TheEEStory.com

Saturday, August 28, 2010 15:12 PM ET
October 10, 2010 : Who Will Own It?

Ported from B’s Original Article:
10-10-2010 : October 10, 2010 : Who Will Own It?

We had some competition last year on 9 September 2009 with various companies making announcements on that day. Yet, so far, no one has tried to own 10 October 2010. It's like people hate the number 10 or something. I can think of about 10 ways to use this date myself. Maybe I should seize this day? I can call it the 10 most important things you never knew until you hit October 10, 2010. Or whatever, it doesn't matter. It's a valuable date going largely unused.

And B Gave Them 10 October 2010

That's it, I'm fired up. I'm taking it and making it mine. October 10, 2010 is mine! Aaannd...BEGIN! You hear me? (I'm not promising anything EEStor related.) I'm just letting you know that that date is now mine because no one else has tried to harness it's power until now, until I did it right here today. It's mine. Keep your damn dirty paws off of October tenth two thousand and ten!

We Worship B On October 10, 2010

And also, please don't send me a bunch of links to what IS actually scheduled to occur on that day because as of now none of them matter any more. Forget those jerks at Toyota with the Prius' tiny battery. This is the best place to make the most of October 10, 2010. That's right, on October 10, 2010, I will be taking over the day. Top 10 lists, Top 10 This, 10 of those, 10 times 10 times 10. We'll see where the number takes us.

I bet you 10 dollars 10-10-10 is all mine

What's that? 10 means nothing to you? That's because it's not October 10, 2010 yet, is it? See how that works? And if you're planning to get married on this day, I'm going to need you to move your wedding up or back a day, ok? So, let's meet right here promptly at 10:10:10 AM to discuss October 10, 2010 for at least 10 hours

10-10-10

Now, I know last year many of you got all mixed up about whether or not September 9, 2009 would bring any useful news. This is at least 1 better than that.

Friday, August 20, 2010 8:56 PM ET
Secretary Chu on EEStor? You tell me.

Ported from B's Original Article:
Secretary Chu on EEStor? You tell me.

Apologies for tardy porting - nekote

Secretary Steven Chu. Source: ABC News.

DOE chief Secretary Steven Chu was recently asked about whether or not he was aware of EEStor Inc. What did he say in response? Quite a bit but completely sidestepped the question. Is there any significance to HOW he answered the question?

You decide.

Long time EEStory follower Corwinbad supplies the audio of his question which he gathered as a public relations event Chu attended at Stanford University recently.

I've screwed up, big time.
I guess we all have.

August 5, 2008 at 8:56am ET was this TheEEStory.com's Birthday.

Happy Birthday

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:41 AM ET
Ported from B’s Original post:
Vinod Khosla: 'Only Interested In Shares of EEStor Inc.'

Vinod Khosla Source

In late 2007 and 2008, one of the better ways to land a meeting with Vinod Khosla was to pitch a business plan that included almost any opportunity closely tied to EEStor Inc. Khosla's keen interest in anything EEStor-related stems from his exposure to it during Kleiner Perkins' EEStor due diligence phase, a process that included Khosla's participation as a partner of KPCB. Wikipedia points out that he started Khosla Ventures in 2004 but it was not a clean break as he was heavily involved in multiple investments beyond that date, according to SEC records. Although he has publicly expressed doubts about EEStor Inc., insiders say Khosla is secretly one of EEStor's cadre of fanboys, and a rather frustrated one at that.

One of the firms in negotiations with EEStor to obtain a license in the early 2008 timeframe approached Khosla with their business plan and funding request. He politely took the meeting but quickly cut to the chase: was this firm offering any opportunity--now or in the future-- to obtain shares of EEStor? No. Khosla pointed out that the main reason he was willing to entertain the opportunity was on the chance that maybe the firm had positioned a deal with EEStor which would include an equity stake. What he did not point out that was that he very likely had access to more information about EEStor Inc. than the individuals making the pitch.

So why didn't he just pick up the phone and talk to his Kleiner buddies, in particular, Bill Joy, the lead partner on the EEStor investment and Khosla's co-founder of Sun Computer to inquire about obtaining shares of EEStor? The simple answer is he most likely did but was turned down. By this time, Kleiner had already recouped it's original investment in EEStor through a sale of a portion of it's shares to Mort Topfer and Mike Long, two individuals whose business experience more than their personal investments fit Kleiner's strategy of reducing risk. What did Khosla bring to the equation? At the time, nothing. Reaching out directly to EEStor would have been a no-no as well given his former and at the time, ongoing relationship with KPCB. This left Khosla looking for alternative ways to gain access to the opportunity.

