toyota under fire for hybrid technology

[url]http://www.autoserviceworld.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=51432&issue=0111[/url]
2006#top

Toyota Under Fire for Hybrid Technology

A technology company is taking aim at Toyota, saying that the company's
gas-electric hybrid Prius and Highlander vehicles infringe on its U.S.
patents.

Solomon Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has expanded its
litigation against Toyota by filing a complaint with the United States
International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington D.C. This action is
in addition to the action already filed in the United States District
Court for the Middle District of Florida last September.

The ITC acts as an administrative investigative body to determine,
among other things, whether or not goods imported into the United
States infringe U.S. patents.

Solomon president Peter W. DeVecchis, Jr., said, "The filing of the ITC
complaint is the next step in our effort to fully prosecute the alleged
infringement by Toyota and to protect our valuable intellectual
property. We believe that the ITC's streamlined administrative process,
as well as the technical depth of the ITC staff, will be helpful in
expediting and supporting our claims." He continued, "While the ITC can
not assess damages against an infringer, it can issue an exclusion
order prohibiting the importation of infringing technology. We will
continue our effort to protect our intellectual property to the fullest
extent possible."

Solomon brought suit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor
Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in the
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa
Division, on September 12, 2005, claiming infringement of a number of
claims in Solomon's U.S. Patent Number 5,067,932, primarily relating to
Toyota's use of the technology in its Prius and Highlander Hybrid
vehicles.

If Solomon were successful in its ITC action, Toyota could be
prohibited from importing into the United States infringing combination
motor and transmission systems and those products containing such
systems, including the Toyota Prius and Highlander models.

I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little
brighter, they'd push the hydrogen car technology as
fast as they could. Hydrogen cars offer better technology
than the motor hybrids. For one thing, the exhaust emits
water vapor, not a whiff of noxious gasses.

Hydrogen to motor hybrid isn't like SCSI to EIDE; it's more
like SCSI to floppy. Or music CD to tape cassette. Remember
when CDs came out, you bought the Steppenwolf and Rush CDs even
though you already had the Steppenwolf and Rush cassettes. The
same phenomenon could very well happen with hydros.

I was just reading about this a few minutes ago.... not good for
Toyota.

------------------------------------
Mike Mangione
[url]http://www.carforums.net[/url]

"Built_Well" <bw@bbbb.com> wrote in message
news:XtmdnRBjMtfcd1reRVn-oA@sysmatrix.net...[color=blue]
> I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little
> brighter, they'd push the hydrogen car technology as
> fast as they could. Hydrogen cars offer better technology
> than the motor hybrids. For one thing, the exhaust emits
> water vapor, not a whiff of noxious gasses.
>
> Hydrogen to motor hybrid isn't like SCSI to EIDE; it's more
> like SCSI to floppy. Or music CD to tape cassette. Remember
> when CDs came out, you bought the Steppenwolf and Rush CDs even
> though you already had the Steppenwolf and Rush cassettes. The
> same phenomenon could very well happen with hydros.[/color]

Except for the minor problem of not yet having figured out how to cram more
than about 100 miles worth of hydrogen into a car. And not having a ready
source of hydrogen, either, come to think if it.

Alcohol would be easier to manage.

Brazil, which many Americans would identify as a Third World Country, this
year registered more alcohol-fueled vehicles than petroleum-fueled vehicles.
Amazing how such an ostensibly poor and backward country can manage to
significantly transform their energy economy so far in advance of us.

You like hydrogen fuel cells because they're full of neat tech and your
children can bask in their emissions, but there are a few small issues
like getting enough hydrogen in a car to go a reasonable distance, and
primarily where the hell to get it in the first place. Hydrogen doesn't
exist by itself, it has to be extracted and refined in order to be put to
use in anything, let alone fuel cells that would require a very specific
grade of the element to work with the efficiency you are waxing so
poetically about. As it stands right now, the most efficient ($ wise) way
to get the stuff out of whatever it's already bound up in (water) is by
using existing coal-burning plants. So then what are the net savings?

<<<<<I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little
brighter, they'd push the hydrogen car technology as
fast as they could. Hydrogen cars offer better technology
than the motor hybrids.>>>>>

Yeah, I guess, but there is a difference between kicking your feet back
and dreaming sweetly of an engine that poots water and actually
implementing something that can cut emissions drastically NOW. Hybrids
will be the most practical solution for that for a while.

Where do you plan to get this hydrogen from? Do you know how much energy is
needed to separate hydrogen from water. I'd like to know where you will get
that energy.

"Built_Well" <bw@bbbb.com> wrote in message
news:XtmdnRBjMtfcd1reRVn-oA@sysmatrix.net...[color=blue]
>I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little[/color]

You bring up good points. Hydrogen can be extracted using new
high-tech windmills and solar energy, not fossil fuels.

