This might come as good news for the clean fuel activists and if it works well might change the dependency on oil for transportation.
A small start up in Texas “EEStor” is claiming a major breakthrough that will change the whole dynamics of the electric powered devices and as EEStor patent application says it will replace the electrochemical battery for once and for all.
Company says its new kind of battery based on ultra capacitors hybrids and barium-titanate powder will outclass and out shine the Li-ion batteries in terms of safety, Energy density, price and charging time.
It says when the production commences it can replace batteries starting from pacemakers to vehicles there by having whole gamut of electric powered devices under its target.
The new battery is said to pack 10 times more power than the commonly used battery.
Although the experts are at best skeptical till now but say that if what the company promises delivers than it can even pose threat to the next-Gen Li-ion batteries being developed by A123 systems.
University of California, expert on Energy transportation, Andrew Burke says,
‘I get a little skeptical when somebody thinks they’ve got a silver bullet for every application, because that’s just not consistent with reality’... but then hopefully adds, “If [the] technology turns out to be better than I think, that doesn’t make me sad: it makes me happy.”
In a rare interview with the Technology Review EEStor cofounder and CEO, Richard Weir says that he will prefer to keep a low profile and let the products performance speak for itself.
Company claims that their new batteries have 280 watt hours per Kg specific energy while the Li-Ion battery will have 120 watts /Kg and the lead-acid gel batteries have a mere 32 watt/Kg.
The ultra capacitors store energy in the same way as the capacitors but have the ability to release quick jolts of electricity and they also get charged up very quickly.
EEStor will start shipping their first battery product to ZENN motors, makers of low speed electric vehicles and the rough estimates made by the company says that to cover a distance of 500 miles it will spend $9 worth of energy while the conventional gasoline based car will use $60 worth of fuel to run the same distance. The quick jolts that the ultra capacitors provide can help vehicle in stop-start acceleration.
Weir says
“It’s really tuned to the electronics we attach to it... We can go all the way down from pacemakers to locomotives and direct-energy weapons.”
With the trick being the composition of barium-titanate powders that can increase the capacitors voltage to the range of 1200 volts to 3500 volts. EEStor claims that these new batteries will get charged in the space of 10 minutes and can last the distance of 200 miles.
EEStor claims that they have achieved the purity levels of 99.9994 percent for barium-titanate powder and the battery will work in temperature conditions as low as -20 degree C.
EEStor seems to have a good financial backer in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to take forward their research and weir maintains that they are not hyping anything at the moment.
But that only time will tell till ten the world will run on Li-ion and Lead-acid batteries.
Via: Technologyreview
