David, NiMH can recover capacity by charging and discharging to a particular protocol. The electrode gradually grows into a surface that has less surface area and the "crystalline" structure can be regrown into a better configuration. We have a community college in the western part of the state that teaches mechanics how to operate the equipment and it is fairly common to do this with Priuses and Hondas - maybe the RAV4 as well.
The franchised shops are called The Hybrid Shop and they are affiliated with this test equipment company: Automotive Research & Design http://www.go2hev.com/home.html I have not used them or the equipment but I believe it has merit. I certainly never heard about any illegal aspects of this. I think that is incorrect. On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 6:54 PM, David Miller via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All! > > I drive a 2002 Toyota Rav4-EV. Yes, the one with > 24 NiHM Panasonic EV-95 batteries! Patents by Cobasys, Ovonics, > Texaco, Chevron, BASF, > > The pack has pushed 131 thousand miles over 13 years. It has > dropped to around 65% original capacity. Power is similarly limited. > > Last year I searched extensively for replacements but discovered > they are illegal. (See 'Who Killed the Electric Car' for details if > you don't know already.) > > * But I also read again and again that **the patents were due to expire* > *in 2013 and 2014!* > > Can anyone here comment on the current patent status for large > format NiMH batteries? > > Will Gold Peak manufacture GP100EVHs? > Nilar? > EVBTech.com? > Panasonic? > Sanyo? > > Is there any reason to hope? > > -David Miller > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150609/bbeb0a57/attachment.htm > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. Ross (919) 585-6737 Land (919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Google Phone (919) 631-1451 Cell [email protected] <[email protected]> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150609/bab8ced2/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
