What an oxymoron: Exxon Mobil working toward a petrol free car
Jun 24, 2009 
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's most profitable oil company, has teamed up with a small Ontario battery maker to promote the use of cars that do not consume a drop of petroleum.
But wait a second, isn't this out of character for the oil giant? Their profits are based on oil consumption. Click through to find out why an oil conglomerate would be interested in this Ontario battery maker.
The oil titans were in Baltimore yesterday to launch a new car-share program called AltCar, which is composed of a fleet of 10 low-speed electric cars that will be rented to the public out of the Maryland Science Center.
The zero-emission cars, called the Maya-300, are the creation of Electrovaya Inc. of Mississauga. The company manufactures the lithium-ion battery packs that power the vehicles, which are assembled in Ontario.
But it's what lies inside those batteries that explains Exxon's role. The company's chemical division has produced a new kind of separator film or "membrane" that can increase the power, capacity and safety of lithium-ion batteries.
Exxon's goal is to show that it is a technology company and the event amounted to good public relations for a company regularly criticized by environmentalists.
Reader Comments (2)
basic business philosophy, nothing new