With no word in sight from Zenn Motor’s endlessly-controversial partner on which it bet the farm — EEStor — the CEO of Zenn Motor Company has officially stepped down this week. The Toronto-based company announced Monday that founder and CEO Ian Clifford will shift into the role of Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.
In 2009, Zenn Motors basically placed its entire fortunes on the promises of EEStor, a company which has been called snake oil by many, and which has been promising to commercialize a supercapacitor that can provide 10 times the energy of lead-acid batteries at one-tenth the weight and half the price, and can move a car 400 kilometers after a 5-minute charge. But despite a steady string of press releases and missed deadlines, followed by several months recently of silence, there’s been nothing to date from EEStor.
By April 2010, Zenn Motors had trimmed away its remaining business as an automaker to focus on EEStor. Back then, Clifford told Tyler Hamilton of CleanBreak that “the entire aspect of our business model is dependent on EEStor commercializing that technology … The transformative moment is with the commercial proof, and then the whole tenor of the discussion changes to the excitement about the reality.”
In Zenn’s resignation announcement he cites EEStor, but not in a way you might think. Clifford says:
The purpose of this transition is twofold … Firstly, this makes sense in the context of our focus to preserve cash and I am pleased that my move can contribute towards this objective. Secondly, and most importantly, it allows me to remain dedicated to positively maintaining our key relationship with our technology partner, EEStor, Inc. I take great pride in the company that we have built and look forward to the opportunity to focus on strategic initiatives.
Championing EEStor til the end.
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