Fresh EEStor Controversy

Black & Decker. Boeing. Snap-On Tools. Vextrex Corporation. Lockheed Martin. According to new documents released by the USPTO, EEStor's use of the EESU trademark began with "budgetary quotes" submitted to these prospective customers going back to 2002/2003 time frame.  But are price quotes sufficient activity to constitute actual use of the EESU trademark in commerce?  Read this.  Or did EEStor actually ship test units once upon a time?

What's intriguing about the quotes is some of the listed battery specs.  The charge times listed aren't the 5 minute charge we've grown accustomed to hearing. Instead the various battery sizes include charge times measured in hours....up to 12.

Aggressive EEStor Skeptic Claims Lockheed Support for EEStor Debacle: Opens Hornet's Nest with Prominent Canadian Attorney Now Running Zenn? (probably not)

Rud Istivan is a motivated EEStor skeptic who has enough bravado to make his objections to EEStor  Inc.'s validity extremely public. Last night, he has made a direct attack on EEStor with a claim of Lockheed Martin support.  A former colleague of Mort Topfer's at Motorola, Istivan has a significant and accomplished career to stand upon when making a technological claim.  I've spoken with him on multiple occasions and think that despite his conflicts of interest (since he has business interests which would be damaged by EEStor's success), he is genuinely bothered by what appears to him as obvious fraud on the part of EEStor.   Before you conclude this is a technology rival whose head has popped off, keep in mind Istivan has a BA, MBA and a JD from Harvard, graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School.  He IS the most reputable and learned person to loudly and publicly challenge EEStor's claims.  It is fair to say he is actively challenging them to sue him with this latest claim.  If they don't attempt to sue him,  it is also very fair to say it diminishes EEStor's credibility.  There is no other way to frame the situation in my incompetent and probably wrong opinion.

As for the facts, here is what Istivan posted last night (4 Jan 2012) in the TheEEStory.com forums:

I was wrong about Zenn. Thought for sure it would be bankrupt by now, as opposed to merely hanging on by a thread under new management.
Another year has passed without your 'reveal'. As previously posted late in 2008, EESTOR is most likely impossible on multiple grounds, any single one of which would be fatal.
It appears these collectively have proven so, despite your collective vehement denials.
BTW, I had a very amusing conversation with a senior Lockheed exec in December at a famous global energy storage conference, the 21st of that series, concerning their deal with EEStor. Their sum and substance was embarrassment, regret, and denial. You don't have to believe me. Call them. But you really should have been at that world conference yourselves, as opposed to merely being avatars on this site.
Auf Wiedersehen.

Obviously, Istivan is attacking not only Zenn Motor Company & EEStor Inc but also Cormark Securities Inc's' Vice Chairman Jim Kofman who now runs Zenn.  Lest we forget Kofman is...an .attorney and accomplished former UBS Securities bad ass who happens to be  the brother of ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman.  Let's not candy coat this statement by Esquire Istivan. His statement, if extended reasonably, is in direct contradiction to Zenn CEO Kofman's statements at Zenn's 2011 Annual General Meeting in which he said, "I take joining a board very seriously due to the liability so you have to ask yourself why a guy like me would join this board." Has Istivan asked himself Esquire Kofman's question? We don't know yet mostly because I'm a lazy & admittedly incompetent journalist (but hanging in there til relief arrives).

Not a lot of investigative journalists have investigated members of their own family.... for obvious reasons.  But the EEStory presents this possibility as a question worth considering since Jeffrey Kofman has produced several stories related to legacy and renewable energy issues including stories on environmental topics.  The conflict in play would be one advanced by traditional energy market players who could reasonably say that Jeffrey Kofman underplays or will underplay genuine obstacles to the success of renewable energy enablers like EEStor. It would be ridiculous to think Jeffrey Kofman would comment on this situation? But it would be equally silly to think traditional energy titans would disregard Jeff Kofman's potential connection to brother Jim Kofman's renewable energy enterprise in relation to future renewable energy stories.  Before you roll your eyes out of their sockets, keep in mind, we're not talking about an incremental improvement to a wind turbine or solar panel, we're talking about an energy storage capability which changes the entire economics of renewable energy in relation to traditional energy markets which equate to around $7Tril/yr.  This is a very very very big deal.  Theoretically, if Jeffrey Kofman created another widely viewed story on renewable energy, he could be attacked on his family connection to Jim Kofman....rightly or wrongly.

