Thanks for the grat info. So where can we get NiMH batteries for a conversion? Is there anything? I tried today all day w/saft and left messages before reading your email. They do have the battery on the site though.
Thanks Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile -----Original Message----- From: "Charles Whalen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:51:27 To:"Florida EAA" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [FLEAA] NiMH Patents Hi Joseph, Your understanding is not quite correct. GoldPeak has an unrestricted, permissive Ovonics license from 1991 that allows it to sell large-format NiMH batteries (>10Ah) into the US market, which was grandfathered upon Chevron's purchase of the patents around the turn of the century. European battery manufacturers Saft and Varta both *had* (past-tense) grandfathered Ovonics licenses that allowed them to sell large-format NiMH (>10Ah) batteries in Europe only, but both companies voided the terms and conditions of their licenses upon their acquisitions by an American battery manufacturer, Johnson Controls of Milwaukee (in both cases), such that neither of them can produce large-format NiMH batteries any longer, even for the European market. (Note that that pdf you referenced is dated July 2005, which predates Saft's acquisition by Johnson Controls. Try buying new 100Ah NiMH batteries from Saft now and see what answer you get. Hint: I already know the answer to that question, from several entities that have tried.) There are two companies, Electro Energy and Nilar, that have both developed large-format bipolar NiMH batteries, but neither one of them is in commercial production. Both companies are in clear violation of the Chevron patent licensing rights, as the patents relate to the electrochemistry at the cell level (which remains the same), not the modular construction. But Chevron will not bother spending all the money and dedicating all the legal resources that it takes to bring a patent infringement lawsuit (like they did and won against Toyota and Panasonic, to the tune of $30 million) against either one of these companies unless either one of them scores a large-volume commercial OEM contract, ... which neither of them has done and neither is expected to do, for exactly that reason. There is a guy in San Diego operating out of his garage who is doing Prius plug-in hybrid conversions using Nilar's NiMH batteries. As long as this remains a backyard operation of very small volume, only several cars a year, this guy will remain under the radar and Chevron won't waste their time with him and with Nilar. But if it ever reaches large-volume OEM commercial volumes, Chevron will sue for patent infringement and will win. Chevron's top executives have said so, exactly that, in private conversations. Chevron's NiMH patents expire on December 31, 2014. Best regards, Charles Whalen Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:38:06 -0400 From: "Joseph T. " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [FLEAA] NiMH Patents To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 As I understand, Chevron's patent control over large-format NiMH batteries means that no other company but them can produce such batteries. However, why does Saft sell high-capacity (100 Ah+) NiMH batteries? http://www.saftbatteries.com/130-Catalogue/PDF/NHE_en.pdf The pdf is dated July 2005. I've heard about new NiMH batteries that avoid patent troubles, such as "bi-polar" NiMH batteries. http://www.electroenergyinc.com/products/technicalpapers/BipolarNickel.pdf How long have these been around? _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
