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Reminder that Chevron bought some key NiMH patents and used their ownership of those patents to prevent building batteries for cars. https://en.m.wikipedia.org
by NewJazz 2y ago
Reminder that Chevron bought some key NiMH patents and used their ownership of those patents to prevent building batteries for cars.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_...
If those patents hadn't been, or had they been shorter lived, or if antitrust law was more robust, we might have seen a lot more investment in optimizations on and variations of the NiMH chemistry.
What a fascinating world I'll never live in.
- Tade0 2y agoI guess part of the reason is that the "M" in "NiMH" stands for Lanthanum - a rare earth element which happens to be used in catalysts facilitating oil refinement. Of course catalysts are consumed slowly, but you still don't want any disturbances in the supply of a key element.