Wait a second. Stop the production of this article right there. Stop!  Woh, Nelly....wooohh!!!  These last two and a half or so paragraphs appear now to be the lunatic ravings of a deranged mind loose on the keyboard with a bottle of juice and an intermittent muahaha.....all crazy talk!  This is NOT--I repeat NOT-- a fight between Rud Istivan and ABC Correspondent & accomplished investigative journalist Jeffrey Kofman.  This is a fight between Rud Istivan and Tom, Dick, Betty & Greg Weir and probably Lucas Pettey. It is also a fight between Rud Istivan and Ian Clifford and now of course, Cormark Securities Inc's Vice Chairman, attorney Jim Kofman. The part dragging in Jeffrey Kofman was so far of a stretch it is ludiridiculous.  Forget I said any of that. Really Dumb!   Let's get back to the rest of this article with that clarification and edit now applied herewith.

What about Lockheed Martin?  According to Istivan, a "senior exec" spoke for "their" or Lockheed's "sum and substance" in regard to EEStor.... declaring the relationship created no more than "embarrassment, regret and denial" for Lockheed.  That is one hell of an indictment to attribute to a multi-billion dollar organization and I look forward to learning whether or not Lockheed's official spokesman for the Missiles and Fire Control business unit, Craig Van Bebber will establish clarity on what's going on here.  Query is submitted.

Rud Istivan Moving & Shaking

Now, let's get down to business here. Who in the world is Istivan referring to in relation to the claimed statements?  Well, the only 21st edition of a storage conference I am aware of personally is the International Seminar on Double Layer Capacitors & Hybrid Energy Storage Devices organized by Nikola Marincic.   If we look at the Program for this particular conference, we see a familiar cast of characters hereto referred to affectionately as "the establishment" of capacitors and energy storage.  Yes, all the greats were here--the ones who have no reason other than physics to be upset with EEStor.  Let's see, there's John Miller.  Long ago famed commentator, Andrew Burke.  Wait a second, could it be? Could it? Yes, here he is holding court with his own views on energy storage breakthroughs, Mr. Rud Istivan.

Nice R. Brewer aka Mark Twain IV

The only Lockheed person on the agenda is a one R. Brewer, who, submitted a presentation on "Electrical Energy Storage to meet Evolving Aircraft Needs."  Brewer hails from Marietta, GA, location of the fabled energy storage production facility involving EEStor.  Question for Istivan. Is this researcher really a "Sr Executive" at Lockheed? He looks like a very nice energy storage researcher and part time re-enactment actor for events requiring a Mark Twain lookalike.  I'm not sure he is an executive, however.

To wrap up here, a second look at Istivan's statements reveals less rigidity than one might think. Note the use of "likely" "appears" "most likely" etc. Plenty of wiggle room.  Actually appears to be a carefully architected statement by a man who knows how to cover his ass.  Ah shit, forget this whole article then. There's no fight here to be had. Please disperse.  Go back to your Lockheed cubicle, your Cormark executive lounge or retirement barcalounger.  Watch more UFO documentaries on the History Channel.  Eat peanuts. Wait for Dick Weir.  Wait & wait. Wait, wait & wait.

Where are you Y_PO!? In there somewhere muttering 'idiot' is my guess.

Is this the sun setting on the Lockheed / EEStor Friendship Contract Agreement?

Photo Credit: The photos linked to in this article are published at http://supercapseminar.com.

