There is a key aspect to the bailout of the Big 3 right now that is not being reported. For point of simplicity, I am going to tackle General Motors, who is being much maligned in the media lately. I am going to take them to the woodshed. GM is quite possibly the most incompetently ran corporation of all time.
Yes, all time.
It all started with this:
GM announced on Oct. 10, 2000 the sale of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH batteries to Texaco.
What does that mean? Meet me below the fold for a reason GM should be dismantled complete, as well as Chevron, tomorrow, if not sooner.
Now, hold you hands up if you remember the EV1 program in California? These cars were never for sell, but for lease. The program was a success and proved the economic viability of selling electric cars. Sure, there were a few technical issues, the charge port liked to catch on fire for example, but for the most part the few leasees who had an EV1 were extremely loyal to the program.
Then General Motors sold out. They not only sold out the EV1, they sold out their workers, their shareholders and the economic security of this country. And they sold out to Big Oil, Chevron.
NiMH Held Hostage by Chevron Texaco Until 2014
http://pppad.blogspot.com/...
But no more EV-95 batteries can be made, after Chevron sued Toyota. In 1994, Stan Ovshinsky, the inventor of the NiMH battery and principal of Energy Conversion Devices with the late Dr. Iris Ovshinsky, sold control of the NiMH batteries to a jont venture, GM Ovonic, between GM and his company, with the goal of manufacturing patented NiMH batteries for EVs.
Ostensibly, GM was supposed to go into production, and thus, it seemed, perhaps, natural to allow them control of the battery they would, supposedly, be using. In the event, Honda and Toyota used NiMH 4 years prior to GM's final release of a NiMH version of the EV1. But passing control of the batteries to GM proved a fatal mistake for the future of EVs. GM announced on Oct. 10, 2000 the sale of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH batteries to Texaco. Six days later, on Oct. 16, 2000, even before the sale was consumated, Texaco then merged with Chevron. The sale of the batteries was finally concluded on July 17, 2001, long after Texaco had become one with Chevron.
Chevron/Texaco received "...GM's 60 percent stake in [NiMH] batteries, and a 20 percent stake in ECD itself...", giving Chevron effective control of NiMH. On Mar. 6, 2002, just months after inheriting control of NiMH batteries, Chevron's subsidiary filed suit against Toyota, Panasonic, their PEVE joint venture, Sanyo et al. On December 12, 2001, Chevron's affiliates filed an arbitration demand...with the International Chamber of Commerce...In December 2002, an arbitration agreement...on Nov. 4-19, 2003, the hearing was held, and concluded on Jan. 21, 2004. On July 7, 2004, the settlement agreement ended in complete defeat for Toyota, Matsushita and their joint venture, PEVE. NiMH was only mentioned for "hybrids", those which cannot plug in, and Cobasys, Chevron's unit, became distributor of PEVE batteries, received $20 million licensing fee, in addition to $10 million paid to Energy Conversion Devices. "Cobasys will also receive royalties through December 31, 2013 on certain NiMH batteries sold by [Toyota] in North America."
There you go, the complete history of how General Motors sold out for a fist full of dollars to Chevron. They could be eight years into production of EV vehicles now, selling them like hot cakes. But if they sold like hot cakes, then Chevron would lose are their customers.
See how this works? It is much like what Big Oil did to rail and other green technologies. Except Chevron did this at a time when oil dependency had become a security issue in this country. Acting against the very best interests of our land, Chevron is sitting on this technology until 2014, least they lose their incredible profit margin on crude.
This calls into the very questions of patents. When the office of patents was originally set up in the United States of America, it was for the deployment of the technology. This was to allow the inventor time to bring his product to market without getting undersold by huge capital. It also the inventor a grace period to be a monopoly in order to recoup his research and development spent inventing said product, so it was financial viable to further innovation.
Chevron is not doing this, they are squashing the technology for nefarious reasons. The caveat on patents being allowed to be monopolies is that they do so for the benefit of the public's interest. What Chevron is doing not only is against our interest, and our nation's security, but it is also impeding innovation.
That's three strikes, they should be out.
When this use to happen, until recently, was that the patent would be withdrawn and entered into the public domain for development.
If Obama and Congress are truly serious about helping the Big Auto out, this is exactly what they will do with the NiMH technology allowing Big Auto to produce new products that will make them competitive once again.
Otherwise, it's all just horse feathers and the corporatists in Congress and the White House win again. Much to the delight of Big Oil.