Friday, September 07, 2007

Finally A Supercapacitor? Or More Magic Blue Smoke?

Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine.

An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.

By contrast, some plug-in hybrids on the horizon would require motorists to charge their cars in a wall outlet overnight and promise only 50 miles of gasoline-free commute. And the popular hybrids on the road today still depend heavily on fossil fuels.


First, wipe the hype off your screen. Note, they haven't actually delivered a working product yet. They're supposed to be saying 'later this year.' hm. If it's true, it could be quite a little shake up. If it's not...well, no surprise. Here's the wikipedia entry on the company. It has a link to a pdf with the patent.

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