EEStor hard at work, no updates: ZENN
I’ve had a few e-mails from readers wondering what the heck is going on at ZENN Motor Co., which apparently didn’t — contrary to its own expectations — receive its first commercial EESU demonstration unit from EEStor before the end of 2009. The company has yet to put out a press release on this (as a publicly traded company, some say it should), so here’s the response I got directly from the company’s media-relations department:
The last remaining contractual milestone between ZMC and EEStor is the third party verification of delivery of a full production quality EESU that meets certain specifications outlined in the Technology Agreement between the companies. Achievement of this milestone will be announced by ZENN Motor Company via news release to all stakeholders.
Any interim sharing of information or technology between ZMC and EEStor is confidential in nature and will not be publicly disclosed. Any announcements related to EEStor’s technology that fall outside of the contractual milestone described above are strictly within EEStor’s purview to release to the public. ZMC will only comment on EEStor’s progress once the information is made available in the public domain by EEStor.
ZMC remains focused on the development of its ZENNergy drivetrain solutions in anticipation of the successful commercialization of EEStor’s technology. ZMC continues to work with EEStor on a regular basis.
So, that’s where things stand… As Chaucer wrote more than 600 years ago, “Patience is a high virtue.” Or not. I doubt you’ll hear ZENN making any more predictions of when it will receive its first EESU. Still, given the expectations it has built up over the last two years and given that ZENN’s future rests almost entirely on the success of EEStor, the company should probably be more communicative with shareholders. At the same, shareholders need to realize that with those updates ZENN isn’t making hard promises, but merely shedding light on a schedule that — as we’ve certainly learned — is difficult to nail down.
UPDATE: StephenB makes a good point in COMMENTS by parsing ZENN’s statement. It may have received an EESU, but hasn’t announced anything yet until “third party verification of delivery of a full production quality EESU that meets certain specifications.” So, technically, ZENN may — or may not — be on track. We just don’t know.
Tags: EEStor, EESU, ZENN Motor
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Arguments on theeestory.com forum supporting Zenn’s having received an EESU are that not receiving one before the end of 2009 would have been a material event.
The above announcement leaves wiggle room, and I don’t think I’m fooling my self. It reads “third party verification of delivery of a full production quality EESU that meets certain specifications” is needed for the last contractual milestone. Zenn could be having third party testing going on right now. Given the claims, it is in their interest to have the testing be accurate, which takes time.
A big dog and pony reveal to be handled by EEStor might impact what Zenn shares too.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:41 am
“…So, technically, ZENN may — or may not — be on track. We just don’t know.” LOL! I also have followed the debate over on theeestory.com site, but I think you have summed it up best;-) I certainly hope they have one, but I think folks are just reading too much into every nuance. Now, I am about as far from Canada as one can be and still be in the US- are Canadians this subtle? (okay, just kidding you a bit;-)
January 12th, 2010 at 3:09 am
One should note the wording for the end-of-2009 deadline was changed from delivery of a “commercial [production] unit,” to delivery of a “production prototype,” or, “pre-production unit.”
ZMC says above it is obligated to announce the delivery of a production “quality” unit. ZMC also says above it is obligated to not publicly mention the exchange of any technology other than that of a production “quality” unit unless EEStor does so first.
There is debate whether a “production prototype”/”pre-production unit” is a production “quality” unit.
Some would argue only an EESU assembled using the production line automated systems would qualify. If this is the case, then ZMC could have received a unit not fully assemble with the automated production line in 2009 but is under obligation to hide the fact as EEStor has only authorized ZMC to announce the receipt of a production “quality” unit.
Or Stephen B could be right and they are ascertaining whether any received unit is in fact, a production “quality” unit.
It would be convenient if you use your stature as a journalist to obtain clarification of the meaning(s) ZMC has assigned to the terminology used here. I can provide links to the articles I cite here. I am not a fan of obfuscation.
January 16th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
EESCAM continues in 2010.
For those of you that are new to the EESCAM story, the following sums up the story, courtesy of Steve Pluvia:
“EEStor is nothing more than a vehicle for a Canadian pump-n-dump, specifically Zenn Motors. Zenn has a powerful Canadian hype team supported by a crooked bucket shop (Paradigm Capital), paid promoters and degenerate gamblers.”
January 25th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
THe problem with the “Pump and Dump” theory is the fact that nobody is dumping.
Insiders are accumulating shares. None have sold, other than the CEO, once, as part of a divorce settlement.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:07 am
EESCAM definately was not hugged enough as a child.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
UL is the trusted source across the globe for product compliance…EEStor is under contract with UL and until UL gives it’s stamp of approval, nothing will happen.
February 25th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
PFFT! Part of me hopes it proves true….
The pragmatic side of me says this is just as EESCAM suggests. I already got taken (big time) by a pinksheet scam/company, believing (blindlessly hoping) all the hype press releases.
To the more intelligent crowd: The UL news confirms ONLY that they have received a REQUEST to certify A product. It does NOT state WHICH product, nor does it state they have received any product.
This reminds me SO MUCH of the scam that cost my $30k: The FCC confirmed they were processing a request for certification, of a product from a certain company (scamster’s), that I had believed, and therefore bought MORE shares (DUH! *punches self in the side of head*). http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030418/1422211.shtml
I’ll check back every 3 months, to see if this scam is proven otherwise.
In the meantime, I’ll be content to keep watching “American Greed” on CNBC (http://www.hulu.com/american-greed) to remind myself not to believe “that which sounds too good to be true”.
