Next generation batteries getting closer

A Texas based company called EEStor recently announced that the development of its most innovative product, an hybrid battery-ultracapacitor, is evolving fast. The company is aiming to actually replace all the electrochemical batteries on the market (quite an impressive goal), including car batteries as well as laptop and cell phone ones.

Not everyone is buying those results, though, here is a quote from an article of the Technology Review website “The implications are enormous and, for many, unbelievable. Such a breakthrough has the potential to radically transform a transportation sector already flirting with an electric renaissance, improve the performance of intermittent energy sources such as wind and sun, and increase the efficiency and stability of power grids–all while fulfilling an oil-addicted America’s quest for energy security.”

According to EEStor this new product should raise the performance of batteries to a whole new level, they are claiming in fact that the new battery will be superior in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety.

The benefits of ultracapacitors are well known, they are able to absorb and transfer energy much faster than batteries for example. The only problem is that in order to store the same energy that you do with a lithium-ion you would need a gizmo that weights 25 times more…

The car manufacturing company ZENN will the be the first to experiment with the innovative batteries. Both companies are estimating that an electric car weighting less than 100 pounds would have a 200-mile driving range.

Do you think those results are too good to be true? Time will tell.

Via: Tech Review