My understanding of the situation is that it's not illegal to manufacture NiMH batteries. You could do it yourself for your own EV, assuming you had the materials and equipment.
The law enters when you try to SELL your batteries. This is one of those "intellectual property" deals. The rights owner is the one who gets to make the profit, whether it's by making and selling the stuff or by licensing that right to others. If he wants to, the rights owner also gets to NOT make the profit and NOT license it to anyone -- for example, keeping it off the market so it can't compete with his main business. So auto companies and oil companies can buiy up the rights to fuels or devices that might compete with their products, and sit on them. This isn't illegal, though some folks think it should be. I too have read that key patents on the NiMH process developed by Ovonics have expired, or will expire soon. I don't know whether all of them are due to expire or what rights issues might still get in the way of EV-size NiMH batteries. Actually I read that Gold Peak has had the right to make and sell EV size NiMH all along, because they licensed the technology from Ovonics before it was locked down to small, low capacity formats. IIRC some of Solectria's EVs used Gold Peak NiMH. But if GP are still making them, they sure don't advertise the fact. Maybe with the expiration of the patents, some competitors will enter the field. That would be great, because IMO NiMH still has potential for use in EVs. The fact that yours have stood up so well is a testament to them. But I'm afraid that that ship has sailed, or (more accurately) rusted away in the dock. NiMH is was and is a great idea in the 1990s, but EVs couldn't use it then or now, so battery makers put their engineers to work on lithium. Best EV answer or no, that's where the momentum is now. I like NiMH, and I'd like to be able to buy affordable EV-size NiMH modules. I hope it happens. I'm not holding my breath though. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ 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)
