EEStor Beyond Permittivity

In April of 2008 in Cedar Park, TX, Richard Weir called a meeting together to brief key investors and stakeholders about the progress of EEStor to date, according to sources familiar with the event.  The purpose of the meeting was not to talk about the Permittivity milestone, because "the science" of that milestone had been completed as early as September of 2007.  What Weir wanted to talk about was the next milestone for EEStor Inc, which is the construction of a new facility with 6-7 production lines to join the one that is now either fully completed or nearing completion.   A key difference between the current production line and the future ones is in the instrumentation attached to gather metrics as the EESU's are created.   It should come as no surprise that the confidence in EEStor's ability to pass a 3rd party permittivity test (largely trumpeted by Zenn Motors in the context of their confidence at receiving production EESU's in 2008) has significantly to do with how Weir and team have set up their first production line.  The idea is that they can already run the permittivity tests and know now and for quite some time that the permittivity tests are old news.   So, what's behind the delay in announcing this milestone publicly?

Two things:  (1) Before Weir lays the Permittivity tests on the table which would to some degree subject them to a degree of uncontrollable public attention and more importantly, possible insights for competitors, he wanted to protect his intellectual property by filing an additional 21 patents.  Its this work on patents that has largely been behind the delay in announcing permittivity.  While Zenn Motors is bound by non-disclosure agreements with EEStor, it is also bound by being a public company with a perceived obligation to disclose any material facts about the company such as whether or not there are any issues with passing permittivity.  And according to sources familiar with EEStor's status, Zenn is not announcing that because presumably they know well that things are going well.  With their additional investment, Zenn Motor will own 6.4% of EEStor although it's been reported elsewhere that that figure could go over 10%...which is not likely to happen since Kleiner Perkins and other investors can excercise options for further funding.   It would be highly unusual (although not impossible) for EEStor Inc, to announce permittivity AND not receive a sizeable influx of additional capital capping Zenn's investment at no more than 6.4%.  

In addition, sources have said that Kleiner Perkins would likely exercise all of their options for the next round of funding.  There were rumors that Kleiner even pressured Weir to reduce or take Zenn out of the picture but Weir rebuffed those efforts to stay loyal to his early backers at Zenn.   For their part, Kleiner Perkins clarified what they told me earlier regarding EEStor not being on their website.  Originally, what Bill Joy's secretary said was "if a company is not listed on Kleiner's website, then it is not an investment of Kleiner's."  This week, she clarified by saying, "if an investment is not listed on the website, it is policy not to comment on it. "  Attempts to reach Bill Joy, who presumably manages the EEStor investment failed. Apparently he travels constantly and has no near term public speaking engagements.  

And what about that second reason behind the delay in announcement of Permittivity?  Marketing. Although it does not appear to me to be a carefully crafted set of plans, it does seem fair to say that a key reason for the EEStor's secrecy has been to whip up additional attention.  An idea summed up well by paraphrasing the Toa of Steve, "we're attracted to that which repels us."   While it's true, EEStor has an interest in protecting it's intellectual property properly  and with great care and thus are not foolish enough to share key aspects of their breakthroughs too soon, I have learned from a source within EEStor that the secrecy serves a dual purpose. I even know who claims to be the architect of that strategy but I agreed not to say so in this article.  

There may be at least 5 entities ready to take part in a second round of funding.  Kleiner, Zenn, an investment arm within Lockheed Martin, Mort Topfer and a mystery billionaire in Austin, TX.  One source was bound not to mention the name of the theoretical investor.  A second source flat out said, "the rumor is Michael Dell may be ready to invest at the advise of Mort Topfer."   It's important to note that that piece of information is an unsubstantiated rumor.  Messages left for Mort Topfer have so far been unanswered. 

In addition to the briefing in April, Weir provided an updated tour of the facility he has now.  On one end of the facility, there are raw chemicals. At the other end is a printing facility. They print the capacitors 24inches round and then cut them to spec as at an Integrated Circuit Fabrication Plant.  What Weir is building is a blueprint of a fully integrated, fully automated production line.  This is a "no touch" production line from start to finish.  The idea for expansion is to custom modify the production line for the application in question and license the results.  The production line is mobile in the sense that it could be assembled at the site of the licensee.  For example, at a Toyota Prius or GM Volt assembly line.  One source said that the rumor is Weir removes one thing from the plant floor prior to a tour: the printer heads. 

