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We have previously discussed a secretive Texas company called EEStor, who are reported to be working on a new type of ultracapacitor that can hold 10x the energy in 1/10th the weight of typical batteries, at a fraction of the cost.

They have an agreement to produce caps for Zenn electric cars but to date have not shown any prototypes. This has led some to suspect EEStor as not having the technology they report.

Today, however, Lockheed Martin, the major U.S. military equipment manufacturer has announced a partnership agreement with EEStor to develop energy applications.

After safety, the longevity of the batteries in a
plug-in hybrid is the greatest unknown. Can a plug-in
hybrid’s battery pack retain the bulk of its energy
capacity over 10 years of daily use and more than 4000
full-discharge cycles? (For a deeper look at the
challenges facing plug-in hybrid batteries, see “Lithium
Batteries Take to the Road”.)[ LINK:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep07/5490 ] As Don
Hillebrand of Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois,
said tartly, “Batteries are the showstopper.”

Periodic demands from the grid, even for only a small
fraction of the battery’s stored energy, would clearly
affect the cells’ life span—but no one has data on how
much. Another open issue is the development of creative
financing models for replacement battery packs costing
several thousand U.S. dollars even after mass production
is achieved.

Third-party battery leasing could be one answer, if
combined with a secondary market for batteries whose
performance has fallen below automotive levels.
Carmakers, electric utilities, and large
consumer-financing groups are quietly batting around
these notions to see if they can build a financial model
that makes sense for all three parties.