More News on EEStor

The latest about EEStor, the promising developer of ultracapacitors can be found in a post by Tyler in Clean Break, EEStor Powered cityZenn targeted for fall 2009 the key item is taken from Zenn Motor Company's  press release following its annual general meeting of March 28:

The cityZENN is planned to be a fully certified, highway capable vehicle with a top speed of 125 KPH/ 80 MPH and a range or 400 kilometres/250 miles. Powered by EEStor, the cityZENN will be rechargeable in less than 5 minutes, feature operating costs 1/10th of a typical internal combustion engine vehicle and be 100% emission-free! The Zero-Emission, No-Noise cityZENN will be designed to meet the transportation requirements of a large percentage of drivers worldwide.

"EEStor's game-changing energy storage technology is in the advanced stages of commercialization", stated Ian Clifford, Chief Executive Officer. "EEStor has publicly committed to commercialization in 2008 and their first production line will be used to supply ZENN Motor Company."

EEStor is believed to have had trouble developing its product, an ultracapacitor claimed to have a specific energy of 280 watt-hours per kilogram, compared to a lithium ion battery with about 120 watt-hours and a lead-acid gel battery, with only 32 watt hours. (Although ElectroVaya claims 330Wh/kg, so they may not be alone) 

The problem is believed, by some, to be in producing the ultra-pure barium-titanate used in the capacitor, which is the key to having the high specific energy. A January 2007 announcement indicated that 1) An automated production line had been proven to meet the requirements for precise chemical delivery, purity control, parameter control and stability and 2) they had completed the initial milestone of certifying purification, concentration, and stability of all of its key production chemicals notably the attainment of 99.9994% purity of its barium nitrate powder. At that time they claimed that they would be shipping product to Zenn in 2007, a year earlier than indicated in the current announcement. 

EEStor's recently announced collaboration with Lockheed Martin, which gives the company credibility and is a further indication that the company is making progress. The current announcement seems to be in agreement with the timing indicated in the Lockheed Martin announcement, although, based on past performance, a wait and see position must be held. 

Comments

[Benjamin Cole]

I want to believe, want to so bad....just hope these batteries, or ultracapacitors, work. Game-changer , if they do. Good-bye internal combustion engine, good-bye OPEC, good-bye smog.....wow, wow, wow, wow.
Something tells me not to get my hopes up.....

[Marco Almondine]

Reminds me of the development of lithium polymer batteries. I first heard of them in 1992 but even as an engineer I could not get my hands on samples until years later. Eventually they showed up in a few products and today they are in many. But none of the initial big proponents wound up being a large supplier.

There are a handful of announcements per year from lab scientists about supposed breakthroughs that will transform energy storage, allow 8 hour laptop runtimes, etc., but the chain from lab to field is over 10 years long and that's for the stuff that pans out.

The industry is rightly skeptical of EEStor at the moment. They have not released enough information to demonstrate that their technology works at all, let alone to the industry-transforming specs claimed, and they certainly have not demonstrated an ability to manufacture a reliable, reasonably priced product in high volume.

A partnership with Lockheed Martin only means that LM might one day use the technology in some military application if they so desire. Spending company resources pursuing that market would slow down any eventual introduction into consumer electric vehicles.

[NiraliSherni]

Just a line to say thanks for all the great info you keep providing. I for one take a lot of heart from the amount of work and effort that people are putting in to make alternative energy more viable and cost effective. More and more effort needs to be put in so that cleaner, renewable and sustainable energy systems are developed and put into place so that people have alternatives to a polluting lifestyle.

[Danzig]

Jim Fraser said:

"based on past performance, a wait and see position must be held."

No kidding.

[Charles Barton]

Well what the story did not say is that EEStor technology was suppose to appear some time last year. Now we have a promise of something bigger next year. Sigh!

[Frank]

I'm really beginning to think that journalists and stock pumpers are in cahoots on this one. This scenario has occured several times, now: Zenn stock (ZNN on the TSX) has just drifted back down to half its highest value, then another of Tyler's Clean Break news releases articles appears, and the stock shoots back up. Nobody else seems to get this information, and none of the information actually addresses the basic physical impossibility -- and blatant error -- in the description of EEStor and in the patent information. A number of well-known experts in ultra-capacitor chemistry are saying this is pure eyewash, "purest of pure powders and all.

[Rick]

Yes, it would 'suck' if this was all a ploy to snag venture capitalist funds and nothing more. They hold the patent(s), why not be more forthcoming on even a little more information?

[dave]

"We" are always waiting for "Them" to "Come out with", "It". Drive an electric car. Charge it during off peak hours. Insulate your attic,change your bulbs, shade your house, get your AC unit off the roof and out of the sun, investigate different roofing materials, and, put in some triple pane windows. This will help to offset your vehicles electricity consumption. Batteries are very recyclable. We don't need two motors in our cars. We don't need complex control systems that break down. Electricity from existing power sources is still better than gasoline, and everything that goes with it.

[Michael]

I just want to know what EESTORs stock symbol is.

[don knudson]

I'll believe it when I see it. Too many unanswered technical questions.

[Scott Graham]

EESTOR is a private company. It does not have publicly traded stock so no stock symbol

[TheTruth]

oil is the fuel of the future - you can bet on it!

