Lockheed has not invested in EEStor
Just figured I’d stamp out a rumour circulating the blogosphere that Lockheed has some kind of investment in EEStor. A reliable source close to the company told me that Lockheed has not invested a single dime in EEStor and that the agreement between the two announced last January strictly relates to Lockheed’s role after EEStor has developed its product. In other words, Lockheed will be more than happy to market, sell, and integrate EEStor’s EESUs into military applications if it is handed a working product.
This isn’t to say EEStor’s relationship with Lockheed is no big deal. The fact that Lockheed would lend its brand to a press release that includes EEStor, and has even named EEStor in a patent, is significant. Also, because we’re dealing with military applications, who knows what kind of collaboration is going on behind the scenes? However, contrary to what’s floating around out there, Lockheed is not an investor. (ed. note: for clarification my source says Lockheed has “not given EEStor a dime,” which would indicate there is no investor or fee paid).
If you want a full story on EEStor’s latest “permittivity” milestone (updated version) and its impact on ZENN shares, check out my Toronto Star article here.
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Not invested anything is not the same a not paid a fee. Surely EEStor must have received something in exchange for granting LM an exclusivity contract in the defense and homeland security markets.
We’ve seen that LightEVs has paid a fee for use in “electric two and three wheel vehicles, as well as electric propulsion system products, all using advanced power packs from EEStor, Inc. under our exclusive worldwide technology agreement with them” (http://www.lightevs.com/).
April 24th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
In your TheStar.com article, you write Tyler:
EEStor disclosed yesterday it has received third-party certification that materials used in its ultracapacitor have “met and/or exceeded” all claims of electrical storage capability, or “permittivity.”
The actual press release said:
He has certificated that EEStor’s patented and patent pending Composition Modified Barium-Titanate Powders have met and/or exceeded a relative permittivity of 22,500.
This certification of relative permittivity is not meaningful (or even novel) without knowing the range of electric field strengths under which the permittivity holds up.
Any capacitor manufacturer is capable of achieving this permittivity. None so far has been able to under the electric field strengths required for bulk energy storage.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
RE: “Lockheed has not invested in EEStor” You seem to be telling your readers that while ZNN and LEVC have paid substantial sums to EEStor for their exclusive market segments, Lockheed has paid nothing for theirs?? I’m dumbfounded! There almost certainly has not been an equity investment but I would have expected that Lockheed also would have sent EEStor a nice big check, certainly into the seven figures and maybe into the 8 figures, for the military and homeland defense market segments.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Update to permittivity announcement:
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-27-2009/0005013960&EDATE=
April 27th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
well, someone has invested a lot of money. because they have what they say they have… a production line that was just certified according to the latest release. Looks like they have premittivity over a range of temperatures and have created a new class of ceramics, which according to some proves they can craft an EESU with their specs. There seems to be a lot of money in this project coming from unknown sources.
April 30th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
It seems to me that EEStor’s biggest requirement is assistance in product start up. LMT is probably one of the best in the World at building factories and developing products. I suspect that their expertise in this area plays into the partnership in some manner. I don’t believe that LMT is getting exclusive rights for “not a dime”. Not for a minute. Only rock stars get something for nothin. I also believe that EEStor is mentioned in at least 2 or 3 of LMT’s patents. Since LMT personell have already been quoted as saying that they will be working on prototypes of their specific products that might use EEStor’s ultracapacitors during 2009, I’d say they actually are investing more than a dime. Those things don’t get built for free and for that matter patents don’t get written for free. LMT is investing money into EEStor’s product, even if they aren’t paying them directly.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Let’s see now. So far we’ve had energy “breakthroughs” like tokamak, cold fusion, salt water that burns in a regulated RF field, hydrogenation (bacteria that exhale hydrogen), solar cells, fuel cells, wind power, tidal power, etc, etc. Not a one of these has added one iota to energy requirements. Many even detract because they require hydrocarbons at the onset without a net gain. All appear to be disinformation campaigns to make gullible Arab shieks think we are about to tell them to take their oil and stuff it.
About the best idea heard was an acquaintance, Sherwood Springer, who was a science fiction writer in the Isaac Asimov science fiction periodicals. He suggested that all the unemployed could be put on a large ferrous wheel machine, kind of like a squirrel cage, and earn their unemployment compensation by driving an electric generator.
So now the latest has arrived on the scene, the super capacitor. Still nothing but promises, and no prototypes. But the due date is out there. … and further out. … and further out.
As GWB said, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again’
May 18th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Well, think of it this way — the breakthrough disruptor technology is like the optimist’s version of the end-of-the-world doomcryer’s prophecy. Yes, people will anticipate it over and over again, and be wrong over and over again. But sooner or later, *somebody’s* going to be right — and they only have to be right once.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:19 am
One gets nothing for nothing, so something had to have been invested, and done so on the side without people knowing about it.
I have to agree with Mark Cowestian’s comment, there has been so much new developments but have they really been all good and worth while? I think that they are grasping at straws, but the answers are out there we just have to wait.