From Raw Materials to End Product

For years now, EEStorians have scoured the Internet for the smallest tidbit of new information about EEStor in order to dissect every piece of data from every angle leading into the never terminating debate we all love so much.  One frequent source hit by the cadre is LinkedIn.com.  Unfortunately, some of you have been asleep at the wheel and allowed me to regain my mojo when it comes to EEStor scoops.  Actually, I can't claim credit for it...an anonymous researcher with skills way beyond my own offered it to me.

Well here it is.  The Manager of Research & Development at EEStor has published what he has been up to at EEStor for the past 4.5years.   I'm talking about Lucas Pettey.  Debaters start your engines!!!

What he has been doing at EEStor is summarized here, "Product development for a thin film polymer-ceramic composite capacitor based energy storage device including all manufacturing steps from raw materials to end product."

Discussion Questions
1) Why now?  Is EEStor's rule of secrecy over?
2) Isn't updating your LinkedIn profile like updating your resume, i.e., job hunting?
3) "frequency dependent electrical properties of thin films," "impedance spectroscopy measurements of the dielectric properties of doped ceramic powders," "3 key patent pending processes to increase product voltage breakdown and prevent product degradation," & "lab to pilot scale."  EEStor secrets?
4) Is EEStor ready to move into full production or folding?

If the Contact settings for LinkedIn can be believed, Pettey is looking for work:

Contact Lucas for:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals

I call this the resume that shocked the EEStor world!  He is certainly a smart guy. Is he throwing in the towel or advertising his prestige?  Don't let me answer for you. Sound off.

MUUHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAAHA!!!!

ZNN Trading Halt?

http://tmx.quotemedia.com/article.php?newsid=4783244&qm_symbol=ZNN:CA

We've been here before. Don't get your hopes too high.

Latest Blog Article

I posted my latest EEStor blog article on TheEEStory.com last night.  Did you get to read it? It made a few people's mouth water.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm Fairly Lucky Now that Trevor Parker is following me on Twitter

I haven't really been a big fan of Twitter due to the dominance that celebrities have over this communication medium.  If people aren't accidentally posting nude photos of themselves, they are often inebriated and issuing a very short speech on a topic we don't trust them to understand (their life for example).   So, what becomes important given a situation such as this isn't who says what but who follows who. (I haven't thought that all the way through though).

Therefore, I'm happy to announce my latest follower on Twitter because it actually turns out to be someone who is trying to do something with their lives rather than sit around in my chat room all day watching the pot boil.  I'm talking about mowing.  With electricity as the fuel.  That's right, you guessed, my latest follower on Twitter is none other than Trevor Parker, partner at Viriditech Inc.  What do they do there, you ask?  They produce or want to produce Canada's first zero emission lawn care products.  Hhhhmmm.

Anyway, thanks to Trevor and the team at Viriditech for trusting me enough to follow me on twitter.  I did nothing to deserve that trust. In fact, I deserve the opposite of trust and I hope they don't try to run me over with an electric mower.    Let me leave you with one thought based on Trevor's last tweet: "Any fleets and/or people interested in a lawn tractor that cuts up to 4 acres of grass on about $1.50 worth of electricity?"


I love it when people can net it out.  Beautiful.

Duke Nukem Forever Release Means EEStor Can Take Forever and Still Might Deliver

One of the things that bothers me (even about myself) is all of the whining and BS surrounding EEStor's obviously L A T E delivery of verifiably working technology.  Well, believers and doubters, keep your tears to yourself because nothing could be worse than promising a simple software game and delivering it 14 years later.   We're talking about energy storage breakthroughs not attempts at incrementally better video games.  Stop sniveling.  In a recent interview with Dick Weir, he purportedly said, "It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum…and I’m all out of gum.”  Why does that sound promising to me? Vaporware?

Kleiner, Khosla & WSGR Together on Battery Start Up?

