Fran, You have written a great summary below. I have also read Charles' contribution on the subject. He certainly has a long and deep perspective on the issue.
I think your summary and his perspective will give us all a good idea of FLEAA opinion on this matter. I would like to add to your summary, and comment respectfully, on a few points Charles has mentioned. Lithium Ion batteries have excellent power to weight and size ratios for electic vehicles. On the other hand, they have a high cost and a calendar life of three years. The callendar life adds to the cost over the life of the car. Still, they are an excellent choice where cost is not an issue and where performance and weight are an issue, as in a sports car like the Tesla. I wonder if Andrew can tell us what portion of the E-Box conversion cost is for batteries. NiMH batteries are tried and proven. Charles has explained this to me, and others, in great detail at meetings. They are heavier and larger than Lithium Ion. On the other hand, their longer life cycle and initial cost are more approiate for and SUV or Pickup Truck where there is more space and greate weight carring capacity. The point being, we need both technologies. I was never proposing that the FLEAA or EAA try to bring a suit against Cheveron, Texaco or Cobasys. I agree with Charles, this would be futile. On the other hand, a little media exposure on this issue might not hurt. I am receptive to persuasion on this point. I have taken steps as an individual to get media attention on this issue. I would love to be able to say the FLEAA or the EAA support this view. One other point Charles mentions is limited market. Here again, I may need to be enlightened. My view is that a holder a patent, wants to profit from this asset. To do that he needs a market and a product. Certainly the electric vehicle market is limited. We have a chicken and egg problem. No batteries, no cars. No cars, no batteries. But, what about all those gasoline cars? Are they a potential market for this technology? Perhaps not. Every car and truck does have a 12V accessory battery. There are also a large spectum of vehicles such as golf carts, fork lifts etc. using lead batteries with a 3 to 5 year life. Well as I mentioned I do this for completeness. This may be a dead issue. I am intersted in any help, anyone can give me, in my private pursuit of this issue with the media. Cheers, Al Lococo ----------------------------------------------------------- Welcome, Pete! That copy of the patent is great! Way to be a super sleuth! OK...So we know from Wiki and from Who Killed the Electric Car and from Sherry Boschert's book, Plug-in Hybrids, that Texaco is sitting on the patent for very much needed batteries for EVs. And we have strong suspicions about why. So what do we do with this information? I suggest that we have some good writers on this FLEAA list. I mentioned earlier that if those writers would write a resolution that would in its body of the writing suggest that production on these NiMH batteries need to begin at that factory and they need to be made available at a price that would allow a reasonable profit for the company. Basically, there is no time for greed at this point. Does anyone know of legal precedent that showed that some entity had to quit sitting on a patent due to national security or some such issue? Any attorneys on the list that can check on this? We can open up this can of greedy worms, but let's know how to do it in order to have the effect we want. Have fun with this! Fran ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 5:12 PM Subject: [FLEAA] NiMh PATENT Re: listserv Digest, Vol 8, Issue 3 Hi all, from Pete Amar in Fort Pierce, Fl. I am a long time lurker, first time poster. Charles Whalen and other RAV4 EV owners may have other or better info, but here are a couple of links. WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV WIKI QUOTE: "Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for the large NiMH batteries was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco." PATENT INFO: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6969567.PN.&OS=PN/6969567&RS=PN/6969567 PETE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Supercharge your AIM. 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