A123Systems and Cobasys Partnership to Supply General Motors

http://www.a123systems.com/html/news/articles/010407_GM.html

Watertown, Mass. – January 4, 2007 - A123Systems today announced that it will supply General Motors Corp. advanced Lithium Ion batteries optimized for plug in hybrid vehicles through its Tier 1 partner, Cobasys LLC.

You do know that Cobasys is a Chevron subsidiary?

*shrugs* I do now, I guess

Cobasys is a joint venture including Chevron and ECD.

ECD makes amorphous thin-film solar panels, holds the patent to NiMh batteries and has developed a solid-hydride hydrogen ICE system for cars.

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD Ovonics) (Nasdaq: ENER - News)

http://www.ovonic.com/


I am a shareholder of ECD.

Chevron basically bought out all of ECD in covering their debts.
It's just accounting tricks.

You do know that Cobasys is a Chevron subsidiary?

Click to expand...

I didn't. But most energy co ceo's are smart enough to know they must diversify into other sources for energy if they wish to remain competitive in the new century.
Between terrorism, global warming publicity, and ever higher development costs, petrol is becoming ever more risky. Energy companies are sitting on big piles of profits right now, so it makes sense most would seek to reinvest some of that capital into battery technology and electric vehicles.

Then you probably also weren't aware that thru ECD, Chevron holds all of the worlds patents on Nimh batteries. All of the world's Nimh manufacturers are ECD licencees & since Chevron's takeover of ECD they are preventing anyone from producing cells larger than 10Ah for EV use.

Some of the older, original licencees from before the buyout, such as SAFT & a few others do continue to make larger capacity cells but only until their licence runs out. Chevron sued Panasonic to keep them from developing bigger cells & Chevron's patents have held up & won every time in court.

Here's a concise summary of the nimh/cobasys situation. It looks like Forbes Bagatelle-Black has been reading the same blogs.

http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1198

Boschert’s book, 'Plug-In Hybrids, The Cars That Will Recharge America' is an eloquent, meticulously-researched work that lays out not only the history of PHEVs, but also a roadmap to making them a ubiquitous mode of transportation for Americans in the very near future. In the book, Boschert describes many obstacles hindering widespread production of PHEVs, but none are more important to her than the difficulties that EV developers encounter when they try to obtain large-format nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. She details the series of events which ultimately resulted in Chevron Oil gaining control of the patents covering most large-format NiMH batteries. While she does not accuse Chevron explicitly, the implication is clear; Chevron, and the combined strength of the oil/automotive industrial complex, now controls the production of these batteries and they are going to squash the technology flatter than Los Angeles’s “Red Cars,” the streetcars which used to transport Angelinos everywhere until automotive interests allegedly bought them and dismantled the system.

I read that. It also said that companies other than cobasys patented and sell bipolar large-format NiMH batteries. Is there any practical difference between bipolar and regular NiMH batteries?