I've written a lot about Khosla's interest in EEStor over the past couple years.  I've also written about Khosla's interest in general in energy storage and Recapping Inc. in particular.  So, I find it interesting that Katie Fehrenbacher is reporting to have "heard that Kleiner’s John Doerr and Khosla’s Vinod Khosla are taking Board seats at QuantumScape," which is based on Stanford's "all-electron battery. "

If that were true, it would be an interesting move.  The problem is when I search SEC records, I can't find any support for the view but maybe it's just me.   I can locate the business entity records here:

Entity Name:	QUANTUMSCAPE CORPORATION
Entity Number:	C3334840
Date Filed:	11/19/2010
Status:	ACTIVE
Jurisdiction:	DELAWARE
Entity Address:	650 PAGE MILL RD
Entity City, State, Zip:	PALO ALTO CA 94304
Agent for Service of Process:	JAGDEEP SINGH
Agent Address:	3000 SND HILL RD STE 190, BUILDING 3
Agent City, State, Zip:	MENLO PARK CA 94025

For those that don't known, Jagdeep Singh is the founder of telco gear company Infinera and works with Khosla Ventures.  The address above is of Khosla Ventures.  650 Page Mill Rd belongs to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, which if you've been paying attention, represented EEStor, for example in this key EEStor stock purchase document.

If Quantumscape is working with Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, that might not be a very good thing. If you recall, I reported previously that WSGR was sued last year over an IP conflict of interest issue raised by Existence Genetics.   I am not an attorney. I don't know if there is an issue here--maybe there is a firewall in place or maybe EEStor isn't being supported any more, etc. Anyone?

Additionally, it looks like Quantumscape has hired Christian Fesenmaier who came from Nanosolar.

iPhone 5 Delay/Schedule Kills Apple Founder Steve Jobs: Yes, Dead

Less than 24 hours after Apple Inc. created its first post-Steve Jobs, "oh shit" marketing moment by failing to extinguish the world media's most prolific prediction failure (nominally) in the history of human existence, Steve Jobs' internal components have crashed irreparably & permanently.  There is no backup.

Palo Alto, CA coroners Jim Balsillie & Michael Lazaridis report that Jobs, famous for having a temper even Martha Stewart might say was a bit touchy, died from a gradual deterioration of spirits leading up to the supposed "iPhone 5 announcement," (something even Al Gore knew was not coming).

Reaction worldwide was immediate & profound: shock... numbed & dazed by smart phone addiction, even among Droid users on the Sprint network.

With this loss, the rest of the world regains Jobs' estimated $8.3Bil of personal wealth which is a figure large enough  to prevent the death by starvation of 60 million children over the next 10 years, a fact that has newly charitable Bill Gates & Warren Buffet along with less friendly (but also dead) Adolph Hitler & Joseph Stalin adjusting their collars.  Asked about this unheralded Apple milestone via a series of faxed messages today, Jobs' New York based journalist daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs said that it wouldn't be surprising...given that his ludicrous paternity denials left her and her mother stuck on welfare the first two years of her life.  (They eventually reconciled)

In China, where most of Jobs' Apples....er Apple's Jobs were made, an insightful perspective was provided by The People, who, thanks to communist censorship, were only reachable via the Tor Project network which is a series of untraceable network links used partly by Wall Street insiders to exchange illegal trading tips and which is made possible through the ethical actions of some hacker group.  A man identifying himself as 31 year old Hu Yaobang offered this reflection on the passing of the great Apple innovator, "In rice field, I work 15 hour of twenty two years each day.  I attend five years of people's university to be the nuclear expert. Now we glue glass plate to aluminum band seventeen hours today.  I am desperate to be Steve Jobs."  When reminded that the impetus for the interview was Steve Jobs' death, Yaobang paused and then thoughtfully added, "May I then be the dead toe of Mr. Steve?"

One group who certainly worshipped Steve Jobs over the last several days of his life would be those suffering from Neuroendocrine Cancer, since a portion of Apple's revenue (via Jobs) greatly advanced the understanding of this terrible disease at least among Jobs' medical team.  Due to a knowledge sharing oversight not unlike the famous Apple stock option back dating felonies.. misdemeanors, none of them were healthy or alive enough for comment.

