Eestor, Supercapacitors, and Electric Transportation

A reader notes:

Craig, you might want to look at Zenn Motors (majority owner of Eestor supercapacitors) again. Their annual meeting March 31 was interesting. Eestor has two outside testings and verification of their game changing technology. One of the top experts in the world has written a substantial report on the findings for the capacitor market. They are lining up partners as we speak. I know you like to be on top of things in the electrical market.

I respond:

Well, I’m hopeful, but I’m not confident.  As I’m sure you’re aware, there (arguably) has never been a company in cleantech that made more noise about itself and delivered less than Eestor.  They are the ultimate “boy who cried wolf.”  And, if you read the comments, you’ll see that I’m not the only one with that impression.  (Whether or not criminal fraud has been involved here, which has been alleged by hundreds of people, is not for me to say.)

Also, as time goes by, the value of capacitors diminishes as the power density of various battery chemistries continues to improve.  My colleague Bill Paul used to tell people that the whole electric vehicle enterprise hinged on the availability of capacitors; I never agreed with him, even back six years ago when we first met, and I think it’s doubly clear now that he missed the mark on this one (a considerable rarity, given how right Bill has been on most of his calls).

If you want proof, just look around.  The non-performance version of the Tesla S does 0 – 60 MPH in 5.4 seconds; the hotter versions are at 3.2 seconds.  No one wishing to leave his internal organs intact wants to accelerate any faster than that.

There are tons of solid articles on this subject, none of which hype a “breakthrough.”