Sure hope you are right, Michael:
"Remember, Stempel stated in his handout to the security analysts in New York in July that we would be announcing that a current Japanese consumer NiMH battery licensee would be entering into an agreement with ECD to mfg'r larger batteries. There was some speculation as to who it might be. And, Panasonic was one of the likely names that surfaced.
Remember, Toyota has entered into a shared advanced technology agreement with General Motors. All of the pieces fit into place. All we need is for this to be confirmed."
Thanks for reminding me of something important that I had all but forgotten. However, there are at least two apparent conflicts we need to address. One is that there has been no formal announcement that Panasonic now has acquired, by whatever route, the rights to ECD technology. The other is that the subject news announcement states "The battery was jointly developed by Panasonic EV Energy Co., a joint venture between Toyota and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.".
Of course, the news announcement could simply be wrong -- or Toyota and Panasonic could be hogging the credits. It is not unusual for companies to claim a development for their own after doing only a, sometimes small, part of the whole -- perhaps only the cell packaging, in the case at hand. Actually, the cell packaging for EV use is not a trivial task, given the cooling problems, etc.. (As an aside, is this what Saft has done recently re their announcement of "their" new EV NiMh battery?)
Whatever, I expect we will soon know more details about the battery Toyota is using. Could someone who knows specifically who to talk to call ECD for clarification? |
