PLEASE sign PETITION it is essential

I have written about this issue quite a while back. In fact, the original (old) FAQ page on the Cobasys website is still there:

http://www.cobasys.com/pdf/faq/faq.html

It explains that Cobasys (battery company owned by an oil company) simply will not license their NIMH patents for an electric car. Well, they don't come out and say precisely that, but it's pretty clear they won't approve your NIMH powered EV.

That is, for some reason they wanted to restrict batteries above 10 Amp-Hours only to projects they specifically approved. It's a strange position, because they were restricting sales of their own product by doing this. Every other battery maker simply sells batteries to whoever wants them. A Wiki on the NIMH patent encumbrance issue is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_Ni MH_batteries

However, this is now a very old issue, and I suspect, no longer even very relevant. Lithium batteries are now readily available for EVs, and mostly superior to NIMH batteries. Most of the most important lithium battery patents are held in Asia, too hard (apparently) for oil companies to easily acquire.

The patents for NIMH have changed hands a couple more times, and are now controlled by BASF corporation, who appears much more willing to license them. However, in all likelihood, these patents (from the early nineties) will be expiring soon. This is the event to wait for, rather than trying to get the government involved in liberating them.

If there's any remaining value in this technology, it will arise from the low-cost manufacture made possible by the expiration of NIMH patents.

The original inventor of the technology, Stanley Ovshinsky (I once met him) felt that NIMH could be manufactured very inexpensively. Soon we may find out if this is true.

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