[Bryan]

Couple this technology with www.nanosolar.com, and you've just:

1. Removed every house from the electric grid
2. Closed every gas station in America
3. Brought the cost of food down to unbelievable levels
4. Brought the cost of long distance (airplane) transportation down to historic lows
5. Made many products of this country cheaper
6. Staved off the "Peak Oil" scare on a PERMANENT basis.

We live in HAPPY TIMES! Just keep praying oil goes out the roof, it's the "shot" that'll ennoculate us from OIL. Hurts at first, but you'll be better off in the long run.

[markH]

couple this technolgy with a diesel or turbine engine and you could probably get it off the ground much quicker. maybe you could have a setting switch where the engine would kick in a specific speed. you could have specific settings like 70 mph then 80mph...120mph. the engine would also kick in when the cap started getting low on the electrcal charge in it. the engine would at least get you to a charging station.

[j]

There's some interesting information being gathered and discussed about EEStor at this blog:

http://bariumtitanate.blogspot.com

[solarnetwork]

there's also an open source framework in development that could use an EEStor device:

http://www.solarnetwork.net/

[aaron]

LOL, this is all too funny, I got a call today from the notorious B of www.theeestory.com. "B" for all of you that don’t know is the secret forum owner and has never revealed his identity.

I have been using the alias of goUSA on the open forums to try and get a reaction and well I guess I have succeeded to some part. Before that I was also known as XYMOX. I am what you would call one of their biggest skeptics. I don’t believe the pipe dream and I’m not a fan of "Physics because I say so"

Now that I have you attention.

I was flattered that "B" would actually take the time to call little old me up and ask if there was something I wanted to get off my chest. At first I resisted, but I conceded to voice the opinion that I think its nifty that whenever there is a naysayer on the board, they are summarily banned from the "OPEN FORUM" The first time I was brought down was when I posted some personal address information on his site, fair enough, thats his rules and I’m not the owner, so see ya XYMOX.

This last time I was given the boot for only asking B to reveal his identity. Well what I was looking for was a reaction. You see I like reactions because they are fun, I don’t know, but that’s the way people are, we push buttons and things happen. So I got my phone call. At that point I then knew more than the rest something about this man,... what he sounded like.

And oddly enough I did happen to stumble upon an audio clip of one of my suspects Ian Clifford, CEO of Zenn Motorcars, well this sample was one of many but it is best online voice sample I have heard so far. that’s at
http://www.zenncars.com/media/audio/evcast.mp3
Why did I suspect Ian, Well given his Internet Marketing background and being the one person in this world who has the most to gain from this scam, my focus was narrowed on him.
Well it didn't take me to long after I closed my eyes and remembered who I was talking to, the voice of the caller and the voice of Ian Clifford are one and the same. I have a very good memory for audio as I am a trained musician and have what you could call an audio-graphic memory that rivaled the most studious contemporaries back in college, but enough of my self-admiration.

I have my answer, and I can’t say I’m happy because I’m not, I really wanted the technology they are promoting to be real, but given the deception and the gravity of the slippery tongue that is Ian Clifford, I know that it’s not more than a dog and pony show.

The world is no better off.

[Peter]

Aaron,
Wake up! With a name like 'theeestory' it's a pretty safe bet someone is doing some promotion, but that in no way implies a scam. It's common practice for companies to do this kind of thing.
I've read a lot of comments from people with ID's like 'CapacitorMan' claiming this technology can't work mainly because of the non lnear nature of the permittivity constant and dielectric saturation. Unfortunately, non of them seem to have much umderstanding of nano technology.
You cannot simply extrapolate bulk material properties to the nano scale and say the EESU can't work on that basis.
All the sceptics comments I've seen so far seem to also ignore the peer reviewed papers from Philips and others that are referenced by the patent. They all show clear evidence that nano scale particles of Barium Titinate can have a very high permittivity.
If adequately insulated in a material with an absence of short circuit creating pours (as discussed in the patent) the figures EEStor give for the electric field strength are plausible.
The challenges of fabrication remain. The Barium Titinate particles have to be extremely pure and of a consistent size. The Aluminium Oxide also needs high purity and the PET plastic needs a complete absence of pours.

[Robert Longley]

We are currently looking at options to combine our battery technology with ultracapacitors to create hybrid storage devices.

[Greenest U]

UC San Diego is building the largest energy storage project for permanent load shifting on a university campus. It will be funded with fuel cell incentives just approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. Power created by the university's 2.8 MW biogas fuel cell will be stored and used during peak demand. Check it out at http://greenestuniversity.blogspot.com.

[van de wiel hans]

if this invention works the state taxes of
electricity will go a lot up for saving the rest of the economy what is related on the oil bysniss.the whole industrie of ordinary engine and releated parts will slowly brake down
if it works it is the invention of this siecle but I hope it`s us also who profits of it. good luck

[Ken]

Weir and Clifford.

I think its obvious that everyone knows you tw have done nothing but lie to your investors.

Just give it up already. It pains me to see intelligent people wasting their time thinking about your scam.

[Ashley]

We can add some information by this link here
http://www.zintro.com/topic?name=Energy+Storage