They say there's more energy blowing in the Dakota winds than all
the energy available from oil in Saudi Arabia.

More efficient storage needs to be developed, too, but it's all
close. Very close. If Bush would have committed more than the
paltry, actually stingy, 1.2 billion dollars over the
*NEXT FEW YEARS* to hydrogen car research, we'd reach the
"promised land" much sooner. That's not even 1.2 billion in a
year, but over several years. What a punter. Clinton would not
have done that.

Bush, the oil company puppet, instead prefers blowing 400 billion
dollars in a senseless war in Iraq. I betchya for a fraction of
that, say 100 billion, we could develop the Earth-friendly
hydrogen economy, which will come--it's just a matter of when and
who's in office.

Here's an interesting article from sciencentral.com that addresses
some of the valid, important issues you raise. Now if you could get
the Gooberment to cooperate, we'd have this stuff accomplished
within a decade, much like Kennedy set the goal of landing humans
on the moon before the decade were through.

[url]http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392247&language=english[/url]

From the melting ice burgs?

mike hunt


"Alex" <someone@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5lXxf.1903$PL5.1755@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> Where do you plan to get this hydrogen from? Do you know how much energy
> is needed to separate hydrogen from water. I'd like to know where you
> will get that energy.
>
> "Built_Well" <bw@bbbb.com> wrote in message
> news:XtmdnRBjMtfcd1reRVn-oA@sysmatrix.net...[color=green]
>>I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little[/color]
>
>[/color]

Watch what you wish for, you might just get it. Commercial fuel cells in
use today, built by GM to generate electricity for buildings, get their
hydrogen form Natural Gas. NG is in short supply even though NG is being
burned off at the refineries because of insufficient storage and
distribution system caused by current environmental laws (NIMBY) The most
cost effect way to get hydrogen into motor vehicles will be from gasoline
via the distribution system currently in place, with the reformer at the gas
station or in the automobile. Supplying hydrogen from another source, via a
whole new hydrogen distribution system, will be environmentally almost
impossible (NIMBY) to build and cost billions of dollars over many years.
The hydrogen will cost five times as much as gasoline at the time, to boot.


mike hunt


"qslim" <Suckers@suckersdotcom> wrote in message
news:ba0c2964fa4d7eba86f3b4486ac8196f@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...[color=blue]
> You like hydrogen fuel cells because they're full of neat tech and your
> children can bask in their emissions, but there are a few small issues
> like getting enough hydrogen in a car to go a reasonable distance, and
> primarily where the hell to get it in the first place. Hydrogen doesn't
> exist by itself, it has to be extracted and refined in order to be put to
> use in anything, let alone fuel cells that would require a very specific
> grade of the element to work with the efficiency you are waxing so
> poetically about. As it stands right now, the most efficient ($ wise) way
> to get the stuff out of whatever it's already bound up in (water) is by
> using existing coal-burning plants. So then what are the net savings?
>
> <<<<<I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little
> brighter, they'd push the hydrogen car technology as
> fast as they could. Hydrogen cars offer better technology
> than the motor hybrids.>>>>>
>
> Yeah, I guess, but there is a difference between kicking your feet back
> and dreaming sweetly of an engine that poots water and actually
> implementing something that can cut emissions drastically NOW. Hybrids
> will be the most practical solution for that for a while.
>[/color]

I heard the icebergs are melting because of George Bush.

In article <XtmdnRBjMtfcd1reRVn-oA@sysmatrix.net>,
"Built_Well" <bw@bbbb.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> I think if GM's manglers--uhh managers--were a little
> brighter, they'd push the hydrogen car technology as
> fast as they could. Hydrogen cars offer better technology
> than the motor hybrids. For one thing, the exhaust emits
> water vapor, not a whiff of noxious gasses.[/color]

Except that hydrogen cars consume more oil than gasoline cars, because of
the amount of energy needed to produce hydrogen. And the plants that burn
oil to produce electricity to produce hydrogen emit a lot more than water
vapor.

