EEStor information overload (not a typo) in leaked interview with CEO Dick Weir
by Sebastian Blanco on Jul 29th 2009 at 1:09PM 
For about six hours recently, a leaked (we assume it was leaked) audiotape of someone speaking with EEStor CEO Dick Weir was available on Yahoo! video. Before the video was yanked, enterprising electric car fans managed to record the audio and have made it available around the net. What's amazing about this audio recording – and our knowledgable friends at EVCast vouch for its authenticity – is that for the first time, Weir is actually forthcoming with details about his company's EESU and what will happen with the product in the very near future. Here are the highlights:
- EEStor's contract with ZENN is for energy units that cost "$100 / kWh, excluding electronics." This is very cheap, and Weir says that, "nobody is going to compete with us. Certainly not lithium ion."
- EEStor has produced "tens of thousands of grams" of the powder needed for the EESUs, what Weir calls "a huge amount."
- A company called Polarity, in California, is building the circuits that will be used in the ZENN cars. Polarity is making circuits for "other customers," but ZENN gets them first.
- EEStor is "dealing a lot with people in the electrical vehicle business."
- "I'm really in deep with Lockheed Martin. And here's what Lockheed Martin told everybody: 'We can't guarantee this works but we can't find reason why it won't work.'"
- Weir believes EEStor will be "the greatest capacitor company in the world"
- Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers owns about 20 percent of EEStor, and EEStor's founders still have a controlling interest in the company.
- ZENN's next investment round will be around $75-$80 million.
- Weir said that his EESU's will help buffer the U.S. electric grid in a big way. "Not only are we going to give the electric vehicle market a boost but also give them the energy to run it... We make wind and solar real. If you take our batteries and those with wind and solar, what you do is amortize out the variations and make it highly stablized. You can make a wind farm look just like a coal fired plant with our batteries. And make it very cost effective."
Recently, ZENN's Ian Clifford gave an interview with GM-Volt that said the EESU packs would be coming soon and he promised, "absolutely," that demonstrations will take place in 2010. The unverified numbers we've seen about the EESU is that it could be a 52kwh pack that provides a 250-mile range. So, do you think the audio is a true leak and we're finally getting the inside scoop on EEStor or is this just more hype maintenance?
[Source: The EEStory]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Serge 1:27PM (7/29/2009)
"ZENN's next investment round will be around $75-$80 million."
They need the money and will promise the world. Last summer, there was all this tea-leaf reading and deciphering of mysterious "imminent" p-r-o-d-u-c-t-i-o-n plans. Yet another year has passed with busted promises. The only thing that's imminent is yet another round of milking the suckers.
If you don't know who the fool in the market is -- it's you.
Reply
jpm 1:34PM (7/29/2009)
What's new in the "leaked" interview? I see no new info... just the same old about how eestor will dominate the world with their fantasy battery....... jut more grease for the hype gears.
Reply
John Rowell 1:53PM (7/29/2009)
"I'm really in deep with Lockheed Martin. And here's what Lockheed Martin told everybody: 'We can't guarantee this works but we can't find reason why it won't work.'"
I don't like how this is worded. It sounds so much like how the advocates of zero point energy and makers of magic MPG boosters speak - "Although there's no proof this works, nobody has been able to deny that it works" - with no clue as to the technical details, this means nothing. Plus, claiming their super-capacitor-whatever costs $100/kwh? Either this is a HUGE breakthrough ... or it sounds too good to be true because it isn't true. For now, I have to be skeptical cause I've seen too much of this stuff ... but we'll find out in 2010.
Reply
Snowdog 2:06PM (7/29/2009)
"but we'll find out in 2010."
Maybe. I remember when they were claiming they would be powering cars in 2007. Don't hold your breath.
Nick B 2:07PM (7/29/2009)
This is nonsense and, to my mind, ABG should be careful how they report this. Otherwise ABG loses credibility.
If this did work, they would have funding, work with serious players in the industry and be able to demonstrate their technology.
Nobody does this industry a favour by suggesting that a miracle solution is around the corner. Do it the Better Place way and utilise what is there.
Reply
Fritz 2:38PM (7/29/2009)
It is hard to think of why they would not just have an independent verification process underway as soon as possible of a valid test. Speculation atop speculation from the media and comments from Zenn who is almost certainly roadkill unless this technology does breakthrough is just not helpful.
And media which supports instead of penalizes amazing claims with rigor of proof just aren't doing the entire serious ev ecosystem any favors, yes, eestor should test their product like adults. On the other hand a better place hasn't proven any delivery of economic benefit anywhere, and is no replacement for what should be done in communities on their own. Act locally, and the technology improvements will make the market viable. Huge government investments are being made to move this forward.
unni 2:02PM (7/29/2009)
I Love it to be true , I can pay my bills to BC hydro than husky or perto canada :-)
Reply
Yanquetino 2:32PM (7/29/2009)
Scientific improbabilities aside, I purport that it is also prudent in the case of EEStor to step back and contemplate the overall patterns of human behavior.
