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Forum » Eco Car Forums » Rumours & News

ZENN CEO talks about CityZENN and EEstor

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Written on: 03. 06. 08 [13:34]
Lensman Topic creator registered since: 31.05.2008 Posts: 77	Finally, a crack in the wall of secrecy about EEstor's claim for a breakthru tech ultracapacitor, altho the article is more about ZENN's plan for their "CityZENN" car powered by the EEstor unit. http://tinyurl.com/5973gs Some quotes from the article: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The performance characteristics are such that we think that this vehicle specifically will meet the driving needs of probably 90% of people in North America, and even more people outside of North America in terms of driving habits. So we’re talking about a car with a 250 mile electric range between charges. You’ve got a highway capable vehicle so 80 mph is our target top speed with full gradability. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’ve certainly since seen continued incremental improvements in lithium-ion technology but to date we’ve yet to see a commercialized lithium-ion solution at even 20 kwh of storage. We’re still kind of waiting for that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’re looking at a technology thats 1/4 to 1/3 the size, mass, and volume of a lithium-ion technology for the same energy storage. So suddenly you have an energy storage device that can store enough energy to give a useful range of an electric vehicle without having concerns about being able to crash-test. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I think perhaps the biggest thing and perhaps one of the things thats overlooked the most in the debate thats going on now in the search for energy storage is raw material availability. Its not until very recently that people have started to debate the availability of lithium, the global reserves of lithium. And the implications of potentially millions and millions of electric cars using pretty massive energy storage devices onboard and what that does to the existing global reserves of lithium which are limited. And that word limited I think is an understatement. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Question:] Do you guys have any working prototype vehicles? [Answer:] No. Our expectation from EEStor and that’s always been our expectation is that they will deliver a commercial product to us. They will deliver and what they’ve told us is by the end of this calendar year was delivery of an early production commercial unit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So we have a very strong level of confidence that the science works but of course like anyone else the proof is in the final product and so becasue of that we’ve structured our agreement with EEStor based on milestones. So every payment milestone that we have on our technology agreement is based on third party verified data of EEStor achieving the specific milestone as they work towards commercialization. So we’ve been cautious as well. But certainly the build out that were seeing and the level of advancement that they’ve made in the last eighteen months gives us a great level of confidence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Q:] When do you expect to bring the vehicle to market? [A:] We’ve stated that if EEStor stays on schedule to deliver early commercial units to us by the end of 2008 that we will have a fully certified highway vehicle powered by EEStor at the end of 09. We did state publicly that the initial launch for that vehicle will probably most likely be Europe and Asia as distinct from North America. That has mainly to do with the time it takes to certify a vehicle in the U.S. We are not going to engineer a car from the ground up. Were going to partner with a key global OEM on the chassis of the vehicle. So this will most likely be a vehicle that is already certified to certain global standards and then we will work together to integrate what we calla ZENNergy Drive System into the vehicle that would be powered by EEStor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Q:] Is your target less than $30,000? [A:] Yes, exactly. You’ve got to remember that the GM Volt has an electric range of about 40 miles and we would be looking at a 250 mile electric range, without a range extender. [Q:]Is the EEStor technology less expensive than lithium-ion cells? [A:] Dramatically. I cant go into specifics on that but suffice it to say that we feel quite comfortable in offering a vehicle with the characteristics I have defined with a price point of $30,000 or less. It is orders of magnitude less expensive than lithium-ion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Q:] Why do you think the big companies like GM haven’t embraced this technology? [A:] I think they are learning about it to different degrees, and I know that different companies have taken a look at the technology at different stages. I think ultimately and you see this with lithium technology, they say show us the product. They wont make a decision until they’ve got a commercial battery. And right now there isn’t a lithium ion battery out there at the scale thats required for a commercial product yet. Its very difficult to do. Its a huge challenge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Q:] Is you long-range hope to become a major global player in the automotive market? [A:] We see ourselves more as an enabler. We did announce the cityZENN as a ZENN branded product that we would distribute through large distribution networks. Once again partnering with other organizations. But ultimately we believe our most significant opportunity is the ZENNergy drive and that is an integrated drive system utilizing EEStor as the energy source that we would then joint-venture with any OEM around the world an then create a “powered by ZENN” drive for vehicles that fit within our market in exclusivity. Its kind of like the “Intel inside” model. We intend ZENN and ZENNergy to be synonymous with electric drive and thats the biggest role that we can play globally. And then every OEM is not our competitor, every OEM is our partner. [Q: Is the city ZENN then more of a demonstration so other OEMs will become interested in purchasing the ZENNergy drivetrain system? [A:] Exactly. We don’t need to re-invent the automotive industry, I think we need to re-define it. We don’t need to become a global OEM in order to demonstrate the viability of electric. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * * * * * Not a *lot* of info there about the EEstor that I hadn't seen previously, but enough to get me excited! Yah I know it's still premature to be sure this isn't vaporware, but you know what they say: Scratch the surface of any cynic, and you find an idealist underneath. So sue me: I'm an idealist. And I'm excited to think that this is the tech which might, starting in a couple of years and over the course of about 20 years, replace 90% of the "gassers" on our roads with vehicles which are powered by pure electricity! I admit I'm puzzled about his claims that the world supply of lithium is limited. I think I've read that lithium can be obtained in essentially unlimited quantities from sea-water... is that not economically feasible?
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Written on: 05. 06. 08 [22:03]
ecoadmin Administrator registered since: 20.07.2007 Posts: 368	EEStor A fascinating technology and it would solve many of the problems related to battery technology. There are however still many question marks. The information flow from EEstor is extremely limited. The fact that Lockheed-Martin signed an agreement with the company gives at least some hope. But I am sceptical though that ZENN is able to present a vehicle powered by EEstor by end of 09. A prototype with the capacitor in action would certainly raise the confidence. Lithium Lithium is the worlds 33rd most abundant material. Having said that, I am not sure whether that is sufficient proof for enough reserves... Lithium can apparently be sourced from sea salt: A process for recovering lithium from sea water in which sea water is repeatedly concentrated at specific gravities between 1.13 and 1.24 to thereby separate salts including common salt from the concentrate, removing the salts which separate from the concentrate, diluting the final concentrate so obtained with water, subjecting the diluted concentrate containing lithium and magnesium to a resin exchange treatment in which lithium and magnesium are absorbed on the resin, and treating the resin with an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution to elute lithium from said resin. Text from http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4243641.html But I guess the process is in alpha state. ecocarforum.com - Green Car Network Community for sustainable transport
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