[LINK] 'Electrical Energy Storage Unit'

[Glen Turner]

stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:

> Texas-based EEStor is not exactly proposing a new battery, since no 
> chemicals are used. The technology is based on the idea of a solid state 
> Ultracapacitor, but cannot be accurately described in these terms either.

Actually, that's what they are proposing. A ultra-capacitor of Barium
Titanate, with a smooth coating.

There's a lot of skepticism about this -- both scientific and
commercial.  The scientific criticism is that the high fields
required have not been seen in Barium Titanate to be linear to
the input charge -- that is, the charging of the "battery" is
inefficient. The second is that the coating reduces the efficiency
of the capacitor -- EEStor claim 12% but this is very low.

The commercial objection is that the "funding milestones" reached to
date have related to the purity of the Barium Titanate powder, not to
any capacitor. The next funding milestone of $0.5m requires a
prototype capacitor and that funding milestone has not been reached.

This isn't to rule out the technology working. But it's well early
to make any claims like: "it's a paradigm shift".

> This could translate into an electric vehicle capable of traveling up to 
> 500 miles on a five minute charge, compared with current battery 
> technology which offers an average 50-100 range on an overnight charge. 

So it efficiently moves pollution from Californian car exhausts to
Oregon power stations.  Hmmm.  Remember if you're going to use
solar to charge these cars then you need two sets of storage
and there's still the issue of peak power generation when solar
fails -- or do you just have four days per year when cars don't
work?

> Further, because it is based on a solid state design and not dependent on 
> chemicals, the technology would be extremely safe, environmentally 
> friendly, and benefit from an unparalleled lifespan.

Bzzzz. It's operation may not be dependent on chemicals, but its
manufacture sure is.

And it won't be "extremely safe". None of these storage technologies
can be -- when you have a huge amount of energy contained in a small
space that is liberated by a simple process then you have a bomb, no
matter what the technology used.

> Zenn's Ian Clifford has visited EEStor's upcoming production facility in 
> Cedar Park, Texas on several occasions. "To be very clear, this is not a 
> lab that they are building. It is a full, state of the art production 
> facility that is nearing completion, and we remain very pleased with their 
> progress," he boasts.

This is the bit I don't get.  They don't have a prototype but they've already
built the factory???

-- 
  Glen Turner