February 27th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
John Stawicki, you wrote:
“EEStor is under contract with UL…”
EESTor is not under any contract with UL. That statement by you and EESCAM pumpers is an outright lie! Just like Dick Weir stating to potential investors EESCAM is ahead of schedule in delivering EESU to ZENN in 2009.
There is a rumor I read Dick Weir believes Weir still in the 15th month of 2009.
Muahahahahahahahahahahaha!
March 1st, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Sounds like a bunch of crap! Much like Sadam’s great WMD program. Tons of money, secrecy and careful info leaks created the illusion of something.
If I’m wrong on this…you’ll never see this in production. Energy/Oil companies will buy this out and burry it with the rest of the last 50 years of innovation.
So it’s either fraud…or it’s burried. Either way we loose…
Sala’am
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Dark John repeats the nonsense about oil companies buying up “breakthru devices over the years.” Well, I’ve even heard years ago that they did this when lithium ion batteries came out, by far the only significant advance in batteries since Edison tried and failed to build one. Lithium ion batteries are now everywhere, so apparently that attempt to bury them wasn’t, shall we say, extremely successful. I’m tired of these paranoid arguments that never seem to have any specifics, and don’t realize the simple economics – no oil company could possibly afford the amount of money to buy and bury an advance the size of EEStor’s promise, nor would they be able to.
There is also the “slippery surface” li ion technology that was revealed (and demonstrated) last
year to consider. Even if EEStor fails, that technology is practical and effective enough to lead
to electrification of the world’s vehicles – it can be recharged in munites and produces enormous amounts of power for its size, probably more than EEStor units can. And A123 Systems, one of the world’s premier battery developers, has obtained the license. Now, I like to ask Dark fellow why the oil companies didn’t obtain that license? According to the developers, that technology will be cheaper
than current li ion and be available commercially within 2 years. And we all know that it works – there’ s no doubt about that. And then there’s the intrinsic implausibility of these theories and the inability of their proponents to understand what actually would have to happen. If a company tried to “buy and bury” some technology , legally, there would be a trail of legal documents, otherwise nothing has been bought. And if there were no trail, then legally nothng has occurred and there’s
nothing to prevent future proponents from developing the technology after the period of time granted to the patent holder, after there’s no activity on his part. You can’t simply hold a patent forever without doing anything. And if there was no patent, then anyone can develop the technology. That would mean the oil companies continuously paying off every new developer who comes on the scene, and the scene would be full of such folks, either to profit from the technology or from payoffs. Now does Dark fellow see the error of his ways? Probably not. He’s simply venting his spleen at the oil folks, who operate in a competitve environment , which always ensures that a company can’t get away with the crap that say, a monopolistic govt agency can, which is
beholden to no one. The fact that there are folks around making brainless Alice in Wonderland arguments like Dark fellow proves my contention that this is the dumbest generation in history.
March 24th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
I find the whole “EESTOR is/isn’t a scam” debate very tiresome and boring. I’m watching ZENN and EESTOR out of interest for the whole planet, not just my own personal well-being. I once considered investing in ZENN but I didn’t buy their stock because I found that I was spending too much time trying to decide if EESTOR was a scam or not. I wasn’t spending as much time thinking about how the whole world will change if EESTOR succeeds. I was wrapped up in my own little world of what would happen to my piddly two thousand dollars.
There are three possibilities with EESTOR:
(1) EESTOR is a scam, and they will never produce anything.
(2) EESTOR is not a scam, and they fail.
(3) EESTOR is not a scam, and they succeed.
Possibility (1) is not very interesting. There will be nothing new here. Scams were invented long ago. There have been lots of them in the past, and there will be lots more of them in the future. The victims of scams are quite often (but not always) small-minded selfish greedy people who want to get rich quick. I don’t know why some people are so vocal about EESTOR being a scam. It’s an obvious, unsurprising, and very uninteresting possibility. The interesting and surprising thing will be if EESTOR succeeds. That is what creative big-thinking people should be discussing.
I think that the people who just want to talk about whether or not EESTOR is a scam are small-minded selfish greedy people trying to make a quick buck for themselves in the stock market. Maybe they don’t realize the worldwide economic and other benefits that will affect almost every living thing on the planet if EESTOR turns out to be real, and proliferates. Everybody will benefit if EESTOR turns out to be real. You don’t need to buy any stock in ZENN to make money if EESTOR turns out to be real. Keep your money in the bank and wait until you can buy a superior product with EESTOR’s technology in it. That’s a risk-free way to make money.
The reason I say that every living thing on the planet will benefit if EESTOR succeeds is that if the technologically advanced countries reduce their dependence on fossil fuels thanks to EESTOR (or something like it), this will help fight global warming, which affects every living thing on the planet.
March 25th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Hey Tyler,
Did you attend Zenn’s AGM?
April 1st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
@M: Enron was a scam. Amaranth was a scam. Lots and lots of people cared. There was a +very+ good reason to talk up the topic because people who pull that kind of thing need to be exposed, tarred and feathered and the rest of us need to learn how to recognize the scams.
At this point, I think we have to acknowledge that EEStor has been selling everyone repackaged cold-fusion. The gig is up. Regardless of the patent, they do not have a product.
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:56 am
Tyler,
Here is an EEStor/Zenn update,
http://gm-volt.com/2010/04/22/zenneestor-update/
EEStor’s cadre of fanboys ain’t happy. Doctor Lyle Dennis just put a big hole in the Lockheed Martin EEstor connection.
Time to call Ian Clifford and ask him if EEStor’s reveal is still “imminent”? Maybe you should ask Ian as a CEO of Zenn Motor Corp., does he know the definition of ‘imminent”?