What happened to this battery?

[Anonymous]

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[dogman dan]

And who sold it to them? The same kindly old scientist who promises in the film that his new thin film solar panels will cost half as much as silicon panels.
Go check on the price ovonics solar shingles sell for and you'll see it's double that of silicon panels per watt. This guy is a shark!

 

[Anonymous]

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[317537]

This short clip without watching (dialup) is an excerpt from who killed the electric car. If you haven’t seen this movie go get and watch. This is nimh I’m sure. You can get D cell nimh 10 ah.

NIMH! The voltage sux at 1.2v and the life span is so so and the current is OK on some.

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=325

These are a good 10ah 50 amp constant current d cell nimh. Rated at 500 cycles seems a little over honest I would think a little more.

EV1 used a nimh sandwich design of plates pressed together, other than non this relevant innovation this tech is available. Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

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[dogman dan]

Initially the patent was owned by the guy in the clip, the inventor and owner of Ovonics. He sold out to GM, who sold to Cheveron, or some kind of deal was cut. My point is, once you sell the patent, you sold out. He sounds all altruistic in the movie, but he KNOWS how to make money on his patents. He's no dummy for sure. But if you want to blame anybody for what happened, I say it starts with the patent originator. He could have licenced to many, but he signed a deal for exclusive rights.

 

[TylerDurden]

I've met Ovshinsky; I don't think he's a shark. Once you sell a patent and/or go public, you lose control. He went public and sold the tech to keep working on thin films and hydrides. He was moved back into R&D when the board brought Stemple, et.al. in to run corporate operations.

I expect you *will* see thinfilm PV drop in price. Ovonics has more production coming online and FirstSolar is expanding domestic operations massively.

The Asians and Europeans are way ahead, since they have subsidized the PV deployment much more than the US has. That may change with the shifts in economic focus... the elimination of the cap on PV credits should help North America expansion.

I also saw the hydride-fuel prototype sedan... I don't have a clue where THAT went, but I can dig around and report back.

 

[dogman dan]

I just get pissed when you see new tech touted as will cost half as much, and then it hits the market at twice as much. Charge me what you want, but don't tell me how much you are gouging me! I bet thin film will drop to exactly 10% less than the cost of silicon cells per watt, and no more. It's a marketing decision, and quite likely out ouf his controll. But after all that work, a patent holder does tend to go for the money, and not what would get the technology the widest use. Bill Gates proved that being exclusive is not the only way to make money. Being in as many products as possible can be worth more.

 

[oatnet]

If I recall correctly, didn't a Toyota/Panasonic joint venture develop a superior NiMh varient which they used in the Rav4s until Chevron sued them to stop? i seem to remember it being called "the 120,000 mile battery."

I wish companies could be sued for repressing technology. It is anti-capitialistic, it is bad for humanity. If they aren't gonna use their rights, they oughta lose them.

How long are patents enforcable?