A source familiar with the April gathering said it was very probable that EEStor would not simply announce permittivity results but would also announce the new patents, turn on the website and start talking to financial analysts and investment banks on a much wider scale.   (A source within EEStor confirms their website design is almost complete)  It would seem logical that as we near delivery of production EESU units for Zenn, EEStor would have a plan to maximize visibility to gain capital to expand rapidly.  Once their business goes into the public arena, one thing that would set them apart from competitors is an enormous infusion of capital.  For now, the Zenn-EEStor-Kleiner stance with regard to publicity is a case study in conflict.  Zenn needs publicity to sell cars.  EEStor needs publicity to drum up additional funding but publicity too soon would enable or simply embolden competitors. For Kleiner, publicity of EEStor means additional competition from other investment sources.  Thus, as you probe around for information, you get alot of different interpretations about what can be revealed and talked about and what can't.  All of this creates problems for traditional journalists attempting to cover the story given their obligation to substantiate facts, another factor in the mystery surrounding EEStor. 

On a related note, I spoke to a person who has attended various meetings with EEStor involving various investment entities.  A sort of pattern seems to have emerged:  NDAs are signed, a large financial firm flies their Subject Matter Expert to Cedar Park and a group of people gather in a conference room. The SME starts firing off questions designed to trip up Weir, catch him on some aspect of the science that he should be aware of.  These meetings often end up being the SME and Weir going back and forth with everyone else having a dumb look on their face.   Then the SME invariably starts to get a smile that he/she can't get rid of and it often stays with them out into the parking lot and all the way to the airport.  And on a related note, I've learned that all of the provisions related to succession are now in place, eg, what if Weir gets hit by a bus, etc.   The IP is protected then on multiple fronts. 

Finally, I'll end with a new application concept:  vacuum cleaners.  A source within EEStor shared with me a possible application of an EESU to illustrate a point.  "Take a vacuum cleaner. Today, you have to drag around a cable and keep plugging/unplugging the unit as you move around the house. With our technology, that would be unnecessary as you would simply charge the unit and be able to vacuum pretty much as much as you wanted with no worries about running out of juice.  That's the kind of technology that would cause housewives to send us Christmas Cards each year. " 

Where will you charge your electric car? Starbucks?

Back in Sept of 2007 when CNET originally posted this lightweight article discussing the possibility of recharging EEStor EESU's at Starbucks, gasoline cost us about 32% less than it does today, according to a chart I found at GasBuddy.com.  With recent news of Starbucks having to close 600 stores because fuel costs are keeping away customers, it's worthwhile to ponder once again how big of an impact EEStor technology could have on our daily lives.  

So, in reflecting about this aging CNET article, I was thinking how great would it be for someone like Zenn Motors or any EV like Toyota Prius or GM Volt to be able to sell the economic benefits of their vehicles at a Starbucks???   If Starbucks ever did become a charging station for a cityZenn or other electric vehicle, I guess it wouldnt be too illogical to think also Starbucks could sell the cars as well.   Hello Gas Station Industry?   Hello Starbucks Shareholder?  

