Chevron Guilty of Anti-Competitive Conduct vs EVs? http://theev.

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Is it Possible that Chevron is Guilty of Obstructing Competition vs Electric Cars?

Kenneth Burridge as a concerned citizen, advocate of alternative fuel transportation and Editor-in-Chief of EV.com lodges an official complaint calling for action by the Federal Trade Commissions Bureau of Competition to investigate conduct by Chevron that may be contributing to higher gasoline prices. Within the complaint Mr Burridge charges that Chevron may be currently engaging in acts and practices during the course of business operations that constitute market manipulation and could qualify as possible anti-competitive practices. Specifically in question is Chevrons conduct of setting arbitrary high minimum purchase requirements of 10,000 units for large form factor nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology, which has effectively stymied the electric vehicle market for the past decade. This could make for a rather strong case, which suggests that Chevrons Cobasys subsidiary is obstructing competition of the fledgling EV industry that would compete directly with Chevrons business of selling petroleum products to the automotive and transportation industries. If large form factor nickel-metal hydride batteries had been previously released en masse there would now be a corresponding decrease in demand and lower pressure for rising fuel prices. Field tests in 1996 of the Ovonics (NiMH) battery extended the range of the General

Motors EV1 to over 150 miles and a Solectria Sunrise was able to achieve 375 miles on a single charge a feat which was only recently broken using lithium-ion batteries. Many EV manufacturers would prefer to use NiMH batteries if they were available due to lower cost and being more environmentally friendly than the lithium-ion batteries currently being utilized in many electric and hybrid cars today. It is the responsibility of the Federal Trade Commissions Bureau of Competition to champion the rights of American consumers by promoting and protecting free and vigorous competition. The Bureau: promotes competition in industries where consumer impact is high, such as health care, real estate, oil & gas, technology, and consumer goods (see www.ftc.gov for more information).

Record of Complaint lodged against Chevron to Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition

Of interest is that anyone violating a FTC rule are subject to civil penalties of up to $1 million per violation per day, in addition to any relief available to the Commission under the FTC Act.