Philip

EEStor, a Texas startup claims that it’s on track to ship battery systems for electric vehicles this year that they expect will replace existing technologies before long. They use a hybrid battery-ultracapacitor system comprising of barium-titanate powders to get 10 times the power of existing lead-acid batteries that are half the cost and contain no toxic chemicals. Apparently, the new design avoids degredation that are symptomatic of existing Lithium-Ion batteries and other comparable technologies.

EEStor claim they can make a 15 kW/h system weighing less than 100 pounds with a 200 mile driving range and a recharge time of 10 minutes. Skeptics and experts in the field are keen to investigate to see if it’s really able to handle the temperature and stress that automotive applications require, so the jury is out on whether it’s a huge step forward as EEStor claims.

Read about it from the Technology Review here.