Why I blog Anonymously

Ever since I set up an email account (eestorblog@gmail.com) for people to contact me about EEStor, I've gotten alot of questions about who I am including whether I am Dick Weir. :-) I wanted to clear the air here prior to an article I will be posting this afternoon.   First, let me remind you that you are reading a blog and not a newspaper.  I'm not a professional journalist and in alot of ways have no idea how to do things properly as a journalist or even as a blogger.  Therefore, be advised you should not rely on this blog for reliable information because it's not guaranteed, promised or implied.  Much of it may be wrong.   I make a best effort to get things right like any one.  If that's frustrating or you want perfect information, you should consult other sources.  Furthermore, I can tell that alot of readers of this blog know more about EEStor than I do. I'm happy to have additional information sources participating here (thank you!).  Finally,  I blog anonymously out of 3 main concerns:  1) i have a day job that I currently do well but really dont want any additional scrutiny over my blogging pastime. So basically, I don't blab who I am because I want to keep my "two lives" separate. 2) In general, I'm not comfortable with going public out of concerns for my family. 3) I am not part of the Facebook/Myspace generation in the sense that I occasionally say some really dumb things that I'd rather not be reminded of 10 yrs from now. Especially on this blog--I have the potential to get things really wrong and I like the freedom that comes with not having this blog on my resume.  For example, just look at some of the grammar and sentence structure in use around here and you'll see its nothing to be proud of. (<-preposition ) So, in relation to the subject matter at hand, I will point out that I do not have a personal or business relationship with EEStor or Zenn or anyone in this story. I do not have a friend who has a personal or business relationship with either party.  Perhaps its deflating for you to learn that I'm just like you--the EEStor story fascinates me and since no one else was doing it, I decided to centralize all the information about EEStor here on this blog. People then ask me, well, how can you get all this information?  I can demystify that as well. As someone who makes their living from sales, I have to get in front of people to be successful.To do that, you have to be able to get them on the phone and keep them on the phone.  That's actually very easy for me. So there you go. I am unreliable source of information, a poor blogger but happy to be here.  (and yes, I do actually get a tiny bit of $ from sponsor links found on the blog) In a couple days, if I feel self conscious about this disclosure I may just delete it. :-) 

Also, as I've mentioned previously, I do have a small speculative investment in Zenn Motors. But if you want to invest in Zenn, do your own due diligence and dont rely on this blog for reliability.  Of course, if you are skeptical of Zenn/EEStor's claims, join the many who have gathered in the comments sections to dissect the story ad nauseum. 

CNN's Miles O'Brien on Electric Cars (updated)

Occasionally, we need to look at some related content here and in this case it is a CNN piece on Electric Cars.  In the story, they interview Marc Geller who has created his own electric car that he charges each night.  Geller's interesting quote in response to a question of why Detroit hasn't embraced a plugin technology yet:  "I would say because they are fearful of how disruptive plugin cars will be and how unattractive their old product line will appear. "   Geller generates some of his energy himself with solar panels on his roof.  Says Miles, "There isn't a new, practical electric car on the market."

I like O'Brien stories.  It seems to me like he is keen on getting news of alternative energies out into the mainstream. 

I've located a bit more web info on Marc Geller.  First, he's a photographer and here's his website:  http://www.marcgeller.com.  Second, here is his blog about plugin cars. 

Third, he links to Plug In America  which will tell you all about plugin vehicles along with a bit of grass roots political action you can take to support them. There is a petition addressed to Automakers to tell them you want plugin technology.   See also, the Electric Auto Association. 

It looks like there is alot of activity on the website and alot of big names being drawn in. It will be great to see if some of that crowd is following the EEStor story and I would really hope they leave a comment here on this post with any additional information they have for this readership. 

Your Chance to ask EEStor a Question

Yesterday, as I was continuing some efforts to do some fact checking, I spoke to an official at EEStor who provided me with alot of no comments and then something different:  an offer to submit a set of questions for board approval to which EEStor would respond in writing.  Now, let me say this very clearly:  I do NOT know if I am being played here or if the offer is genuine. But I was told whatever outcome would be turned around fairly quickly.  My sense is that the list of questions I submit may all get rejected. Then again, I won't know til I submit them.   So in pondering what questions to submit and asking a few interested parties what they thought, it occurred to me that if you read this blog and participate in the discussions, why not solicit some questions from the reader---many of whom in all likelihood have much better questions than I do.   

So, with the above caveat that this may not bear any fruit, I'm throwing it open and asking you to help me get some questions together for EEStor.   Use the comment field.  I'm probably going to moderate the comments so people actually do feel comfortable submitting questions--fair warning to any grumpies out there. 

