This just in on the wire. EEStor Inc. says the automated production line built for its new energy storage system “has been proven to meet the requirements for precise chemical delivery, purity control, parameter control and stability.”
The company continues by saying it has completed the initial milestone of certifying the purification, concentration and stability of its key production chemicals, “notably the attainment of 99.9994 per cent purity of its barium nitrate powder.”
The company said the independent third-party testing and analysis was done by Southwest Research Institute Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. It said that with these milestones completed it can now move on to producing its barium titanate powders (on its production line) and powder certification.
Here’s the kicker: The first commercial application of the EESU is intended to be used in electric vehicles under a technology agreement with ZENN Motors Company. EEStor, Inc. remains on track to begin shipping production 15 kilowatt-hour Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESU) to ZENN Motor Company in 2007 for use in their electric vehicles. The production EESU for ZENN Motor Company will function to specification in operating environments as sever as negative 20 to plus 65 degrees Celsius, will weigh less than 100 pounds, and will have ability to be recharged in a matter of minutes.
Perhaps most impressive with the release is that EEStor is now out of the closest and talking about its technology. This is important, because it means it is confident enough to publicly defend the nature and performance of its breakthrough. Hopefully we’ll get more updates like this as the year progresses. It seems as though ZENN Motor Co. (formerly Feel Good Cars) will serve as the initial test market for the real-life performance of these systems.
My big question is, wouldn’t these systems have to go through some kind of major safety review and certification before being installed in commercially available vehicles? Either way, an important step that we’ll all be watching very closely and with great hope and expectations.