Chevy Volt’s batteries cowering as Eestor’s supercapacitor progressesBy Matt Jansen

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/07/31/chevy-volts-batteries-cowering-as-eestors-supercapacitor-progresses/
An industry-shaking idea itself, the Chevy Volt is on uncertain ground as Eestor continues to make progress on its ultracapacitor battery. Eestor just announced that its technology was verified by a third party, and that the company is on track to deliver a battery capable of powering a car for 300 miles on one charge.

Eestor set a milestone last year when it worked with the same third party verifier last year, Edward D. Golla, PhD, Laboratory Director for Texas Research International. Golla has provided a chemical analysis:

The percent of the constituents crystallized in the CMBT powders ranged from 99.57% to 100.00% with the average being 99.92%. This level of crystallization provides the path for the possibility of EEStor, Inc. providing the published energy storage for present products and major advancements in energy storage for future products, according to MarketWatch.

Interestingly, even though Eestor’s battery is expected to provide 1 megajoule of energy per kilogram, gasoline packs in 45 megajoules per kilogram. Much of the energy contained in gasoline though is wasted during the combustion process, typically engines capture about 12 megajoules per kilogram from gasoline, according to Wikipedia. Lithium ion batteries clock in at .54-.72 MJ/kg.

That gap between storage capacity is exactly what Eestor is focused on building. The company has remained very secretive about its technology though, and many are remaining skeptical until they see a working prototype.

Still, compare 300 miles per charge to the Chevy Volt’s 40 and the story thickens. GM has had conversations with Eestor in the past, but no official relationship has been established. Part of that may be because of Eestor’s resistance to any publicity, especially when GM is struggling to remake its identity into one that embraces fuel efficiency.

Hopefully GM is keeping an eye on this segment for possible integration with the Chevy Volt.

[続きを読む]