I asked myself why would they do this now?  In my conversation with the EEStor official, I learned that they feel that some of the discussion about them on the Internet is just plain wrong.  Additionally, I was told, "Alot of people are focused on the wrong things right now.  If they would just put their thinking caps on and take out a calculator, they could figure out some things themselves."  I asked, "So do you read what they say about EEStor on the Internet?" and was told, "Yes and most of it is incorrect."   Additionally, with regard to some of the naysayers who come at EEStor with this or that scientific grounding for why what their doing is impossible, I was told, "There's alot of people in the scientific community with blinders on and if they would open up and look around even outside the USA, they would be opened up to alot more information. There's going to be alot of people with egg on their face."

On a related note, and for what it is worth, I was told that the website design for EEStor is almost complete.  Does that mean it's about to be turned on or is even built?  Dont know.  

Oh yeah, what about the other info I havent posted yet?  Stay tuned!  :-(

EEStor vs other battery technologies

This has been reported elsewhere but thought it was a good addition to the blog. 

Fact Checking

I've been doing some fact checking on some new EEStor information I have.  Stay tuned

Andy Grove Piece

I mentioned earlier that Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, is attempting to draw more attention to electric cars and electric vehicles.  In a piece published in The American, Grove says instead of striving for energy independence as we did in the 70s, we should be pursuing energy resilience by utilizing government mechanisms to encourage "conversion to electricity in a major way."  The biggest part of that for Grove is electric vehicles (like EEStor enabled cityZenns).  Here's a Grove excerpt:

We have an urgent need for a strategy that can deflect our march toward this “persisting conflict” by strengthening our energy resilience. A policy that favors sticky energy with multiple sources and that aggressively moves vehicles first toward dual-fuel mode and ultimately to running on just electricity provides the answer.

Wait til Grove finds out something on the horizon from the free market could hasten us to his plan's phase 2. 

Interesting New Specification for Predator UAV: Unlimited Range?

When it is filled to the brim with 600 lbs of 95 octane reciprocating aircraft engine fuel, the Predator UAV has a range of approximately 450 miles. To maintain 24hr surveillance over an area of interest, the Predator flies in teams of 4 aircraft which are controlled from a central ground control station manned by 55 people. They cost about $3mil out the door and more than that to maintain on a yearly basis.

But what would happen to the operational costs of the Predator if they never had to land? An EEStor enabled Predator would have ultracaps inside the wings and solar panels outside the wings enabling the aircraft that was rarely required to land. In addition to losing a sizeable amount of weight, the EEStor's underlying physical dimension flexibility would enable designers to put the energy storage units anywhere in the aircraft, including the wings. So says a source familiar with some of the applications under investigation by Lockheed Martin and EEStor. But if EEStor could enable satellite-like capabilities for an existing fleet of aircraft, what would DARPA do with it's Vulture program which could in fact become obsolete before it even reaches the prototype phase??? Imagine a change in technology happening so profoundly quickly that even the US Dept. of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency is behind the curve.

It's one of the less talked about aspects of EEStor's technology: it's flexibility in terms of physical dimension. Unlike the space requirements of current battery technologies, EEStor will have the ability to create custom EESU's for applications such as the Predator UAV. Need an EESU in an aircraft wing? No problem. Need an EESU in a car door or power station wall or an ipod shaped like a necklace or wristband? No problem. EEStor's promise is not simply enabling storage of energy but doing so with highly customized footprints. Take the modern automobile as an example. For as much diversity as there is in automobile design, one common problem has never been modified much over the past 80 yrs--where to put the internal combusion engine? But with an EEStor, the EESU could literally occupy the bottom 2 inches of the car. Think of all the extra room for additional safety equipment or storage space, etc.

In the coming days, I'll be posting some additional information gained from a source familiar with some of EEStor's discussions with Zenn Motor, Lockheed Martin, Kleiner Perkins and some of the science SME's the financial institutions sent to vet Richard Weir for investment opportunities with Zenn and EEStor. As an appetizer to chew on, this source told me that the GM Volt interview of Lockheed's Lionel Liebman conducted by Dr. Lyle Dennis awhile back was accomplished by subterfuge, ie, Liebman did not know he was being interviewed for a blog article.

More EEStor Information Coming

I hate to be a tease. But I've got alot of really good information coming in the next few days. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some of it out this weekend.