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Zenn to increase stake in EEStor after test verifies ultracapacitor technology
May 21, 2009 - by Emma Ritch, Cleantech Group
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Toronto-based electric vehicle maker Zenn Motor (TSX:ZNN) said late today there’s truth to stealth ultracapacitor developer EEStor’s claims of high energy density across a broad range of operating temperatures.
And Zenn is putting its money where its mouth is: The company said it plans to increase its investment in EEStor to between 6.2 percent and 10.5 percent, depending on the actions of other shareholders.
EEStor first announced the technological milestones in late April. Zenn had the equipment verified by a third party, and then conducted the tests again.
As a result, Zenn said it plans to give EEStor a $700,000 milestone payment associated with the technological progress. Zenn previously made three milestone payments to EEStor totaling $1.3 million. A final $500,000 is due when EEStor ships its ultracapacitors.
Zenn holds 3.8 percent of EEStor after investing a separate $2.5 million in the ultracapacitor company. Under a prior agreement, the results of today’s test allows Zenn to boost its investment to a range of 6.2 to 10.5 percent.
Zenn CEO Ian Clifford said today the company plans to invest between $2 million and $5 million more in EEStor, with the amount determined by other shareholders. In 2005, Kleiner Perkins invested a reported $3 million in EEStor. The percentage of Kleiner's stake has not been revealed.
Zenn currently makes low-speed electric vehicles, but last year announced plans to roll out vehicles powered by EEStor’s technology by fall 2009 (see Zenn gearing up for EEStor-powered car).
“Our engineering team has been working hard in preparation for the integration of EEStor’s technology into our planned range of electric vehicle offerings,” Michael Bergeron, VP of Engineering at Zenn, said in a news release. “The permittivity results provide a great incentive for us to further increase our investment in this regard.”
In April, EEStor said its permittivity tests of the manufacturing grade chemicals showed that its composition modified barium titanate (CMBT) powders, the main material in the ultracapacitor technology, achieved relative permittivity of at least 22,500 over an operating range of -20 to +65 degrees Celsius. Permittivity is a measurement of how much energy can be stored in a material.
The results were a reflection of the ability to achieve higher energy density at the same voltage—an important step in commercializing electric vehicles.
EEStor said the claims were verified by Edward Golla, the laboratory director of Texas Research International in Austin, Texas. Golla was also the scientist hired by EEStor for third-party verification of the technology in August 2008 (see EEStor claims third party verification).
Zenn said today it commissioned Professional Testing of Round Rock, Texas, to test the equipment used in Golla’s test for EEStor. Professional Testing also tested the equipment after Golla performed the tests again on Zenn’s behalf.
The tests were conducted on hot-pressed dielectric layers manufactured on EEStor’s production line.
In August, EEStor announced it was able to attain very narrow particle size—another factor determining permittivity (see EEStor's Weir on ultracapacitor milestone). The company has also achieved high purification of its chemicals to allow working voltage without voltage breakdown. EEStor also said it can tune the constituents of its CMBT powders to operate within the paraelectric phase, meeting high working voltages.
Copyright © 2009 Cleantech Group LLC. All rights reserved, including right of redistribution.
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Comments
EESCAM CONTINUES
Submitted on May 22nd, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)This EESCAM debate can be easily settled. Enough of the press release, speculation, and news reports.
MR. DICK WEIR, DELIVER A PROTOTYPR OF THE CERAMIC BATTERY WHICH YOU HAVE PUBLICLY STATED HAS BEEN, BUILT, TESTED, AND CERTIFIED TO AN INDEPENDENT REPUTABLE INSTITUTION FOR VERIFICATION. WE HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE 2001 FOR THIS CERAMIC BATTERY.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP!
A New Lithium/Air Battery is being developed...in the U.K.
Submitted on July 8th, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)Are You Going to Let the U.K. Show You How To Make a Better Electric Battery?
By human4us - Jul 9th, 2009 at 1:49 am EDT
Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content
The New Lithium/Air Fueled Battery is here...and it has Great Potential...For the U.K.Joseph Raglione July 09, 2009Gentle readers of the American Chronicle, and official members of the United States government. look what an average person can find if He or She decides to browse the Internet and search the unusual web sites that abound on the Web. A powerful Super Battery for example. Allow me to quote verbatum the following article...>
Air-fueled battery could last up to 10 times longer.
May 18th, 2009... http://www.physorg.com/news161862319.html
The "STAIR" (St Andrews Air) cell. Oxygen drawn from the air reacts within the porous carbon to release the electrical charge in this lithium-air battery.
A new type of air-fuelled battery could give up to ten times the energy storage of designs currently available.
This step-change in capacity could pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, mobile phones and laptops.
The research work, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is being led by researchers at the University of St Andrews with partners at Strathclyde and Newcastle.
The new design has the potential to improve the performance of portable electronic products and give a major boost to the renewable energy industry. The batteries will enable a constant electrical output from sources such as wind or solar, which stop generating when the weather changes or night falls.
Improved capacity is thanks to the addition of a component that uses oxygen drawn from the air during discharge, replacing one chemical constituent used in rechargeable batteries today. Not having to carry the chemicals around in the battery offers more energy for the same size battery. Reducing the size and weight of batteries with the necessary charge capacity has been a long-running battle for developers of electric cars.
The STAIR (St Andrews Air) cell should be cheaper than today's rechargeables too. The new component is made of porous carbon, which is far less expensive than the lithium cobalt oxide it replaces.
This four-year research project, which reaches its halfway mark in July, builds on the discovery at the university that the carbon component's interaction with air can be repeated, creating a cycle of charge and discharge. Subsequent work has more than tripled the capacity to store charge in the STAIR cell.
Principal investigator on the project, Professor Peter Bruce of the Chemistry Department at the University of St Andrews, says: "Our target is to get a five to ten fold increase in storage capacity, which is beyond the horizon of current lithium batteries. Our results so far are very encouraging and have far exceeded our expectations."
"The key is to use oxygen in the air as a re-agent, rather than carry the necessary chemicals around inside the battery," says Bruce.
The oxygen, which will be drawn in through a surface of the battery exposed to air, reacts within the pores of the carbon to discharge the battery. "Not only is this part of the process free, the carbon component is much cheaper than current technology," says Bruce. He estimates that it will be at least five years before the STAIR cell is commercially available.
The project is focused on understanding more about how the chemical reaction of the battery works and investigating how to improve it. The research team is also working towards making a STAIR cell prototype suited, in the first instance, for small applications, such as mobile phones or MP3 players.
Source: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (news : web)http://www.physorg.com/news161862319.html
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