Could Chevron end hybrid vehicle hold up?

Ford is going to produce 20,000 Escape hybrids this year, but they would like to produce more, if only they could get more batteries.

The recently released Honda Accord hybrid is also set for 20,000 units, which equals the number of batteries currently guaranteed.

Additionally, the Toyota Prius hybrid car has been hampered by battery production as well. While Toyota will produce 100,000 Prius hybrids for America this year, it has been slowed by battery production and many owners are waiting several months to pick up their vehicles.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the Lexus RX 400h hybrid SUV was going to be late to market, one can only imagine batteries had something to do with it.

So what's going on?

Currently, there are only three major suppliers of hybrid batteries, known has NiMH, or Nickel-metal hydride batteries, Panasonic, Sanyo and Cobasys.

Earlier this year, Ovonics Corporation, the patent holder on these batteries claimed a $30 million dollar license infringement suit against the battery makers, and which has temporarily dampened the hybrid battery market.

Now Cobasys, a joint venture half owned by Chevron/Texaco and an Ovonics offshoot, Energy Conversion Devices, appears to be holding all the cards.

Recently it was announced that the major oil companies, such as Chevron, are currently amassing record-level profits. Considering the damage to the environment that this profit has caused, isn't it Chevron's responsibility to invest, heavily, in clean technologies, such as hybrid vehicle batteries?

Currently, any competition will take a year to hit the market because of the vigorous testing required of battery packs, and Chevron will lose no ground if battery production slows.

This conflict of interest possibly allows Chevron to slow the introduction of the hybrid vehicle into the American market so as not to disrupt the status quo to quickly. With Chevron's capital it would be no problem to flood the market with hybrid vehicle batteries.

Yet, Chevron is barely held accountable for all the environmental damage, let alone wars, that oil has caused in the last century. This simply shows how hard it is to compete with huge, multinational corporations, even when it comes to doing the right thing. The power of the corporation usurps the power of the people, in fact such power is wielded at the expense of the people.

How sad.

More hybrid vehicle information.