Merritt

"badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:xn0eh6m30a97oke001@news.readfreenews.net...[color=blue]
> [url]http://www.autoserviceworld.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=51432&issue=0111[/url]
> 2006#top
>
> Toyota Under Fire for Hybrid Technology
>
> A technology company is taking aim at Toyota, saying that the company's
> gas-electric hybrid Prius and Highlander vehicles infringe on its U.S.
> patents.
>
> Solomon Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has expanded its
> litigation against Toyota by filing a complaint with the United States
> International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington D.C. This action is
> in addition to the action already filed in the United States District
> Court for the Middle District of Florida last September.
>
> The ITC acts as an administrative investigative body to determine,
> among other things, whether or not goods imported into the United
> States infringe U.S. patents.
>
> Solomon president Peter W. DeVecchis, Jr., said, "The filing of the ITC
> complaint is the next step in our effort to fully prosecute the alleged
> infringement by Toyota and to protect our valuable intellectual
> property. We believe that the ITC's streamlined administrative process,
> as well as the technical depth of the ITC staff, will be helpful in
> expediting and supporting our claims." He continued, "While the ITC can
> not assess damages against an infringer, it can issue an exclusion
> order prohibiting the importation of infringing technology. We will
> continue our effort to protect our intellectual property to the fullest
> extent possible."
>
> Solomon brought suit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor
> Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in the
> United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa
> Division, on September 12, 2005, claiming infringement of a number of
> claims in Solomon's U.S. Patent Number 5,067,932, primarily relating to
> Toyota's use of the technology in its Prius and Highlander Hybrid
> vehicles.
>
> If Solomon were successful in its ITC action, Toyota could be
> prohibited from importing into the United States infringing combination
> motor and transmission systems and those products containing such
> systems, including the Toyota Prius and Highlander models.[/color]

This proves Japan doesn't innovate - they just improve on technology that
the U.S. comes up with. However, this patent could become invalidated -
especially with the new patent overhaul laws coming to play.

The current hybrid technology use by Toyota and Ford was developed in Japan
by a Japanese electric company, in cooperation with Ford, Toyota and another
Japanese auto manufacture whose name escapes me at the moment. Toyota
subsequently bought that company. Both Ford and Toyota are cross licensed
to the technology.

mike hunt


"Dan J.S." <me@hyperx.com> wrote in message
news:11sib5sqc050ub7@news.supernews.com...[color=blue]
>
> "badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:xn0eh6m30a97oke001@news.readfreenews.net...[color=green]
>> [url]http://www.autoserviceworld.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=51432&issue=0111[/url]
>> 2006#top
>>
>> Toyota Under Fire for Hybrid Technology
>>
>> A technology company is taking aim at Toyota, saying that the company's
>> gas-electric hybrid Prius and Highlander vehicles infringe on its U.S.
>> patents.
>>
>> Solomon Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has expanded its
>> litigation against Toyota by filing a complaint with the United States
>> International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington D.C. This action is
>> in addition to the action already filed in the United States District
>> Court for the Middle District of Florida last September.
>>
>> The ITC acts as an administrative investigative body to determine,
>> among other things, whether or not goods imported into the United
>> States infringe U.S. patents.
>>
>> Solomon president Peter W. DeVecchis, Jr., said, "The filing of the ITC
>> complaint is the next step in our effort to fully prosecute the alleged
>> infringement by Toyota and to protect our valuable intellectual
>> property. We believe that the ITC's streamlined administrative process,
>> as well as the technical depth of the ITC staff, will be helpful in
>> expediting and supporting our claims." He continued, "While the ITC can
>> not assess damages against an infringer, it can issue an exclusion
>> order prohibiting the importation of infringing technology. We will
>> continue our effort to protect our intellectual property to the fullest
>> extent possible."
>>
>> Solomon brought suit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor
>> Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in the
>> United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa
>> Division, on September 12, 2005, claiming infringement of a number of
>> claims in Solomon's U.S. Patent Number 5,067,932, primarily relating to
>> Toyota's use of the technology in its Prius and Highlander Hybrid
>> vehicles.
>>
>> If Solomon were successful in its ITC action, Toyota could be
>> prohibited from importing into the United States infringing combination
>> motor and transmission systems and those products containing such
>> systems, including the Toyota Prius and Highlander models.[/color]
>
> This proves Japan doesn't innovate - they just improve on technology that
> the U.S. comes up with. However, this patent could become invalidated -
> especially with the new patent overhaul laws coming to play.
>[/color]

Bush has no "vision thing" as his visionless pappy
would say.

"The Vision Thing"

Ugh, I just learned that much of Bush's 1.2 billion dollars
is devoted to obtaining hydrogen from fossil fuels, not
renewables like wind and solar. The dirty claws of the oil
companies strike again.

This is a fascinating article from Mother Jones magazine about
Big Oil's attempts to hy-jak the hydrogen initiative:

[url]http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/05/ma_375_01.html[/url]

I remember when Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt was running
for the 2004 Democratic nomination and later campaigning to be
Kerry's Vice-President., Gephardt said on C-SPAN that he would
develop the wind fields of the Dakotas and other U.S. states--much
saner idea than developing dirty oil fields.

Bush has no such plan.

"Laura, have you seen my vision thing lying around anywhere?"

---- "Honey, I think you left it at Camp David next to the pretzels."

Gephardt was my Rep. when I lived in Saint Louis. Good fella--I met
him once during a high school "Close-Up" trip to D.C. Too bad he
retired.