GM goes further down the dumper; NiHM battery supplier broke due to Chevron

GM may soon be feeling some of Chrysler's pain over bankrupt suppliers. The CarConnection reports Cobasys, supplier of the NiMH batteries used in the light-hybrid Vue, Aura and Malibu and holder of "a key contract in the development of GM's much-anticipated plug-in hybrid, the Volt," is out of money. The battery maker lost more than $76m last year and expect to lose $82m this year. To make matters worse, the company's joint owners, ChevronTexaco and ECD, can't agree on the 2008 budget. So Cobays' operating budget is $92m short. Cobasys is now on GM's "distressed supplier list;" the General refuses to comment on the situation. In the meantime, GM has struck a deal to buy batteries for its two-mode hybrid trucks from a Panasonic - Toyota joint venture.

Note how it's ChevronTexaco who's putting the kibosh on Cobasys by stalling their budgeting...another move by Big Oil to stop any move toward electric propulsion dead in its tracks. A Democratic administration will probably have the government take over funding of NiMH development, thus ruining this attempt by Big Oil to "defund" competition for their products into oblivion.

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Reply to
DeserTBoB
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And GM gets to say "Gee guys we sure tried hard (!) but other factors prevent our producing the Volt. Pause here for sounds of weeping and wailing from GM. Volt/EV-1/Etc. all died aborning. Fast forward a short time to where GM is a minor parts supplier to Toyota and Honda. End of story for Detroit's incompetence.

Reply to
Jim Higgins

Does the words "Lithium" or HD DVD and Blue Tooth, ring a bell

Do you think $3 a gallon is high to you? If the dims have their way that "Big Oil' you hate will be charging over $4 a gallon after the Dims raise the taxes on "Big Oil" a BILLION dollars a year. Does the old adage, There is not fee lunch ring a bell

Reply to
Mike hunt

$1 billion is about 1/10 of the profit of what ExxonMobil makes in one year on US sales (3/4 of ExxonMobil's profit is outside the US).

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Who pays a tax levied on a corporation?

Reply to
Scott in Florida

Does not matter. Once Hillary is President, corporations will no longer be allowed a profit and they will pay all the taxes. It will be like living in Paradise with everything taken care of by the government.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

We will be like the Denmark, where 70 percent of our wages goes to the government, and everything will be done for us including our healthcare and burial. We will have nothing to worry about, as long as you and me are young and healthy AND work and are productive contributing that 70 percent. If you and me are old farts and retired then good luck. They (the government) will just hope you die shortly after retiring, LOL. A great society I must say.

BTW you WILL retire to make room for the young and more productive.

Watch the movie Soylent Green to get a glimpse at what the socialist liberals have in store for us in the future.

Cheers

Reply to
dbu

What about all the oil that was supposed to come from Iraq after Saddam was kicked out?

Reply to
beerspill

Not to even mention the states taxes on gas. You will be LUCKY to be paying $4/gal. Remember, don't blame it on the big oil companies. Just be thankful they are providing you with the fuel so you may joy ride around in addition to going to your work.

Reply to
dbu

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I bet GM is kicking itself in the ass because they sold Stan Ovshinsky's Ovonics patents to Chevron in the first place after they crushed all of the EV1s

Reply to
Daniel Who Wants to Know

Electric car in Winnipeg? Forget it...might as well start walkin'.

Reply to
William W Western

In 2006, something like 51 billion gallons of fuel (gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, home heating oil) were sold. If that $1 Billion in taxes is passed on to the consumer, that comes out to less than $0.02 per gallon of fuel.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Reply to
ChEvRoLeT

The wind chill will cause the car to cool off faster, but it won't get any colder than if there is no wind chill.

The radiator fluid should not freeze nor should the battery at those temperatures.

Use synthetic.

They make these neat things called "extension cords" that lets you bring a hair drier outside.

They also build these neat things called "garages" that let you store cars in a warmer environment.

jeff

Reply to
Jeff

And if you can get them to start, you drive down the street on square tires for about fifteen minutes. Kerklunk, kerklunk.......

Reply to
William W Western

A car sitting in about -34C with no wind will stand a better chance starting than one sitting in -34C with a windchill of -46. That -46 wind chill separates the wheat from the chaff. The boys from the men. Winnipeg hit -38C this winter, and that was with no wind thank goodness.

With a water cooled engine we use block heaters. Also little interior car warmers that keep the interior warm and the windows clear. Some people even use a battery blanket as well. When we drove in the States years ago (60s) with three electric cords and plugs hanging out the front a gas jockey in southern Minnesota asked if it was an electric car. We also had these clear plastic panels you stuck to the inside of the glass, in essence making a "sealed unit" to fight frost buildup. Better defroster/heaters have rendered them obsolete and I haven't seen them in years. Driving a British car in Winnipeg winters back in the 50s and 60s was particularly adventurous. A "demister" was no match for a 1/8" coating of frost. "Okay, quit breathing so much, I can't see out the bloody windscreen".

Whaaah? Parking a car in a garage, eh? But where would I then store all these 8 track carts, players, and other assorted treasures?

Reply to
William W Western

Windchill applys to the cooling effect on exposed human skin. A car sitting in -34 with no wind ends up at the same temperature as a car sitting in -34 with 100 mph winds. -34

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

Didn't do too well in school, obviously, as your grammar and spelling tell. Most Chevrolet fans are usually of that caliber.

Reply to
DeserTBoB

Don't bother trying to explain it to him...he's too dense.

Not if it's 50/50 ethylene or polypropylene glycol and water, it sure shouldn't. Of course, people like this moron probably never service their cooling systems on time, either.

...and synthetic ATF...nary a problem with cold weather performance there! But wait...it's an old Chevy...not worth putting synthetic into, as the worn out valve guides will just pump it out in no time.

Everywhere I went in Canada, there were "plug-ins"...duplex outlets so you could plug your trusty block heater in for a nice, warm night. Starting would be as if on a balmy day, even with a Detroit diesel.

People of his class don't have "garages."

Reply to
DeserTBoB

-34°C atmospheric is -34°C to any inanimate object immersed in it. The wind just makes it cool faster (more gas circulating faster over the cooled object = faster heat transfer), but it'll never get any colder than -34C. Basic thermodynamics, high school physics...in which I got an A+, of course, which stood me in good stead as an undergrad.

I used a Kim Hot-Start up in Canuckia back in my days up around there, (a VERY common US make). It was 500W and kept an 8V71 Detroit toasty enough to start on the first go 'round even at -20°C, along with a 250W oil sump heater running 20W-20 MIL 5208 oil, then de rigeur for any Detroit Diesel. Of course, starting any diesel (assuming the fuel isn't gelled and the oil isn't too thick) is easier at such cold temperatures anyway due to the lack of absolute moisture. Having #1 ASTM fuel was a big help on 2 strokes, too, but that went away everywhere after the First OPEC Embargo, and the only way to "make" it after that was to cut #2 with some water white kerosene. The WORST climate in which to start any diesel was around 5°C and high humidity. The large amount of water vapor, coupled with the cool intake air, would quench the detonation every time.

The Brits could never built deicers for aircraft, either. Ask anyone who was over there in WWII and watched Lancasters fall out of the sky due to wing rime, while the 17s and 24s just flew by unfazed.

Well, that's your choice! The garage is for the car...the junk goes in the junk room...or the dumpster, your choice.

Reply to
DeserTBoB

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