EEStor and ZENN still alive and kicking... out the press releases

Zenn Motor Company, the former purveyor of a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV), and Eestor, the eternal purveyor of promises of a supercapacitor-based energy storage unit, have managed to defy at least one of the predictions hurled their way. The two intertwined companies have survived.

Despite the loss of its CEO a year ago, Zenn has been idling along, putting out mundane press releases about its financial maneuverings. Eestor, as is its custom, has remained mostly quiet. Until now. Both companies have issued announcements that are sure to excite the handful of people who still believe they will achieve the energy storage breakthrough that we first heard about in 2006.

Zenn's missive is mostly about a doubling sextupling down on its Eestor relationship, upping the ante to $30.5 million and receiving, in return, all rights to supply eventual energy-storing product regardless of territory or vehicle type.

For its part, the Eestor statement concerns technological developments. Apparently, the company has now successfully manufactured 20 micron-thick voidless squares of material capable of handling more than 3,500 volts that have "a dc resistance of greater than 700 terra ohms" (mmm... terra ohms... mmm). While this obviously sounds very impressive, the company warns that the aforementioned layers "do not yet achieve the level of permittivity necessary for commercial production." They are working on that though.

Source: Autoblog Green