At the house of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, comments were easier to come by. Recall that last year, Chen's data center was arrested and he was investigated for felony possession of an iPhone 4 as a non-Chinese citizen American and owning too many non-Apple notebooks and servers. "Don't you get it, dude? I didn't know it at the time but I didn't have an iPhone 4. I had a mother fucking iPhone 4S bro!!! THAT'S why they sent the law to my place.  They knew if that thing was announced, it would be the death of Steve Jobs!! Damn, I didn't get it. Damn!!"  Chen issued several more obscenities and became incoherent.

Steve Jobs is dead. There isn't an app for that.


Disclosure: I've been a life long fan of Apple and thus, Steve Jobs. We all handle grief differently.

I'm a Genius: Give Solyndra's Factory to EEStor

Solyndra Finances

The train wreck that is Solyndra continues to unfold in the media, each day seeming to be worse than the prior one.  Now, poor Stephen Chu (nice guy that he is) has stepped up to claim responsibility for the risky decision to fund Solyndra.  Critics such as myself have advanced two main points throughout all of this.  First, investments in technologies like solar and wind are inherently risky due to their success being extremely dependent on breakthrough energy storage which is actually a better focus for research dollars in the short term. Second, a better use of federal funds would seem to be gained from  tax or market incentives for  technologies that achieve specs we desire. This would allow multiple companies to compete for the market opportunity, something we know works well.  But, none of this thinking is going to emerge in any of the public analysis of the situation. Renewable energy is going to get drowned out by oil & gas interests even though we're only a few months beyond two of the most catastrophic energy debacles in human history (gulf oil leak & Fukushima Nuclear accident).  Just when you thought it couldn't get any darker as a renewable energy supporter, now we've got a political scandal on our hands all prepped up for information distortion.  But guess what. There is light at the end of the tunnel via an ingenious solution I came up with all by my lonesome self.

Dude from Solyndra Whose Name I Never Learned

Rather than sit around crying about the waste of money sunk into Solyndra and the struggle to sell Solyndra assets for pennies on the dollar,  lets turn that frown upside down.  Let's figure out a way to take that brand spanking new factory out in California and put it to good use with a company that is probably-very likely-to be ready to put it to good use:  EESTOR BABY!!!    That's right crazy government people and unimportant tax payers, I'm giving you a simple way to salvage this situation by taking an asset we, the taxpayers, invested in heavily and rather than just sell it for a tiny pittance, let's see if maybe a more deserving opportunity could make profound use of it.


What I propose is that the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath hold her honorable horses so that an official inquiry from the Department of Energy can be made to ascertain the suitability of selling that asset to none other than the world's soon to be favorite energy storage pioneer, E E S T O R!!!

Solyndra Factory Workers Grab Assing With President Obama

Ok, ok, I know reasonable skeptics out there are climbing out of their skin right now at the thought of this maneuver. But consider for a moment, one tiny little thing.   If EEStor produced a meaningful progress report--something that no skeptic anywhere could deny is absolute proof that they are ready to go into production--wouldn't it make sense to make the most of this Solyndra situation and strategically---as a country---get that asset in the hands of an American company that could single handedly get this country moving in the right direction again?  You know that the bankruptcy proceedings are simply going to lead to a foreign owned company buying the property for a major loss to Joe Taxpayer.   I don't care what the details are of ripping out the customized crap Solyndra has in there either.  If I were the State of California and knew EEStor was ready, I'd be begging them to take the property. BEGGING!

Secretary Chu Grab Assing With Governor Schwarzenegger At Solyndra Ground Breaking Ceremony  

Now, then, even though I know I'm right that this would be a brilliant, strategic move that could jumpstart EEStor ramp up, I'm going to close with a question: assuming EEStor is ready to use that factory, is there any other company out there that would be more strategic to use it when it comes to the question of our national economy?

EEStor Grab Assing At Front Door

In case you missed it, the argument here depends upon these conditionals:

IF EEStor is ready.


IF EEStor has the goods.