many companies are buying units to test.” he adds. “They’re seeing great results with their fuel economy, so we’re expecting them to come back and say they’ve tried two and now want 20.”
These results aren’t surprising Evans.
Technician David Butcher fine tunes the hydrogen/oxygen gas production circuitry
“We’ve been planning for this all along,” he explains. “We recently had a customer in Saudi Arabia try one of our units on a generator, and they had a 27 per cent reduction in fuel consumption.”
Evans is equally excited about the positive impact Empire’s product is having on the environment.
“Down the road, we’ll see trucks all over the world using this technology.” he declares. “We’re reducing greenhouse gas by 27 per cent, NOx by 47 per cent and diesel particulates by two-thirds.”
Evans states that private shares are selling for $1 per share, and “We’re saying that will put our company at a valuation of $22 million. We think our company is worth twice that. Within five years we could be doing revenues of $70 million a year if we get the investment we want now.”
By Mark MacDonald