One of the ways he attempted to do this was to do exactly what Kleiner Perkins proper has refused to do: talk about EEStor. Although no other Kleiner partner has publicly uttered the word EEStor since 2005, Khosla has used it liberally, allowing it to populate his powerpoint lectures (an illustrative example of what a 'black swan' is) and infiltrate his most reasoned blog posts. But it's not simply references to EEStor that are so telling--it's the substance of the references.

Khosla was at his gabbiest about EEStor a year ago in a guest article he penned for Grist.org on the limits of electric vehicles, an article he had to write after accidentally mentioning to earth2tech.com's Josie Garthwaite that "lithium-ion batteries are overhyped and will possibly be replaced. The statement became Garthwaite's next headline (and sparked some blog discussion) even if it didn't inspire her to ask the question, "replaced by what?" Nonetheless, Khosla provided many interesting clues into his mindset regarding breakthrough energy storage and his article should be read with the intensity of an inspired young attorney.

First, note especially Khosla's emphasis on manufacturing as trumping chemistry when it comes commercialization:

Selecting manufacturing processes that have been used successfully in lab-scale demonstration, in pursuit of "world's best," will not work for automotive markets. What is needed is scalable, low-cost manufacturing technology. Without that, the role of lithium ion batteries as a meaningful tool of carbon reduction will remain fairly limited.

But before you over-focus on manufacturing, note that he also says new "chemistries hold out more hope than the traditional style of lithium battery." Newer chemistries than lithium ion? I take Khosla to be speaking literally here and not referring to newer formulations of old chemistries such as lead acid. He's talking about approach 'even more disruptive' than that found in incremental innovations ie, he's specifically referring to 'EEStor-like approaches' or 'new science similar to that proposed in its patents.'

President Obama with Vinod Khosla on right. Source.

With his investment in Recapping Inc., we can now see more clearly what Khosla is up to here. When he talks about manufacturing improvements, he is specifically referring to the sorts of manufacturing that take place within integrated silicon circuit fabrication, an industry that makes traditional battery or capacitor manufacturing seem like blacksmithing. This is supported by Recapping's first patent which became public late last week. In it, we learn that "energy storage devices may employ core-shell protonated perovskite submicron or nano particles in composite films that have one or more shell coatings on a protonated perovskite core particle" which according to ARPA-E has a chance of exceeding lithium ion in energy density while still being able to be labeled a capacitor by Penn State, an organization with numerous relationships with capacitor companies all over the world. Additionally, we learn ---as I stated previously--- that although Penn State is working on developing the technology, they are not the primary inventors. So who is? Not so fast.

If you work in the capacitor industry, it's probably not too difficult to imagine capacitor innovation coming from some organization other than Penn State. Pockets of insight do exist. But what does not compute is the idea of capacitor innovation coming from outside the capacitor industry. We know this because for the past 3 years everyone everywhere has been telling all of us that experts in disk drives or memory or integrated circuits cannot overcome the cold hard facts spread out before us by the traditional material scientists carving away at incremental improvements in capacitor energy density. Yet, here we go again because Recapping Inc.'s principle inventor appears to be just that--another integrated circuit fabrication freak like Dick Weir and Carl Nelson.

Mark Wendman. Source

Hello World: introducing Mark Wendman
Recapping Inc.'s non-capacitor-expert, capacitor-breakthrough-inventor. It has a fitting ring to it. Wendman's background is eerily similar to Weir and Nelson's as far as someone like me can tell. The only notable difference between Weir and Wendman (besides age/experience) appears to be Wendman's refusal to talk with anonymous bloggers about his work. ;-) ...which is not to say Wendman hates blogs. No, he's been authoring one for the past 36 years judging from the number of posts....a prolific tendency that shows up in Wendman's commentary on other people's blogs as well.

