Ran across this positive EV article over the weekend: Getting Zenn on the roadways | Life | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Nice to see the general press presenting positive spin on things rather than the usual negative views from the rev-heads.
Always good to see a positive article, though it would be nicer if they got the details right. They call the Volt all-electric, and they say that the Prius can be converted to all-electric. In both cases, they confuse PHEV for all-electric.
Zenn or actually, eestor has been making news lately. they announced "better than expected results" in their most recent independent lab tests on their barium nitrate powders.
But have they yet actually produced a capacitor to demonstrate that their barium nitrate powder will function as predicted? Until they construct a capacitor, their entire operation is founded upon a mere hypothesis. An independent lab test demonstrating the purity of the powder says nothing about whether or not the powder will do what they hope it will. I honestly hope they succeed. A proper ultracapacitor would revolutionize EV technology. But at this stage it's still a pig in a poke.
the official word is no. however in talking with a GM spokesperson (ya, THAT GM) he just about implied that prototypes are out there and have been out there (he was saying they had one directly from eestor) for a while but because of various non-disclosure pacts made with other partners (Lockheed is prominently mentioned here that also implied secrecy due to some sort of military application of the technology) but prototypes built in a lab mean nothing if they cost $100,000 each to build. heck if a working prototype was all you needed for product success, then we all be driving cars with interchangeable fuel cells right?? so, who knows other than don't expect anyone involved be it Zenn, Lockheed, eestor or GM to be forthcoming with info until the day it happens. an article written on the eestor Earth Day announcement basically says the latest milestone is the 3rd of 4 legs of a product development agreement made with Zenn for financial backing. the 4th leg is a "commercially viable" product with the emphasis that a prototype is not a milestone.... now, that leaves a lot unsaid.
