Lockheed Martin has signed a deal with EEStor to try to integrate the ultracapacitor start-up's electrical energy storage units into the defense contractor's products.
Financial terms of the agreement, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.
EEStor is developing a ceramic battery chemistry that could provide 10 times the energy density of lead acid batteries at about a tenth of the weight and volume, according to Lockheed. A Lockheed spokesman said the company is interested in energy storage systems a soldier can carry, but also car batteries and energy systems for remote buildings.
Lockheed will spend most of the year evaluating samples it gets from EEStor and, if all goes well, it can start incorporating them into products. EEStor will begin to conduct qualification testing and mass production of the units in late 2008. As part of the contract, Lockheed will have the exclusive right to use EEStor products in the homeland security market.
The company also announced that former Dell Chairman Mort Topfer has joined its board. Last year, it was reported that Topfer left the board. The Toronto Star broke that story. (I wrote a story repeating what the Star said, citing the newspaper.) Reporter Tyler Hamilton says that Topfer did leave, but is now rejoining.
This marks another unexpected turn in the EEStor saga. The company has devised an energy storage device that it says can change the battery industry. Zenn Motors of Canada is an investor and wants to incorporate the batteries into its cars. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is said to be an investor.
EEStor, however, doesn't say a lot. In fact, the company rarely gives statements or issues releases, though it's one of the favorite topics of debate in the clean-tech world. For instance, EEStor didn't say it will begin qualification and testing on the battery units that are part of this deal. Lockheed did, in its own release (which, incidentally, doesn't include quotes from EEStor). EEStor didn't put a release out on the deal, though it put one out on Topfer.
Some people who have visited the company's facilities or reviewed its patents have come away believers. Others have become skeptics. EEStor had hoped to come out with products in 2007 but was forced to delay.
The Lockheed deal gives the company a shot of credibility. Critics, though, will likely remain skeptical until they see the devices. Defense contractors, after all, sign lots of deals like this.
EEStor: You truly are the company that keeps on giving.
Mort Topfer, the former vice chair of Dell and one of the execs credited in helping turn it from a local phenomenon to a global PC powerhouse, has left the board of EEStor, according to Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton is not the disgraced bike racer but a reporter for the Toronto Star.
It's just one more bit of baffling news out of the Texas-based manufacturer of ultracapacitors, a device that stores electricity, and no doubt another factoid that critics will use to say that the company is not living up to its promises.
The company is supposed to be working on a state-of-the-art energy storage system for cars that recharges rapidly. It can also, allegedly, keep cars going for hundreds of miles. It has a big following among readers.
People I've talked to who have visited the company or tried to talk to them about their technology, however, have often come away confused and skeptical. "Weird", "mystery" and a shrug of the shoulders were some of the comments I got from visitors. The company does not issue many press releases and rarely talks to the press.
"If you had a way to turn lead into gold, you think you'd tell people," is how one VC summed up his feelings about the company to me in August.
Earlier this year, CEO Richard Weir also said that the first products likely would come out on or before the middle of 2008, or six months or so later than planned.
The URL for the EEStor's web site has been up for sale for a number of months.
Mort, by the way, is a big loss. He has worked in electronics for years and is well regarded as someone who can help a company scale. Dell named its main manufacturing center in Austin after him. In person, though, you'd never guess he was a big wig. The first time we met was at the Dell booth at a trade show. I thought the older guy with the gray, shoulder-length hair was an eccentric looking for handouts.
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