There are several reasons for me to like Wendman out of the gate. The first is that he likes to challenge skeptics and arm chair quarterbacks using real world experience working in chip manufacturing--at Intel and Motorola among others-- as many of his passionate posts attest. Secondly, if he's chasing EEStor, he's come remarkably far since March 14, 2006, his likely first introduction to EEStor--an experience he documented in a now deleted blog post recovered from WayBackMachine.org I wonder if he was embarrassed to have mentioned EEStor and so deleted the post? I know when I first started speaking with various folks at Penn State a couple years back, it was difficult to glean any credibility for DW and CN based on integrated circuit innovation. (of course that changed at some interesting point--thanks to Wendman?)

Regarding Recapping's ARPA funding, some have suggested the BEEST program is another example of big government giving away funds for the sheer joy of it. According to several officials within ARPA, this is a false conclusion. According to ARPA program manager and scientist, Dr. David Danielson (PHD MIT),

We would never fund something where there was a physics based show stopper because it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. I haven’t seen data that tells me there is a physics based show stopper for capacitive approaches to energy storage. There are very strong practical challenges and obviously, with your blog you know there's a lot of controversy around this subject which sometimes keeps people away from a subject. We aren't afraid of controversy but if we see a physics based show stopper, we aren't going to waste time or money on it. But if there's controversy somewhere and there is big upside opportunity, what a great place for ARPA to work.

David Danielson: ARPA

Danielson went on to explain ARPA's rigorous due diligence process to evaluate the numerous proposals they received under the program. First, in a clear nod to my own anonymity, ARPA's process has called for keeping the evaluators anonymous. Danielson: "These are definite leaders in the field" something echoed to me by more than one person seeking BEEST funding. These experts began by reviewing/scoring concept papers and after a downselect, they met together in DC to discuss and select the final promising projects. ARPA director, Dr. Arunava Majumdar (of Lawrence Berkely National Lab fame) also held veto power over all projects with his personal review being the final hurdle to an award. The net of this process has caused Danielson to make a prediction, "at least one of these BEEST funded projects is going to be a game changer. I have high confidence in that."

So now here we are again with yet another strange, little-understood technology laid out in a strange published patent by a stealth startup company who got funding after pitching the idea to Vinod Khosla (and/or Kleiner) and claiming energy densities greater than lithium ion in a capacitor format and invented by someone outside the capacitor industry. The only substantial difference appears to be Penn State's involvement with Recapping, something you can't quite attach to EEStor unless you consider that Kleiner Perkins hired Penn State to evaluate EEStor prior to their investment. Yes, the connections raise intriguing questions about whether or not Recapping is working on their own project or EEStor's project or a project that any determined expert in nanofabrication can figure out if they connect the dots. At least one long time observer and fanboy of EEStor has stated he is happy to learn Recapping may give us another interesting shot on goal at capacitive energy storage. (along with Stanford BTW)

Recapping Inc. has declined repeated requests for comment about their work. They tell me they are too busy but I wonder if it's their story that's too hard to deliver with a straight face? Vinod? They, apparently, aren't too busy to have invested some time investigating me however--an amusing fact implied not so subtlety...not to worry, Lockheed did the same thing....so have others....a project with an uninteresting destination I'm afraid.

Oh and one more thing...what does the name Recapping mean anyway? Is it as in, "Recapping what we think we know..." or is it "Once it's capped, recap it again and again?" ....or???

NOTE to the cadre: this post is not related to my Colombo tease.

Forum Discussion Here: http://theeestory.com/topics/6449

Monday, August 9, 2010 10:06 AM
Ported from B's Original post:
Thought for the Day

"There are a couple of loose ends I'd like to tie up. Nothing important you understand."

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 2:06 PM ET
Ported from B's Original Post

New Charging Station

UL Certified.

Thx ElectricEEL.

Good thing it's future proof.

Posted by B

Friday July 9, 2010 3:38 PM ET
Ported from B's Original Post

Not sure if the youthful looking person in the front row is still a shareholder or not.

I'm the one in the back with my hands up...in case you're wondering. (white bag that day)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 8:36 PM ET
Ported from B’s original post:
Nanosolar's Roscheisen "on something of big interest to" me (the eestor blogger) in September

I never got around to pestering R. Martin Roscheisen for an interview following his dramatic Nanosolar revelation party last year on 9/9/9. So, I decided to hound him today to keep it friendly. He shot back a quick email saying, "I will do that on a subject of big interest to you...say in Sept?" In September? No, that doesn't work for me. How about July?

