A Texas startup says that it has taken a big step toward high-volume production of an ultracapacitor-based energy-storage system that, if claims hold true, would far outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market.
Dick Weir...chief executive of EEStor [who used to be with IBM]...says that...results suggest that the materials can be made at a high-enough grade to meet the company's performance goals...can withstand the extreme voltages needed for high energy storage....The company also says that the solid-state device will be safer and longer lasting, and will have the ability to recharge in less than five minutes. Toronto-based ZENN Motor, an EEStor investor and customer, says that it's developing an EESU-powered car with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a 250-mile range. It hopes to launch the vehicle, which the company says will be inexpensive, in the fall of 2009.
... skepticism in the research community is high. At the EESU's core is a ceramic material consisting of a barium titanate powder that is coated with aluminum oxide and a type of glass material....
[skeptics worry whether the product can hold up under intense use]
EEStor has won support from...Lockheed Martin...Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers... and former Dell Computer chairman Morton Topfer. The company is also in serious talks with potential partners in the solar and wind industry....the company is working toward commercial production "as soon as possible in 2009," although when asked, he gave no specific date.
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Other companies are doing similar work, e.g. MaxwellTechnologies and Enable IPC Corporation |