Slashdot Mirror

Cobasys is no longer controlled by Chevron (it is jointly owned by Samsung and Bosch):

http://www.cobasys.com/investors/

They will sell you nimh battery packs:

http://www.cobasys.com/products/transportation.shtml

Cobasys is no longer controlled by Chevron (it is jointly owned by Samsung and Bosch):

http://www.cobasys.com/investors/

They will sell you nimh battery packs:

http://www.cobasys.com/products/transportation.shtml

Energy Conversion Devices press release
http://www.ovonic.com/news_events/5_2_press_releases/20040707.htm

ECD Ovonics Announces Settlement in Patent Infringement Dispute

COBASYS and Panasonic EV Energy to cooperate in the development of
next-generation state-of-the-art nickel metal hydride batteries

Rochester Hills, Mich., July 7, 2004 -- Energy Conversion Devices,
Inc. (ECD Ovonics) (NASDAQ:ENER) today announced that it and COBASYS
LLC, its 50-50 manufacturing joint venture with ChevronTexaco
Technology Ventures LLC, have entered into a settlement agreement
with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (MEI), Panasonic EV
Energy Co., Ltd. (PEVE), and Toyota Motor Corporation with respect to
patent infringement disputes and counterclaims involving nickel metal
hydride (NiMH) batteries before the International Chamber of
Commerce, International Court of Arbitration. Under the terms of the
settlement, no party admitted any liability.

Under the terms of the settlement, COBASYS and PEVE will cross
license each other for current and future patents to avoid possible
future litigation. COBASYS and PEVE have agreed to a technical
cooperation agreement to advance the state-of-the-art of NiMH
batteries which are widely used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).
COBASYS and PEVE have also established a joint development program to
collaborate on the development of next-generation high performance
NiMH batteries for HEVs.

The parties reached an amicable settlement on mutually satisfactory
terms that will help them to meet the requirements of expanding the
HEV market. Details of the settlement are confidential.

For more information about ECD Ovonics, please visit
http://www.ovonic.com/

For more information about COBASYS, please visit
http://www.cobasys.com/

# # #

This release may contain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are
based on assumptions which ECD Ovonics, as of the date of this
release, believes to be reasonable and appropriate. ECD Ovonics
cautions, however, that the actual facts and conditions that may
exist in the future could vary materially from the assumed facts and
conditions upon which such forward-looking statements are based.

Contacts:
Ghazaleh Koefod, Shareholder Relations
Dick Thompson, Media Relations
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.
248.293.0440

Raymond Wagner
VP Marketing, Cobasys LLC
248.637.7400

--------------

Next time, instead of saying "I know things and you don't, so nyeah nyeah nyeah", say what you know. This is slashdot. My only error was in saying the injunction was permanent when in fact it persists only until 2010, and we only know that for certain this year after Toyota announced their plans for 2010, as the terms of the settlement were confidential for the past 6 years.

Asshole.

They are selling products:

http://www.cobasys.com/products/transportation.shtml

Chevron spun the technology off to a subsidiary who markets batteries:

http://www.cobasys.com/products/transportation.shtml

Of course, they are under fire, so that isn't going to be a sufficient explanation:

http://www.hybridcars.com/components/cobasys-ceo-defends-his-battery-company-0811.html

Anyway, between your assertion that there was a market and the internal GM assertion that there wasn't a market, I'll take GM every time.

The 'suppressed' technology:

http://www.cobasys.com/products/transportation.shtml

Personally, I wouldn't pay more for a car with a 100 mile range.

BTW, Panasonic can sell some of their batteries since 2007, and even more next year.

Huh? You mean this Cobasys?

"Cobasys, the First Name in Nickel Metal Hydride Battery Solutions, provides commercial NiMH battery systems for the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), electric vehicle (EV) and 42 Volt transportation markets. The NiMHax brand for EV, HEV, HD HEV, and 42 Volt systems, provides flexible standardized architecture for a wide-range of vehicle solutions."

Doesn't look very blocked to me. Let's search for more info. The company is greatly expanding...

http://www.chevron.com/news/press/2005/2005-05-18. asp

"ORION, MI, May 18, 2005 -- Cobasys, a leader in advanced Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery technology, today announced the grand opening of its new 84,000 square-foot headquarters in Orion, Michigan. The engineering, development, administrative, sales and marketing facility currently houses 175 of the company's 220 employees, and is expanding to accommodate anticipated employment growth of an additional 25 percent through 2006."

Further searches reveal that all sorts of cars are using Cobasys batteries -- for example, the Saturn Vue. Two companies also produce batteries on license from them -- Panasonic and Sanyo, which produce other hybrid car batteries. It looks like the negative press Cobasys has earned is because it aggressively enforces its patents against NiMH interlopers (one of which happened to produce the EV1's batteries). Looks, by all means, like they want to be the only ones selling NiMH in the US, and selling them in bulk -- not that they don't want anyone selling them.

From what I've seen, I have to agree with Wired.com's automotive blog:

"Chevron should be lauded for investing in technology that reduces the demand for its main products (gasoline). The company realizes that hybrids are a great opportunity, so following the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em), they are profiting from the growth of hybrids."

Oil companies will either adapt (by becoming "energy" companies) or die as the world slowly changes energy sources. That doesn't seem to stop the "it's a conspiracy to suppress energy-saving technology!" nuts.

I first heard about ECD in this transcript of a Scientific American Frontiers episode. Two segments on them, one talks about storing hydrogen as a solid (in alloy hydrides) and the second talks about their solar panel tech. Sort of ironic to see them pop up in this thread...

Here are your stats.

NIMH batteries Nickel, potassium, hydrogen. Maybe some less-friendly metals. Not too scary.

Comparing solid waste and air pollution is tough to do- how do you compare the certainty of airborne pollutants with the risks of, say, groundwater cotamination from improperly buried solid waste? Hard to say. But at least you know what the impacts of the latter are, and who might be affected.

Also, you can recycle NIMH batteries; I believe the value of the recovered nickel makes this worthwhile.

So find another problem; the environmental impact of the batteries of a hybrid are probably not a deal-killer.