Please note, when R uses the term 'you' he does not mean you but rather he means me. If you are any other you, shake your head, "no." Got it?

Now, what does this mean exactly, this possible interview in September? Does it mean Nanosolar and EEStor have teamed up to drop kick the entire cleantech industry world-wide to the curb? Whoa, hold on crazy. Does it mean R knows exactly what would be of big interest to me? Umm. Or does it mean he simply has another something big to announce in September having to do with Nanosolar?

Well, keep in mind, R is no longer CEO of Nanosolar. Instead he is now at least it's largest single shareholder. They brought in some other dudes to take care of the far less interesting work of turning the crank that R built.

Maybe it means R has decided to build up a new company? By the way, I keep calling him R because he said I could. If your status with him ever improves, you may call him Mr. Roscheisen, Sir. And if you get in tight with him, maybe you can call him Martin. Don't even think about calling him R.

Now, as your guide through all things EEStor, I have to sternly warn you that there is a very nearly zero chance R has anything to announce with regard to EEStor. You'll just have to trust me on that. You still trust me right? Some of you got burned overthinking the fact that I wrote about Nanosolar last year prior to their announcement. Don't do that this year.

So, to wrap up, yes, there are two pictures of R in this article. It's not a mistake either. I don't think there's another person in Silicon valley that deserves two pictures in the same article except for R (or me or Dick when we're in the valley....ok, if i must, or steve jobs).

Nanostor.

MUAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!!

Saturday, June 26, 2010 3:57 PM ET
Ported from B’s Original Post:
Lockheed Martin to help manufacture EESU's? Probably. In Georgia? Maybe.

According to three separate individuals with unverifiable sources, Lockheed Martin will manufacture or assemble EEStor military EESU's at manufacturing facilities in Marietta, Georgia. (see also) A quick sweep through a series of regulatory resources including the Environmental Protection Agency's permitting databases could not support the claim. Furthermore, the sources would not ID their Lockheed-Martin-aware counterparts who were offering this up date on Lockheed's plans with EEStor. Yet, each source arrived at the same information (with one also saying a facility in Alabama may be involved.) My only confidence in bringing this information to light is that the original sources appear unrelated to each other and claim familiarity with different parts of the organization. Also, the sources I interacted with have been reliable in the past. But, since the underlying original sources are unverifiable, I can't rule out that this is a rumor with a single nefarious origin. ...but I don't think so. <shrug></shrug>

In the meantime, Lockheed Missiles and Fire Control continues to ramp up their push into Power Management with a new series of marketing collateral claiming wondrous new super powers. (great videos guys, where's the product?) The intelligent microgrid solutions appear to combine traditional power management with network based sensors that do for power what routers/switches do for network data, ie, provide intelligent monitoring and failover. The systems also allow for positioning of monitoring and measurement capabilities. Are batteries and storage touted in the videos? Not really but wind mills and solar panels are highlighted, both of which aren't real yet (without batteries) according to Vinod Khosla and Dick Weir in remarkably similar remarks captured about the same time a year ago. (see VK's google speech and DW's leaked audio--search for it).

In one of the new brochures, storage is flagged as being available via "Multiple Technologies."

The idea that Lockheed will take control for part of the steps required to create DoD/DHS EESU's is plausible to me. First, Lockheed is one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Secondly, they offer manufacturing support services...and claim expertise in this area. See especially, their Build-to-Print Manufacturing Capabilities brochure. They also tout their ability to assist with offshoring of work, thus, slightly forgetting who they are working for apparently...stuff for a future rant.

If it turns out that Lockheed has cozied up to EEStor and is causing them to prioritize around defense applications rather than Zenn Motor's automotive applications, it raises the question why. There is likely a good reason for this. From Dick Weir's perspective, Lockheed is winning the quiet game against Zenn. Lockheed has somehow managed to keep their executives confined to incomplete thoughts and smiles while Zenn has until only recently (say around January 2010) begun to play the game as well. Personally, I do not like the quiet game. No, not at all.

See bing for further visuals.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 11:06 AM
Ported from B’s original post: Will EEStor Reveal During Oil Spill Crisis?

