New: HERE is a question for the the Washington Post's intrepid reporters and editors to ask of Congress or the Oil Industry executives: "WHY does the Congress TOLERATE Chevron corp. PROHIBITING production and use of modern NiMH batteries - batteries that Chevron has PROHIBITED Toyota from using in their production RAV4 EV electric car - batteries that allow the RAV4 EV to get more than THREE TIMES as many miles-per-energy dollar as the RAV4 EV's sister, gas powered RAV4s.
<< The RAV4EV has 24 12-volt 95Ah NiMH batteries capable of storing 27.4kWh of energy....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV ....Whether or not Toyota wanted to continue production, it was unlikely to be able to do so, because the EV-95 battery was no longer available. Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for the large NiMH batteries was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco. >>
Got that? Chevron/Texaco SUED Toyota and Panasonic, for THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS, to PREVENT Toyota from putting into mass production a fully functioning, 100% electric car, that, on the highway, was quite indistinguishable from normal that car's gas powered twins.
THE AMERICAN OIL COMPANIES are USING TEAMS OF LAWYERS, and the US "justice" system - to PREVENT vehicles that were BEING PRODUCED on a major automaker assembly line - from giving American auto consumers the choice of purchasing cars that get over THREE TIMES BETTER energy/gas mileage than exisiting autos of similar size!
AND BOTH THE US CONGRESS, and "major media" and Washington Post - PRETEND NOT TO NOTICE!
THAT is the devolution of American press, media and government under the eight yeas of the Bush administration: Congressional hearings that DON'T EVEN ASK simple, important questions!
===============================
No comments:
Post a Comment