The Mythical Battery In The Basement

That's 20 cents per mile for a 20 mpG car, not 20 mph. Crankygoat: Most people charge their factory-built EV's at night, when there is plenty of capacity in the grid. (that's when I charge mine) If you do the calculations, the excess capacity of the power companies at night would easily power the nation's cars. Doing this (converting a large number of the nation's cars to electric) has the potential to LOWER the cost of electricity to everyone, because it allows the power company to make more money with their existing equipment. Niel

Yes, it's true--there is no 200 mpg carburator. And it's true that there is no 400 mile EV battery (that doesn't weight tons). But you don't need a 400 mile battery to make a useful EV. Like Paul Scott above, I drive a factory built electric vehicle--in my case an S10-EV. It has a 60-80 mile range, and that's plenty for most commuting and around town, where the vast majority of our miles are driven. This EV has the Ovonics NiMH batteries, which with some care will last over 100,000 miles, which is pretty much the life of the vehicle. This vehicle costs 5 cents per mile to drive, compared to 20 cents per mile for a 20 mph gas car. Your article made it sound like you have to have that mythical 400 mile battery to make an EV, and that''s simply not true. I drive the proof of a practical electric vehicle every day. There are a lot of people would give up range in one of their cars in order to have operating cost at 1/4 to 1/7 of a gas car. Niel

This article is the perfect example of how Misinformation works for a small group that HAS already destroyed irreversibly our environment. We are to blame because we really don''t give a sxxx about our children from outside of our house door (for now). Instead we believe Democracy is just about voting every 4 years. Hold on...when our employees are not doing their job, dont we fire them? Then why we continue sitting idle?, I say we must go out to the streets and jail them, to hell with light democracy. Masses remind me of Titanic movie where the orchestra plays while the ship sinks...well...in just a few years, it will be every man for himself. Climate refugees (that used to live up to 7 mts above sea level) WILL have to feed their children by ANY means necessary. Time to stop watching Discovery channel and stand up and DO something guys. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7461707.stm

What a useless article - full of flame bait and zero facts. If you want to refute this so-called "myth" then perhaps you could explain why the handful of RAV-4's, S-10EV's, and Ranger EV's that weren't destroyed are still going strong and now worth far more than it ever cost to produce them? Perhaps you could explain why Texaco and Chevron bought Ovonics and restricted its sales? Why would oil companies even be interested in battery technology, if not to suppress it? Chevron's behavior since purchasing Ovonics certainly confirms this suspicion: altogether refusing to sell the large-format NiMH batteries for EV's, severely restricting sales even for hybrids unless automakers pledge to build hybrids that are powered more than 50% by gasoline, refusing to license the technology to other battery manufacturers, and countless other restrictions and actions clearly designed to keep oil the dominant energy source for years to come. Forget EV's for a moment; and just look at hybrids. With the Ovonics NiMH technology, we could have had plugin hybrids years ago, and could have hybridized much of the US auto-market by now. Worldwide gasoline usage could already have been cut significantly, with more savings coming as the technology gets cheaper. Instead, they bought the tech and just sat on it. Anyone who doesn't see a "conspiracy" here is either naive, or deliberately sprading misinformation.

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Furthermore, from wikipedia, In her book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America, published in February 2007, Sherry Boschert argues that large-format NiMH batteries are commercially viable but that Cobasys refuses to sell or license them to small companies or individuals. Boschert reveals that Cobasys accepts only very large orders for these batteries. When Boschert conducted her research, major auto makers showed little interest in large orders for large-format NiMH batteries. However, Toyota employees complained about the difficulty in getting smaller orders of large format NiMH batteries to service the existing 825 RAV-4EVs. Since no other companies were willing to make large orders, Cobasys was not manufacturing nor licensing any large format NiMH battery technology for automotive purposes. Boschert concludes that "it's possible that Cobasys (Chevron) is squelching all access to large NiMH batteries through its control of patent licenses in order to remove a competitor to gasoline. Or it's possible that Cobasys simply wants the market for itself and is waiting for a major automaker to start producing plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles."[17] However, recently-signed Cobasys contracts demonstrate that the company is willing to use its NiMH technology in the automotive industry, specifically for use with hybrid electric vehicles. In December 2006, Cobasys and General Motors announced that they had signed a contract under which Cobasys provides NiMH batteries for the Saturn Aura hybrid sedan.[18] In March 2007, GM announced that it would use Cobasys NiMH batteries in the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu hybrid as well. Cobasys remains unwilling to sell NiMH batteries in smaller quantities to individuals or companies interested in building or retrofitting their own PHEVs.[citation needed] Still other actions by Cobasys suggest that the company remains unwilling to make NiMH battery technology economically feasible for the development of automobiles that rely on electric motor technology more than currently available hybrid cars. In October 2007, International Acquisitions Services, Inc., Innovative Transportation Systems AG and Neville Chamberlain filed suit against Cobasys and its parents for refusing to fill a large, previously agreed-upon order for large-format NiMH batteries to be used in the electric Innovan. [19] Pretty damning evidence for oil companies being in bed with GM I would say!