If you look back over the past couple of years, there have been some pretty extraordinary world events which could have provided a fantastic backdrop for an EEStor reveal. Let's list and examine some of these events

1) Run up in Oil Prices in 1st half of 2008

With all the media talking about how high the prices were going, it would have been one hell of a story to latch on to, "Battery Company Emerges Amid High Fuel Costs" as an example title we would have loved to see. But EEStor wasn't ready in 2008 because in 2007 they told us and their investors they could do it better....and thus, they adjusted their production line with "advanced technology" that allowed them to hit a homerun. (wish we could have seen them round the bases)

2) The Stock Market Crashes in 2nd half of 2008

Ordinary people almost never make the connection between fuel price spikes and subsequent economic downturns but for someone like me, this is innate knowledge I've had since I was young. Accordingly, after the fuel prices went up, the American economy quickly came down. Many were quick to say it was the worst financial crisis in years and years and years. This would have been a great time to do a reveal, in fact, in August 2008, Dick Weir told me that in his opinion if the country didn't get a handle on it's energy dependencies, it could go down the tube. He was not shy about linking EEStor as a solution to a host of the country's ills. A few weeks later, the markets started crashing. So, had EEStor revealed then, we might have seen headlines such as, "Market Turmoil & A Way Forward Through Tiny Battery Company's Technology."

3) 2009-- The Year the US Govt Started Giving Billions of Dollars to Clean Technologies

So, if you had hoped EEStor would emerge while the dark clouds were hanging, you were disappointed all over again. And so, during all of 2009, the name of the game was economic recovery and there was a real curiosity surrounding whether or not EEStor would emerge via one of the lucrative programs being advanced. Yet, EEstor chose to stay the course and did not partake in the handouts which amply capitalized a significant number of EEStor competitors such as A123 Systems and others. Skeptics were quick to seize on fact that EEStor was no where to be found when the money was being handed out. EEStor believers rationalized this by pointing out that EEStor would have to yield IP rights in arrangements with the Federal Govt and that if their technology is as they describe, there would be no need for govt funding.

Which brings us to what is most assuredly Opportunity Number 4 Deluxe Ala Mode. I'm talking obviously about the oil spill crisis. As we all sit and watch the gulf of Mexico become poisoned by a gusher of oil, one can't help but revisit those old thoughts again. Will EEStor finally emerge amid the greatest environmental disaster in the history of the USA? Or will they quietly tweak the powder purity modules connected to the buttons Dick presses? What's your guess?

If they do emerge, here are some sample headlines you may see, "Experts Say Battery Company Announcement Means Oil Now Obsolete" or "Oil's Darkest Hour Parted by New Battery's Light." There are probably plenty of ways to summarize what an EEStor reveal could mean during this particular time in history. I know that I for one am tired of waiting around for it. I want to get on with it.

What I am personally looking for by way of a new announcement is further certification of their production capacity which would flow logically from all their prior announcements. Each step in their production capacity has to be certified for replication....after it's certified, it can't be modified without re-certification. Thus, I am hoping to hear of something such as the number and type of EESU's able to be kicked out by the production line. I'd like to learn what the total output is in terms of overall kWh which could be roughly translated into a number of units depending on size etc. Secondly, I'd like to learn how quickly they can replicate a single production line. How many can they build concurrently? This would probably entail an announcement of the acquisition of a large piece of land near Austin for build out of an EEStor campus.

But you know....maybe EEStor will want to wait for an even better world backdrop to do their reveal. Let's hope we never have to read these articles:

"Earth Begins Descent Into Sun & EEStor Announces New Battery"

"Reports Armageddon Under Way As Tiny Battery Company Releases New Announcement"

"Cubs Win World Series: New Battery In Victory Parade Vehicles"

"New Regulations Force Politicians to Pass Lie Detector Tests--Machines Powered by New Battery"

"Middle East Emerges As Love Capital of The World. Inhabitants Hold Hands And Celebrate New Battery."

"Global Warming Over. Global Cooling Begins. Battery Project Begun Four Generations Ago Finally Complete."

"Anti-Gravity Vehicle To Be Powered By New Battery Says 400 Year Old Company Upon Release Of First Product."

"Ian Clifford IX: My Great-great-great-great-great-great^4 grandfather was right after all!!!"

"Party Like it's 19,999 With New Battery Announcement"

For those interested, here is my reveal day article title:

MUHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!