DOE Releases EEStor FOIA Response

According to records released today by the Department of Energy Sandia Labs,  Dick Weir is a bit of a tease. In emails between EEStor and DOE, we learn that in the Spring of 2010, Dick Weir re-initiated contact--via phone-- with Sandia Labs energy storage testing team then lead by now retired John Boyes.  EEStor was seeking a "witness test" of a "test capacitor" subjected to the following tests, "energy density, specific energy, weight & volume over a specified temperature range."   Sandia initially agreed but after some internal discussion spawned by an email from DOE energy storage lead Imre Gyuk,  a decision was made to not associate Sandia's stamp of approval via a witness test.  Instead, Sandia proposed to EEStor that they would need to have a sample delivered to Sandia for testing and they provided EEStor with a rough overview of what would be tested and how.   Dick Weir responded to this by agreeing to provide samples for testing at Sandia but first invited them to visit EEStor facilities for an introduction and overview of his technology.   Sandia agreed to visit EEStor with the understanding that no certification would follow regardless of their impression of what was transpiring there and that that would only follow from actual testing at Sandia facilities.   The email trail goes cold at that point and when I spoke with various persons involved months later, they said EEStor simply never followed up and set a date.  Is that still the current status?  I think so but don't know for certain...if anything came together, it apparently didn't generate an email trail.

The release mirrors the AFRL FOIA released last year in containing occasional jabs at EEStor credibility but in a much more professional manner.   The emails show Sandia as curious as one might expect but as out of the loop as everyone.

The records also show that, at some point in 2008, Zenn Motors initiated some dialogue with Sandia about possible validation testing of EEStor technology.  Again, that tapered off as well with no result.

One interesting exchange with DOE came in March 2009 from a former participant at TheEEStory.com known as MilitantSkeptic but who uses at least two aliases, Tim Stradinski and Tim Adudell. He identified himself to DOE as the owner of a "wind turbine manufacturing company in the US." He was writing to them to let them know that "there is a group of people using the US Department of energy and Sandia as a tool in a stock manipulation scheme."  This email was sent on the same day I published this article...the facts of which are validated by some of the records released today.  ;-)

Other than that, it would appear we have yet another interesting set of documents to peruse but not the concrete info we had all hoped could shed some definitive light on EEStor.   If the release does not stimulate your imagination, take a look at the very thorough letter regarding what records were withheld and why.  That ought to tide you over for a week or so. :-)

Another interesting question you might consider is why did it take Sandia over a year to provide this response...300+ days beyond the legal requirement?

Here are the records:

 DOE EEStor FOIA Response. 


Incidentally, today marks roughly the 4 year anniversary of my blogging illness associated with EEStor.  Thanks to you Mr. & Mrs Reader for making this fun for me even without a publicly released working prototype.

EEStor Teases Government Agencies With Invitation To Technology Demonstration

According to emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), on July 8 of this year, a long time researcher working within the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM got a call from EEStor's CEO Dick Weir.  According to the email,  Weir was calling to invite him to a demonstration of EEStor technology to take place at EEStor's facilities in Cedar Park, TX. The date of the demonstration was not revealed.  The AFRL researcher in question had been communicating with Dick Weir for at least 6 years and based on other records released via FOIA, Weir was targeting a top government skeptic with this invitation.  The skeptic, who will remain unnamed as an unearned courtesy from yours truly, asked Weir if he had completed fabrication of a device.  No, but Weir felt they were close enough to make the invitation.  Is Weir saying "no" in relation to fully completed EESU's (cf. "pick n place robots") or in relation to basic EESU components?  The records do not clarify and attempts to gain more information via interviews have stalled.  However, through an unofficial interview, it was learned that this particular skeptic would not attend the EEStor event--rather his boss would--who happens to be a notable pioneer in the Directed Energy community.

Around the same time frame, another group of government skeptics at Sandia National Labs were receiving a similar invitation from Dick Weir.  According to three separate Department of Energy sources, Weir was looking for Sandia to perform an independent validation of EEStor technology via testing performed inside EEStor facilities.  Sandia balked initially at the idea of observing a test rather than conducting testing within Sandia facilities (but later consented to all of Weir's conditions).  According to one official, they weren't actually certain of whether or not Sandia owned the proper equipment to conduct a test of EEStor's technology...something declared unlikely by a senior battery tester at Intertek Inc. who was asked whether equipment to test EEStor level technology was available via commercial off the shelf equipment.  According to an AFRL researcher, Weir has his own test gear. Additionally, according to a third company also in discussions to attend their own EEStor demonstration,  Weir has indicated he has hired a 3rd party to calibrate and validate his test equipment.