Ultracapacitors Beyond EEStor

EEStor grabs all the attention on ultracapacitors, but EEStor is far from the only ultracapacitors story. Capacitors are electrical storage devices that should not be confused with batteries. In a battery, the electrical charge is stored chemically, in capacitors the charge is stored on the surface of some substance. When a battery is charged, chemical changes occur in substances or inside the battery. When a battery is discharged the substances change back to their original state. In most capacitor, electrons flow between two plates made of metal or other materials so positive and negative charges build up on the surface of the plates. The human body can itself act like a capacitor. Anyone who has been shocked while getting out of a car, or after walking over a rug, has experienced the consequence of having an electrical charge build up on his or her body. The shock comes when the built up electrical charge is rapidly discharged into some grounded source.

Since the classic capacitor involves the transfer of electrons from one substance to another, capacitors are limited in the amount of charge they can hold without a discharge. Without insulators called dielectric spacers, there will be a spark between the two plates.

Ultracapacitors use some material that increases the surface area on which electrons can be stored. Materials with lots of tiny holes in them called "nanoporous material" can be useful in ultracapacitor construction. Electrons find homes in all the little holes, and there accumulation builds up the charge of the ultracapacitor. Activated charcoal is one such material although researchers point to its limitations. Carbon-nanotubes developed by MIT potentially can hold larger charges. EEStor uses a substance called barium titanate, and claims that that its barium titanate technology can store about 8 times as much electricity per unit of weight as led acid batteries can. Barium titanate ultra capacitors, according to EEStor, can store up to 2 1/2 times the amount of electricity that a lithium-ion battery can. Carbon-nanotubes capacitors, in contrast, can theoretically hold about half of the charge of a lithium-ion battery per a given unit of weight.

Ultracapacitors can be charged and discharged much more rapidly than batteries.

Ultracapacitors do age, but probably can be expected to age more slowly than batteries. I do not recall seeing any EEStor estimates on how many charge-discharge cycles can be expected with an EESU.

A failure of the EEStor project would not be the end of the usefulness of ultracapacitors for transportation. Ultracapacitors would be useful as a source of energy for urban trucking, urban buses and light rail systems, and the electrification of national rail systems. China, beset by extreme air pollution problems, is already experimenting with ultracapacitor powered buses. Ultracapacitors that have the electrical storage capacity of carbon-nanotube, could make an electrified transportation system work. Such ultracapacitors have fewer limitations than lithium-ion batteries, even though carbon-nanotube ultracapacitors will weigh twice as much per unit electrical storage. Thus it is very like that even without a successful EEStor product, ultracapacitors are destined to play a major role in the electrification of transportation and indeed the electrification of society.

In addition to developments in ultracapacitor technology, a recent break through in lithium-ion battery technology has the potential of dramatically improving that technology. Dr. Yi Cui of stanford University has recently announced that the use silicon nanowires in ithium-ion batteries would increase their storage capacity by several fold, while greatly improving battery life. Dr Yi expects at least 1000 charge recharge cycles with his new battery technology.

As EEStor Turns, Another Chapter, Another Verse

I have made it clear in the past that I am skeptical about the EEStor story. EEStor is an Austin start up which claims to have developed a revolutionary capacitor, that could if the claims are true, provide a revolutionary means of storing electricity for transportation and other uses. EEStor claims to have developed a revolutionary ultracapacitor-based energy storage systems, that can store more electricity by unit of weight than the current generation of Lithium-ion batteries. In addition the projected electrical storage units can be built for a fraction of the price of Lithium ion batteries. Such units reportedly also have storage performance characteristics that are in several respects superior to Lithium-ion technology.

Numerous people have looked at EEStors claims about their technology and pronounced them nonsense. Despite this EEStor has received financial support not only from tiny and marginal ZENN Motors, but also from high tec investment organization Kleiner Perkins, and Lockheed Martin, a business that one would expect to not be taken in by a hoax. Furthermore, Austin billionaire Mort Topfer in on the EEStor board, and Topfer is both intelligent and nobodies fool. Because it has the interest of credible parties who have obligations to investors and stock holders to not be taken in by a con, despite what I regard as red flags, EEStor can not be completely dismissed, because ofthe credibility of its backers.

A self styled Anonymous blogger is now spinning the lastest verse of the EEStor story. Anonymous is not without his own red flags, not the least of which is the fact that he is anonymous. By his account Anonymous has come up with an internet method of trolling for information on the EEStory, but what we have with an anonymous source reporting on what anonymous sources have told him. This might indeed be described as shadowy.

I advise my reader to make carful note of the above caveat as I describe what Anonymous claims.

In a post dated yesterday, Anonymous claimed that Richard Weir of EEStor had told key investors and other interested parties in April that the EEStor Unit had passed a key third party "Permittivity" test. Permittivity is the ability of capacitor materials to hold a charge. This claim, if true, would indicate that the EEStor Unit work in an important way. Weir also indicated that EEStor Inc was planning to expand its production lines from the one which is currently under development, to 6-7 more production lines

Anonymous claims that EEStor is working on 21 patents, and that its primary motivation is the 23
patents, and that its primary motive for secrecy, it the danger of typing competitors hands before patent applications are filed.

Anonymous claims that EEStor has at least 5 major funding sources lined up. They are reportedly Kleiner Perkins, Zenn Motors, Lockheed Martin, Mort Topfer and a mystery billionaire in Austin, TX whose name probably rhymes with "Bell".

Anonymous reports speculation from one or more of his shadowy sources that EEStor intends to make everything public at the same time. Every thing meaning the "Permittivity" test outcome, the 21 patents, details of the production line(s), and more. An EEStor web site will also appear, and no doubt if everything happens as Anonymous predicts, there will be the most astonishing uproar. Do not forget my caveat, however. Austin is not for certain going to be the center of salvation for the American Motor Industry. Zenn Motors may not be the new name in cars. But if, and this is a still a very big if, this is true, then we need to understand the radical implications.

Zenn has stated that it plans to build a EV with a 250 miles driving range for $15,000. GM plans to build the Lithium-ion battery powered Volt for $40,000, with an unassisted electrical range of 30 miles. This would mean that the leap to electrical transportation would happen very quickly.

I really would like to believe.