The new Tesla sports car uses over 6000 laptop batteries to power it. Chevron holds the patent rights to large lithium-ion batteries. from wikipedia, under " nickel metal hydride battery"... quote: In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing, including patents controlling the manufacturing of large nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. In 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics. A few months later, Chevron acquired Texaco. In 2003, Texaco Ovonics Battery Systems was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) Ovonics.[12] Chevron's influence over Cobasys extends beyond a strict 50/50 joint venture. Chevron holds a 19.99% interest in ECD Ovonics.[13] Chevron also maintains veto power over any sale or licensing of NiMH technology.[14] In addition, Chevron maintains the right to seize all of Cobasys' intellectual property rights in the event that ECD Ovonics does not fulfill its contractual obligations.[14] On September 10, 2007, Chevron filed a legal claim that ECD Ovonics has not fulfilled its obligations. ECD Ovonics disputes this claim.[15] Since that time, the arbitration hearing was repeatedly suspended while the parties negotiate with an unknown prospective buyer. No agreement has been reached with the potential buyer. [16] NiMH patent expires in 2015. end quote 'Nuff said?

The EV1 didn't have any substantial repair costs because it wasn't in operation long enough! Imagine the cost of replacing the battery bank. Watts is watts (if you read the "not a slam dunk" article). Summer is coming - I'd love to see just 10-15% of California's cars added to the power grid :-) Until there's widespread decentralized renewable electric generation, I won't touch an EV.

Interesting article. I only belive data. No one is willing to share or publish. Why? If I am wrong please send the data to wooten4615@bellsouth.net otherwise I will continue with my own research.

Either the Argonne Lab people are incompetent, or somewhat conservative scientists with little opportunity for risk taking. I expect that EESTOR will make them reconsider their claims somewhat soon. Oh, and I would dismiss consipracy thoerists so quickly. Look that the preview of DVD#3 in the following www.energyfromthevacuum.com/ The professor at a reasonably good university has created a negative resistor, is able to replicate the result, and the Univeristy line is they don't want to patent it and would like to further study this. It has been going on like this for more than 5 years. Oh, and book Hidden Truth Forbidden Knowledge makes for some intersting reading on the subject.

There is no battery capable of 400 miles of range and a 15 minute charge, nor is there a need for one. There is a viable battery, however, as I have been using it for over 5 years. Several hundred of us lucky enough to get one of the Toyota RAV4 EVs a few years back have been driving pollution-free on the 95Ah Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries made by Panasonic for Toyota. These battery packs hold 27 kWh of energy and have enough power to propel the cars faster than the gas version of the car. Several of these cars have exceeded 100,000 miles with the record over 146,000 miles, the cars over 100K miles are starting to see some degradation, but they are still very functional as commuter vehicles. Keep in mind that this NiMH battery is a design that''s about ten years old now. Also, as the previous poster mentioned, these cars need no maintenance. Consider the time and money saved over 100,000 miles of driving having never needed any maintenance or ever going to a gas station. It''s been over 5 years since I have been to a gas station and I''ve driven 59,000 miles. With solar PV, my electric bill last year was $44.08, and that''s for both my house and car for the entire year. Considering that none of my money went to line the pockets of the oil companies, or by extension, the Saudis, I think many would want to emulate this. There was no conspiracy in the classic sense between the oil companies and the auto companies, each group merely did what one would expect, and that''s to try and protect their respective revenue streams. However, when you consider the ill effects to our environment, our economy and our national security that reliance on petroleum causes, I think we would be smart to transfer as much of our transportation energy to cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity rather than dirty, expensive, foreign oil.

Auto industry in bed with oil companies,? Somewhat. What''''s much more likely is that GM and others do not want to give up their parts/repair service income. Watch the DVD Who Killed the Electric Car . It''''s mentioned in the documentary that when the EV1 (electric) car was brought in for service, all that was needed was, add some washer fluid, air to the tires and send it out the door. Electric cars with advanced batteries like NiMH or Lithium require no maintenance. No belts, filters, oil, spark plugs, mufflers etc... GM could have sold their discontinued EV1s but chose instead to crush them, the few that were allowed to survive were gutted. Very, very strange behavior. Appears someone at GM wanted the proof that electric cars are better than internal combustion cars removed from public eyes. The EV1 was fast, powerful and no maintenance. The EV1 is no more.

I would say yes that battery technology is ready to power an electric car that drives on motors, but not a lattery pack that can last for 10 years without the need to be replaced. That is one of the many design points GM is striving for in the Volt. If thay put something to market that won't survive all the various weather conditions or have a long enough life cycle then people will loss interest in EVs entirely. I say be patient and wait for something worth the money, then buy one and then, lastly, cast judgement.

Why did GM kill the EV1?