We have reported extensively on the EEStor ultra capacitor battery here, but also have made no particular note of the scope that the technology holds for improvement. The technology relies on producing a matrix of small spheres of active material coated with aluminum and held together in an active binder. The fine details, we do not know and they are not at this point our business.
But we can say something. They targeted a particle size able to provide sufficient energy density to store enough energy to drive a light electric vehicle a distance of 300 kms.
This implies that any improvement in particle size will improve energy density by the cube of the magnitude of its improvement.
It appears reasonable that a first generation improvement could well produce a device that is superior by a factor of ten through one thousand. This is a huge upside. It also suggests that the potential for the technology is almost unlimited, or at least until we hit the real bounds of the particle protocol. They may have started at the technical limits although none of us believe that.
A thousand-fold improvement, which I suspect is feasible, is a revolution in energy storage.
The point is that improvement is merely an improvement in particle size. That is a rather believable research target. The rest is surely troublesome but likely very achievable.
So we all have a lot riding on EEStor’s energy storage technology.
A next generation overcomes the current issue of vehicle weight, just as the first generation overcomes the issue of vehicle range. I must imagine that a third generation will overcome the issue of power for long haul trucking and heavy equipment.
No other energy storage technology holds this promise. It would be nice to have information on what the theoretical limits actually are. You can be sure that we will eventually test them.
But we can say something. They targeted a particle size able to provide sufficient energy density to store enough energy to drive a light electric vehicle a distance of 300 kms.
This implies that any improvement in particle size will improve energy density by the cube of the magnitude of its improvement.
It appears reasonable that a first generation improvement could well produce a device that is superior by a factor of ten through one thousand. This is a huge upside. It also suggests that the potential for the technology is almost unlimited, or at least until we hit the real bounds of the particle protocol. They may have started at the technical limits although none of us believe that.
A thousand-fold improvement, which I suspect is feasible, is a revolution in energy storage.
The point is that improvement is merely an improvement in particle size. That is a rather believable research target. The rest is surely troublesome but likely very achievable.
So we all have a lot riding on EEStor’s energy storage technology.
A next generation overcomes the current issue of vehicle weight, just as the first generation overcomes the issue of vehicle range. I must imagine that a third generation will overcome the issue of power for long haul trucking and heavy equipment.
No other energy storage technology holds this promise. It would be nice to have information on what the theoretical limits actually are. You can be sure that we will eventually test them.
