In an interview with the Orange County Weekly, electric car advocate Doug Korthof explains how oil companies have prevented the development and sale of entirely electric cars by restricting the availability of high capacity batteries. Korthof says General Motors first bought the rights to NiMH batteries from Toyota and Panasonic, then sold those patents to oil giant Texaco, which then merged with Chevron. According to Korthof, Chevron then used its the patent to kill Toyota’s RAV4-EV program.
A similar program — for a car called the EV1 — was also underway at GM. Clean cars from the automaker could have been sold for $25,000 each, Korthof says. Instead, GM “crushed and then shredded them, sending the remains to the foundry.”
“General Motors execs crushed their own future when they crushed the EV1,” he said.
Chevron’s patent rights are believed to expire in 2014. But Korthof isn’t wasting any time. He is advocating plug-in hybrids as the next best option for the time being. He said the aim is for production electric plug-in hybrids that can drive 120 miles in electric-only mode, then switch to a small 40 horsepower gas engine to charge the batteries.
Korthof maintains that current hybrids represent a flawed approach. “The Prius, for example, and all current hybrid cars, have the gas engine embedded in the power train, which is the least efficient way of running an EV. These hybrids are all gas cars, because all of their energy, ultimately, comes from the gasoline pump,” he said.
But oil companies aren’t the only ones who want to keep plug-in electric cars from gaining traction. According to Korthof, EVs would require far less maintenance and repairs than gasoline vehicles. “EVs threaten not just the oil companies, but dealer service and parts functions, muffler shops, smog shops, brake shops, radiator shops, tune-up shops, engine specialty shops, gas stations, and so on,” he said. “Unions are afraid of change, and afraid of learning new things, and so on.”
Korthof currently operates EV1.org, HondaEV.org and DrivingTheFuture.com.



05/20, 12:59 PM
posted by:
DAV
not to mention that they were really ugly.
05/20, 1:22 PM
posted by:
specialk
i have a very stupid question but……why were they destroied?
05/20, 1:31 PM
posted by:
Josh
Thank g-d someone in america and protect there induestry… GO GM!!!!
now if the fing textile (clothing) and steel and eletronic industries got there **** together maybe we can fix that trade deficit…
05/20, 1:34 PM
posted by:
Craig
I agree with specialk. Maybe the high cost was a factor… to outright crush the majority of EV-1’s never made sense to me.
Electrics probably would have less maintinence though.
05/20, 1:36 PM
posted by:
Captain America
well what does this guy think electricity just magicly appears from a never ending source?
05/20, 1:55 PM
posted by:
peter g
Maybe it’s true about the conspiracy? And maybe GM and the others have done us a favour? The electric car has always seemed to me to be an inferior and highly impractcal technology. Come up with something new, a “smart fuel”, and see what’ll happen to the US trade deficit: It’ll be gone.
And what will the Chinese do then?
05/20, 1:58 PM
posted by:
Michael Spadaro
This “conspiracy” theory is BS. Until and unless a “superbattery” (that can recharge itself while in use) is invented, there will be no fully electric cars built.
05/20, 2:13 PM
posted by:
Danny from Los Angeles
the oil companies do own MANY patents on alternative fuel technology. The patent business is big business too.
05/20, 3:25 PM
posted by:
Sean
I think its great that they are trying to get rid of Toyotas, maybe theyll find a way to get rid of the rest of them…
05/20, 3:30 PM
posted by:
Mike the tabloid reporter
This just in!
Jesus had not one, but three, THREE wives!
Jesus often slept with all three of his wives on the same night, consecutively, without the wives knowing!
05/20, 4:00 PM
posted by:
Jason
Here’s a pic of the guy
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/1126/tinfoilhat6po.jpg
05/20, 4:02 PM
posted by:
Scott
bump
05/20, 4:11 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Very well said, Josh, Michael and Sean.
05/20, 9:40 PM
posted by:
chris
GM crushed the EV1’s because they wanted no part of the legal requirements to support them. Per law they have to keep maintenence and replacement parts available for so many years. They could be liable to any stupid folks sueing them for anything that happened to the EV1(fires, etc.).
And why would GM want to sell them for only $25k? There were so few built that the money made would never support the tool upkeep needed to supply parts. These were hand built cars with proto tools. Program was a learning experience but a failure because not other manufacturer made their own cars and GM had to suck up millions in development and tools. Yes it could have been a PR bonus like the hybrids but when they were out they never got much positive press for GM.
