Did Citco Oil really buy an electric Car battery only to destroy it?

Question

I have heard that GM bought a battery system from a michigan inventor that could make a car go 75 mph for 150 miles. Then GM sold the battery and patents to Citgo Oil, which then destroyed the battery system. IS THIS TRUE?

Answer 1

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Here's the real story -it's about the NIMH battery technology. The battery was developed by a small Michigan research company, Ovonics, by Stanley Ovshinsky (I've met this person.) He sold controlling interest in the patents to General Motors, who used the batteries in the EV1 electric car.
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The batteries gave the car twice the range of the former lead-acid batteries, and also had a 100,000 mile plus lifetime. Despite this revolutionary performance, GM didn't want Stanley to speak publicly about the success of his battery.
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After the electric car program in California was killed (by the Bush administration), and the EV1s were all crushed, GM sold the NIMH patents to Chevron/Texaco, who formed the company "Cobasys". Cobasys sued Panasonic and Toyota (the only other carmaker using NIMHs in an electric car, the RAV 4 EV), and stopped the manufacture of EV sized NIMH batteries.
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Discussion of patent fiasco:
http://www.evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?page=blogentry&authorid=51&blogid=104
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and
http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=1387
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And a RAV4 EV user speaks about NIMHs:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/ev-list-archive/message/78631
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News article about the Panasonic lawsuit:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040710180354/http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/energy8e_20040708.htm
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What Cobasys themselves say about NIMHs and electric vehicles:
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http://www.cobasys.com/pdf/faq/faq.html
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Note they do not come out and say that you can't get them - but they tell you there's no distribution network for those batteries. In fact, no amateur electric car maker has been able to get any, and larger EV makers, if they can get these batteries, are charged extremely high prices. Why make them so hard to get? If you're in the business of selling batteries, why not sell them? (The bit from Cobasys about NIMHs needing special handling is nonsense; Li-Ion batteries, and acid-filled wet cell batteries are much more dangerous, but are still easily available.)
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Large size batteries are not just used in electric cars - they are also used in wheelchairs, forklifts, golf carts, boats, UPS, power leveling, industrial applications, etc.

Why is Chevron/Texaco/Cobasys not interested in these markets? Go ahead, search the internet right now, see if you can figure out how to buy large (more than 10ah) sized NIMH batteries. Note that other battery types (lead acid, gel-cell, Ni-Cd, Li-Ion) are readily available in all sizes.

Answer 2

No. I am sure the patent holder has his design in his hands. Any car can go 75 mph for 150 miles. Shoot, I drive that all the time? I think you need to reword your question because it doesn't add up. You see, the battery only does minimal stuff after the alternator kicks in. The battery is for starting the car up, turning on the lights, buzzers, dingers and bells, etc...yes, you need it to keep the car running especially if your alternator isn't working.

Think about it like this....Take a 2 or 3 hour drive (approx. 200 to 225 miles) at 75 miles per hour and what have you got? The everyday, average American going to Mom's for a holiday gathering. That is normal driving.

Answer 3

That would be Stan Ovshinsky's Ovonics.

http://www.ovonic.com/eb_ba_omd_overview.cfm
http://www.chevron.com/news/press/2002/2002-07-31_1.asp

It appears a lot of people are licensing their technology. Maybe Citgo bought it to hedge their bets, coz if I was an oil company, I'd sure be using my windfall profits to find other businesses to be in!

Scaryhairyfairy, he's talking about electric vehicles. Watch the movie "Who killed the electric car".

Answer 4

Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. Of course not. How many billions can they make from a battery that would really work????

Answer 5

oh please....they have buried it next to the 150 MPG carburetor.