EEStor's Amazing Battery that Isn't

Whatever you call EEStor's new ceramic power source/ultra capacitor, just don't call it a battery, according to Ian Clifford, CEO of Feel Good Cars, an electric car company based in Toronto that plans to incorporate the technology in its cars.

Although EEStor is still operating in a sort of stealth mode, a patent issued in April for the device indicates that it's made of a ceramic powder coated with aluminum oxide and glass, and doesn't contain any hazardous materials or chemicals, so it technically really isn't a battery.

The patented device, however, is designed to store electricity -- and boy what a storage device it is! If reports can be believed, the device is designed to be charged up in 5 minutes, and provide enough juice to drive 500 miles on about 9 bucks of electricity -- or the equivalent of 45 cents a gallon. At today's gas prices, it would cost around $60 for the same trip. An electric engine incorporating the device is expected to cost around $5,200 -- a slight premium over gasoline-powered engines. And according to reports, the device can deliver Ferrari-like horsepower.

EEStor has some heavy financial hitters backing it, including VC firm Kleiner Perkin Caufield & Byers -- a firm that is going green in more ways than just financially.

If the technology lives up to the hype, and keeps from being bought out and buried under piles of record-keeping boxes in some warehouse in remote Montana, expect major disruption to the oil companies and carmakers that don't embrace it.