Bosch-Samsung battery venture buys Cobasys
Cobasys, after being offered for sale by its previous owners for over two years has, finally been sold. Energy conversion Devices and Chevron had jointly owned the battery which supplied the energy storage system for the EV1 (pictured) as well as the nickel metal hydride batteries for GM's mild hybrids. The company is now owned by SB Li Motive which is the battery joint venture formed last year by Bosch and Samsung. SB LiMotive was formed to develop lithium ion batteries for automotive applications and plans to start producing cells in 2010. The German Korean company will integrate Cobasys as the North American branch of the company. Later this year, Cobasys will begin supplying batteries to the new Mercedes ML450 hybrid. The sale price has not been disclosed.
[Source: Reuters]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
contact 8:54AM (7/17/2009)
alright, it's nice to see ano il company buying into battery technology so they can have some sort of continuing strangle-hold on our energy needs for the next century.
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EVan 9:51AM (7/17/2009)
Bosch and Samsung are most definitely not "oil" companies....
In the wake of the GM bankruptcy this is good news. Cobasys has been pretty much bankrolled by GM ever since the EV1 project. With new ownership hopefully the good people that work there in Northern Detroit will get to keep their jobs after all.
ziv 9:07AM (7/17/2009)
This is going to be very interesting! Will Bosch be able to sell significant quantities of NiMh batteries while Cobasys has not? Bosch is a huge auto parts maker, $40B+ in sales every year. Samsung Electronics is obviously not a part of any oil industry, so this could lead to the sale of cheaper, slightly bulkier alternatives to the LiIon batteries. If the technology is there, Bosch will be able to sell it at a profit. The conspiracy theory about Chevron suppressing BEV's by acquiring Cobasys had enough going for it to make this a very interesting development. I think Cobasys stumbles are probably better explained by bad management rather than big oil machinations, never attribute to malice what sheer ineptitude will suffice.
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Serge 11:13AM (7/17/2009)
"stumbles are probably better explained by bad management rather than big oil machinations,"
Did you consider a scenario, where former results from the latter? I think it's quite plausible.
Regardless, I sincerely hope that Samsung and Bosch will develop NiMh chemistry to its full-potential. It is still a chemistry of preference for hybrid applications.
Brent 8:39PM (7/20/2009)
I'm interested, whats the solar hood I see in the background on the white car?
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Matt Lenart 11:40AM (7/17/2009)
this is incredible news! and i couldn't be happier!
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Matthew 12:35PM (7/17/2009)
This is GREAT news !!!
Finally, NiMH technology will not be suppressed anymore.
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Bill 9:14PM (7/17/2009)
Perhaps replacement packs for the RAV4-EV or for hobbyist conversions will be cheaper.
Not only the bulk, but the weight of NiMH vs. lithium-based batteries means the former will continue to be constrained to small capacity (1-2 kWh) packs for hybrids.
It's unlikely NiMH will have any significant role in future plug-in or pure EVs.
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Tom Prucha 12:05AM (7/18/2009)
So far I haven't seem any details regarding the NiMH battery patent rights and whether the purchase included that intellectual property. Maybe we shouldn't rejoice so quickly.
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matthijs 7:29AM (7/18/2009)
Chevron sells Cobasys: MB owns NiMH, Toyota is punked.
http://apteraforum.com/showpost.php?p=34873&postcount=1
""Prior to the sale, Cobasys assigned to [ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES] and [CHEVRON] the right to receive 20% and 80%, respectively, of future royalties payable to Cobasys by Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd. (PEVE) under a patent license agreement that provides for royalties through 2014...
[THUS, CHEVRON RECEIVES 80% OF ROYALTIES FROM TOYOTA FOR NON-PLUG-IN APPLICATIONS OF NIMH, BINDING TOYOTA INTO OIL SLAVERY, UNTIL 2014]
"...Royalties totaling approximately $6.5 million received by Cobasys since January 2008 under this license agreement were also distributed to OBC and CTV, with OBC receiving approximately $1.3 million..."
[THIS IS THE ONLY HONEST EXPOSITON OF THIS "THEFT" SO FAR:
ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES: $1.3 MILLION
CHEVRON:....................$5.2 MILLION
FOR 18 MONTHS OF TOYOTA PRODUCTION OF 1.3 KWH NIMH FOR PRIUS, CAMRY AND HIGHLANDER: SO TOYOTA PAYS $300,000 PER MONTH, OR, IF PRIUS PRODUCTION IS 30,000 PER MONTH, ABOUT $10 PER PRIUS, OR ABOUT 10 CENTS PER KWH--SO, REALLY, TOYOTA'S ADHERENCE TO THIS AGREEMENT WAS MOSTLY SYMBOLIC, HUMILIATING, AND A SLAP IN THE ASIAN FACE BY CHEVRON-GM, NOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR A $100BILLION COMPANY TO EVEN MENTION]
"...[ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES] has royalty-free, exclusive rights to [NIMH] for defined non-transportation uses and Cobasys has royalty-free exclusive rights for defined transportation uses."
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