The Wheel Deal?

The ZENN mortar car is a small electric vehicle that is 100% electric. Ian Clifford, a very smart business man has created this company after realizing the smog in the air one day, sitting in traffic in his SUV. The big hype to these cars is that they are really efficient, but the Canadian government is not allowing them to drive legally on Canadian roads. The bigger Hype is the Ultra Capacitor that EEStor Inc. has claimed to come out with and this is what will give ZENN its big break. This Ultra Capacitor is said to have a charge time of 5 minutes, is 300 lbs, and most importantly can make an electric car go 400km on a single charge. This sceptical item has been kept very secretive, and no one actually knows if it works. Clifford has invested almost $4 million in EEStor, and coming from a camera background knows exactly the capabilities of this item is. The basics of this capacitor is that it has the charge time of a capacitor and the discharge time of a battery, not tom mention it can be charged over a million times without deterring, and is way more environmentally friendly because it uses something that miners use to bore hole with as a lubricant. Barium titanate is this special substance that is hopefully going to replace lithium. Clifford says his goal is to have 1 million electric vehicles out on the roads, and only then will he of accomplished his goal.

I have heard of the ZENN car for a while now and as far as I am concerned there are two main issues for this situation, one is that the Canadian government isn't willing to let these very efficient vehicles on the roads because they are too small and can't travel at high enough speeds. This is no the way to a "greener" world by disallowing these very "green" vehicles onto the roads. I think that this law should be changed as soon as possible, and our society to accept them for being the slower, greener vehicle. Even though the typical mileage of these cars is about 30 - 50mi per charge, it is still enough to get from point A to point B. The other issue is that the makers of the Ultra Capacitor aren't releasing anything and are keeping it TOP secret. To me this is a bit over the top, and I think that it might be that there isn't one, when they say that there is. And even to me the specs of this capacitor is a bit out of reach. It's explainable but a bit controversial. I mean how much electricity could you store and put through your home wires in 5 min, to me being able to run 400 km on a 5 minute charge is sceptical but remarkable and unbelievable if they do pull it off.

Reference:

The Wheel Deal

By: Andrew Nikiforuk
Canadian business

March 30th 2009