For example, perhaps mine is the sole voice in the wilderness, but I opine that Dick Weir, in good conscience, should have been present at the ZENN stockholders' meeting last March 25. After all, he knew that he had failed to live up to his commitment to deliver an EESU in 2007, and then again by the end of 2008. He knew that the stockholders had placed their trust in him, and helped finance his venture with their investments. He knew that those investments had taken dramatic hits because of the missed deadlines. He knew that an increasing number of OEMs were announcing EVs that could leapfrog the cityZENN's timeline. Surely he must have known that they were all growing worried and concerned.
One would think that Dick Weir would have therefore felt obligated --simply out of empathy, courtesy, gratitude, and basic human decency-- to offer those financial backers an apology, explain the delays, reassure them of EEStor's progress, express appreciation for their support, and personally answer their questions. But he didn't do that. Instead, he let Ian Clifford and Brian Cott take the heat, as best they could, given the restrictions of the NDA he has imposed upon them.
To me, that just wasn't... nice, let alone trustworthy. Sure, like everyone else I would love EESU to become a reality for the world's sake --but not for Dick Weir's.
Reply
Joe Bonaparte 2:37PM (7/29/2009)
Wouldn't it just be wonderful? I think it would truly solve quite a bit of problems. I am about ready to buy batteries for my electric car.
Reply
B 2:47PM (7/29/2009)
What exactly means "tens of thousands of grams" - it's just tens of kilograms. How much of that (magic?) "powder" one EEEStor unit needs to be manufactured? If it's supposed to be on a market then I'd imagine material costs should be in many tons instead of tens of kilograms. Can anyone explain it to me?
Just being a bit sceptic.
Reply
benjamincrandall 3:00PM (7/29/2009)
that comment struck me as well. 10 kilos is nothing. probably not even enough to make 1 unit!! and they thought they would be in mass production in 2007. how long are people going to buy this crap?
Snowdog 3:00PM (7/29/2009)
But you need less than a 1 mg sprinkle of magic fairy dust to catalyze the doorway into extra dimensional electron storage domain. (hope you don't wake Species 8472).
10KG/1mg(sprinkle of magic fairy dust) = 10 000 000 ESU units.
Lots of fairy dust to spare...
polo 5:22PM (7/29/2009)
The powder isn't the fuel. Its more like a spark plug except with exceptional durability.
autobloggreen.com 11:58AM (8/19/2009)
The full quote is "tens of thousands of grams of it, per time".
No indication of how many "times" they've hit the buttons to spit out, 10s of Kg.
Reply
sambar 3:13PM (7/29/2009)
With no proof either way to go on, optimism is as valid as pessimism, and yet it seems all the pessimists have come out.
Reply
bvz 3:57PM (7/29/2009)
It isn't pessimism so much as historical experience. These guys have been over-promising and zero delivering for a while. On top of that, they act in such a secretive manner that nothing they say can be verified (and there are valid reasons to suspect some of their science).
I would suspect that every single pessimist on this topic would jump for joy if these guys are able to pull off what they claim to be doing. We are just tired of hearing pie in the sky hype year after year without even a single shred of evidence showing that they are, in fact, making serious and realistic progress.
Ray 9:30PM (7/29/2009)
He use to work for the CIA. (Dick Weir). The CIA loves him, they had a baby together it was a hermaphrodite with no arms and no legs. They hung it on the wall and called it Art.
Why doesn't the oil companies offer him a couple of 100 million to stop this blasphemy then they can store it on a shelf and he doesn't have to complete it. This will really hurt the oil companies unless it is a fantasy, then the oil companies will laugh and laugh. Hell this will hurt the coal companies two as it make wind and solar more viable. I listen to the interview and I think Dick Weir is good at leading people on.
Reply
Sumeet G 11:01PM (7/29/2009)
People who still track this EEStor scam are no better than a Cargo Cult, waiting for a miracle to happen.
This is a scam!
Just my 2Cents
Reply
Treehugger 1:11AM (7/30/2009)
If what this guys claim was true, it would be an invention like the Steam engine at the era of the industrial revolution or the invention of the Otto engine that powered the 20th century. In short the Pentagon and the American Gvt would have already put tons of money in it. It mean it would be so enormous in term of market and consequences on our energy dependence, nothing would ever be the same as before. So wait and see but so far they haven't convinced the Pentagon that it could hold its promise, and I can't beleive that the pentagon hasn't look at their claim...
Reply
Craig 2:33AM (7/30/2009)
He is misinformed about lithium, there are vast salt deposits with Li in Argentina and Bolivia that have not been touched because Chile is providing all that is needed. Nano solar? Eestor? If LM can't debunk it, I can't either.
Reply