Re: Chevron Restricts US Access to Electric Automotive Batteries Through Patent Control
- From: hhc314@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:54:51 -0700
On Jul 22, 1:22 pm, Tim Campbell <timc...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Chevron Restricts US Access to Electric Automotive Batteries Through
Patent Control
During the development of the EV1, General Motors made a controlling
investment in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing, with
particular interest in the patents and trade secrets controlling the
manufacturing of large nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. This
interest was subsequently sold to the oil company Texaco, which was
acquired in its entirety by another oil company, Chevron. The "large
format" NiMH batteries are no longer available to U.S. electric
vehicle converters or lightweight BEV manufactures. The manufacturing
unit, "COBASYS" (http://www.cobasys.com/home/home.htm), is currently
declining to manufacture and market these batteries for battery
electric automotive use in the US and has shut down (through patent
control) Panasonic's large format battery importation to the US. The
COBASYS web page concerning transportation applications (http://www.cobasys.com/solutions/transportation.htm) addresses only large
multi-passenger hybrid vehicles, vehicles not comprising a
substantial
threat to the largest market of the oil industry. In order to use
NiMH
batteries without violating Chevron's patents, hybrid automobile
manufacturers are required to design vehicles which are at least 50%
powered by gasoline; otherwise, they are limited to the use of "D"
cell-sized NiMH ("small format") batteries.
source: Google the first sentence.
Which particular NiMH patents are said to be involved here, since
there are literally hundreds of patents existing on this technology.
Why not post the patents that are presumably addressed in the article,
so readers can themselved determine the significance that these
patents hold in the entire NiMH technology.
I won't even mention the fact that NiMH technology with sufficient
capacity to power a competative featured personal autobile is far to
costly to account for marketing to the private automotive market,
hence the reason why firms like Cobasys are actively maketing their
products to industrial and commercial users with very deep pocket, who
incidently will charge off a major portion of the cost to PR and
advertising.
For what it's worth, compare this link with what is claimed in the
article that you posted:
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1063
Frankly, although it has been predicted for a number of years, it
looks like Ovonics is finally about to "bite the big one"!
Reads: Compare with Blacklight Power.
Harry C.
.
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