By Linda A.
For decades, the weak link in the chain of innovation for electric vehicles, cell phones, laptop computers and solar panels has been the inability to utilize them properly due to the lack of advancements in battery technology and energy storage. Well all that seems to be coming to an end with some very promising technologies currently under development.
In Cedar Park, Texas there is one start-up that seems to have developed a very promising technology that may very well transform the way we store electrical energy, wind energy and solar energy for these technological wonders of the 21st Century. The company is EEStor, Inc. and its new technology is based on a solid state ultra-capacitor; which unlike a battery does not use any chemicals. However, its design cannot be accurately described as an Ultra-capacitor either. Ultra-capacitors have a distinct advantage over electrochemical batteries in their ability to absorb and release an electrical charge instantaneously, without undergoing any degradation to its components. However, batteries have an advantage in their ability to store much larger amounts of energy at a given time.
EEStor's ultra-capacitor is called the EESU, or Electrical Energy Storage Unit. The significance of the EESU is that it combines the best of both technologies.
The EESU's advancement is based on a barium-titanate insulator, which EEStor claims increases the specific energy of the unit far beyond that achievable with today's ultracapacitor technology.
EEStor originally developed its solid-state EESU technology as a lighter, longer lasting, and more environmentally friendly electronic storage unit with applications for a wide variety of devices and industries. Part of their vision also was to facilitate the conversion of wind energy and solar energy from photovoltaics into primary electrical energy providers, thus increasing the role of renewables in the production of an ever increasing demand for energy.
EEStor claims that this new advance allows for a specific energy of about 280 watts per kilogram. This represents a more than doubling of that of the most advanced lithium-ion technology and more than ten times that of lead-acid batteries. This would allow an electric vehicle to travel up to 500 miles on a five minute charge. As compared to current battery technology which offers an average 50 - 100 mile range on an overnight charge. And just as significant, EEStor says they will be able to mass-produce the units at a fraction of the cost of traditional batteries.
Ian Clifford of ZENN Motor Co, an early investor, says "this is a paradigm shift" in the battery industry. He also owns the exclusive rights for the use of the EESU technology in electric cars. "The Achilles' heel to the electric car industry has been energy storage. By all rights, this would make internal combustion engines unnecessary."
ZENN Motor Co. isn't the only company betting on this new technology. Lockheed-Martin, the world's largest defense contractor, has also secured the rights to use the technology in military applications. One of the largest venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has invested heavily in the venture - giving significant credence to the merits of this breakthrough technology.
If the claims made by EEStor, Inc. are true it will be tantamount to a whole new post-battery era in technology. The company also claims the technology can be scaled up or down for virtually any application. The technology could be used in devices as small as pacemakers, mp3 players as well as solar panel arrays.
These Energy Storage Units could literally revolutionize the use of solar energy both in the Industrial usage of solar energy as well as the residential use of solar panels. Combining this technology with the recent advancements in the efficiency of solar panels could take millions of Americans completely off the grid. Operating totally off the grid will no longer be for an elite few, but now it can truly be the goal of the masses.
If it comes to fruition, the technology could revolutionize virtually every aspect of energy storage. As if all this wasn't enough, because it is based on solid state architecture and is not dependent on chemicals, the technology would be much safer than current battery technology, environmentally friendly, and the consumer would benefit from the unparalleled life span of the Ultra-capacitor.
EEStor has stated that they plan to roll out the first production units later this year, while ZENN Motor Co hopes to have cars on the road by the Fall of 2009 with the EESU Ultra-capacitor. If this technology lives up to its promise, not only would it be environmentally friendly but it could finally break the strangle hold OPEC has on the American economy. We could finally see an end to $4/gallon gasoline.
Visit Solar Energy Association.com [http://www.solarenergyassociation.com/eestor.html] and learn more about these emerging technologies that promise to transform your efforts to go Green [http://www.solarenergyassociation.com].
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Linda_A./105130
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