05/20, 11:58 PM
posted by:
manny
support wouldnt be that much of a problem, as korthof said, ev cars require less mainenence… and hes not crazy…
*end sarcasm*
those cars do look pretty all stacked…
05/21, 1:58 AM
posted by:
Jim in LA
EV-1s are curiosities, and some should be preserved (or, should have been) for posterity.
all those worthless “charging stations” at Ralphs Supermarkets, etc. are mute testimony to the presence that once was the EV-1.
kind of like hitching posts in the modern era.
05/21, 2:56 PM
posted by:
Dean
Yeah, maybe if oil goes to $150/barrel some will wish this never was sent to the grave.
Hmmm, little to no maintenance, decimation of the service garages, decimation of the replacement part market …
Yup, a no-brainer.
05/21, 4:19 PM
posted by:
alex
ethanol powered cars is the future, or so they say(scientists). Just look at Brazil.
05/21, 6:38 PM
posted by:
Patrick
It’s because GM has been sleazy since it was first started. At the beginning of its existance, GM purchased thousands of miles of railroad track and then deactivated them so that people would be forced to buy their automobiles for transportation. Now they’re doing sleazy business again, surprise surprise, GM sucks ass. And you can all hate on toyota, but…they’re going to be #1 in the world in a few years, while GM is down the drain, so you can all talk **** now but GM is being flushed down as we speak
05/21, 6:59 PM
posted by:
doug korthof
Whether it’s a conspiracy or not, the big question is why Chevron wants control of the batteries needed for Electric cars??
We drive the Toyota RAV4-EV every single day, have drive EVs for over 300,000 miles over the last 8 years, and many of the comments about how “evs are impractical” are just ignorant or vapid.
EVs work, and the batteries are already here; even lead-acid batteries were good enough for the EV1. EDriveSystems.com has shown that the Prius can be modified with a slightly larger battery pack, and gets up to 180 mpg. A production version would do even better, and would not cost more than $3K extra, it is thought.
05/21, 7:39 PM
posted by:
Greenspeed
IS electricity cheaper and less polluting than gasoline? (remember electricity has to be produced – as Cpt America asked) The fact is that all forms of electricity production are damaging to the environment and/or currently too expensive to be practicable. The reasons for the expense are not all in the nature of the method of production. Some are in politics – and maybe even conspiracy?
05/21, 9:29 PM
posted by:
GM#1andalwayswillbe!
#25 “They have executives stealing money from the company for their own personal gain and they some how manage to avoid bankruptcy for so long.”
Hey digitalzombie – any credible evidence to support your fantasy facts ? What are you smoking dude ?
05/21, 10:37 PM
posted by:
Dean
Doug, #24, I watched the show today on the History channel re: this article.
I’m totally convinced. They will not relinquish control. These EVs are a threat. And now an ever-growing threat.
I’m sure you can see how they are concerned about the sea change coming.
05/21, 11:10 PM
posted by:
profmathers
Yeah, ’cause it’s not like GM didn’t destroy commuter rail in my state 50 years ago…
…oh wait…
05/22, 9:14 AM
posted by:
LBJay
Why did GM destroy the EV-1s? Because the way the Tax laws are written they could write off more the developement costs only if the cars were destroyed at the end of the trial. Sad but true.
05/22, 11:46 AM
posted by:
un
If there is a possibility that the resource (oil) on which your business depends might become rare or expensive, it makes good sense to invest in alternative technologies so that your company has a revenue stream (batteries) in the future. You could see the patent portfolios as a speculative investment in the future of these corporations.
One thing conspiracy theorists tend to lack is business (or common) sense.
05/22, 3:12 PM
posted by:
mdt
Detruction of the EV-1 is just another spasm in GM’s extended death throes. Hopefully when oil goes to $100+/barrel, we’ll see their obese cars disappear from our roads. It couldn’t come too soon. -mt
05/22, 11:09 PM
posted by:
digitalzombie
#27 if you play stocks then research on GM stocks and their yearly earning. Their dividents are misleading too. They lie about their yearly earning. You know what forget it. You could do your own research.Toyota = beating the crap out of GM. GM is near bankruptcy. game over.
05/23, 7:20 AM
posted by:
Adam
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/whokilledtheelectriccar/trailer/
06/19, 1:47 PM
posted by:
Electric Car » Advocate describes anti-electric car conspiracy | Leftlane - Car
[...] Advocate describes anti-electric car conspiracy | Leftlane – Car In an interview with the Orange County Weekly , electric car advocate Doug Korthof explains how oil companies have prevented the development and sale of entirely electric cars by restricting the [...]
06/30, 5:53 PM
posted by:
GasAlternative
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