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Old 03-31-2008, 10:48 PM   #6
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 5,430
EEstor has been 'vaporware' for a long time, but maybe they will actually start shipping something soon - I wouldn't rule it out, but I wouldn't hold my breath either.

I' would not read too much into the recent military purchases - for some military uses, certain performance aspects can trump cost and other negatives.

Some info here (as usual):

EEstor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
The claims of the EESU are:

* Nontoxic and non-hazardous
* Non-explosive
* For a 52 kWh unit, an initial production price of $3,200, falling to $2,100 with mass production is projected.[6] This is half the price per stored watt-hour as lead-acid batteries, and potentially cheap enough to use to store grid power at off-peak times for on-peak use.
* No degradation from charge/discharge cycles
* 4-6 minute charge time for a 336 pound (152 kg), 2005 cubic inch (33 L), 52 kilowatt hour (187 MJ), 31 farad, 3500 volt unit, assuming sufficient cooling of the cables.
* A self-discharge rate of 0.1% per month
Pretty extreme claims, esp that self-discharge - but who knows?

A few points for reference - 52KWhrs is about the size of the LION battery pack in the Tesla electric sports car.

$3,200 for the power unit, but add the cost of an electric motor and controller (not cheap). I don't know how that compares with an ICE and all it's emission controls and more complex transmission.

52KWHrs in five minutes? Wowzers! Like they say - you would need to cool the cables. Hmmm, at 220V, that's 2832 AMPS for 5 minutes. Think along the lines of 100 electric dryer cords paralleled up. That would be a mighty big plug - not really practical.

But what they appear to be looking at, is very high voltage charging. At 2,200 V (just for comparison), now you are talking 'only' 10 dryer cords in parallel to handle the current. Might be feasible.

Looks like they are saying that at the cost of these units, 'filling stations' could be charging them up all day and night, and then you zap your car full of electrons from their bank of power units. Interesting.

-ERD50
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