Exxon Dips Toe in Electric Car Market

(MoneyWatch)  ExxonMobil generally doesn't evoke the kind of "green" images typically associated with the electric car industry. It is afterall, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, and a conservative one at that. The energy giant tends to stick with what it's good at: making money finding, producing and selling fossil fuels. So it surprised a lot of folks when Exxon announced Tuesday its partnership with Canadian battery maker Electrovaya to launch an all-electric car-sharing and rental program called AltCar at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

Exxon is sponsoring a fleet of electric cars called the Maya 300, which is powered by a lithium-ion battery using a separator film developed by Exxon's chemical unit. Exxon's separator film allows battery makers like Electrovaya to increase the power, capacity, mechanical strength and safety margins of lithium-ion batteries, the company said in a statement.

Exxon's foray into non-fossil fuel technology isn't exactly breaking news. The company, as BNET's blogger Jim Motavalli noted more than six months ago, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times touting its environmental street cred including the development of lithium-ion battery technology. The ad, which featured a photo of the Maya 300, hinted at its burgeoning relationship with Electrovaya.

Nor does Exxon's $500,000 investment in AltCar and an adjoining clean transportation technology exhibit at the science center amount to anything substantial compared to its capital and exploration spending budget of $5.8 billion for the first quarter of 2009. Exxon capital spending budget is expected to reach $29 billion this year.

Exxon's move into lithium-ion battery technology and its investment into this very-public car-sharing program is more indicative of the growing interest and support in the electric car market. For example, earlier today I wrote about $8 billion in low-interest federal loans aimed at developing fuel efficient cars. Some of the money including $465 million to Tesla Motors went to the electric car market.

AltCar and Maya 300 facts:

• Maya 300s used in the Baltimore car-sharing program can travel up to 120 miles on a full charge;
• Maya 300 can be charged using a standard 110v outlet
• Exxon's battery separator film is produced in a Nasu, Japan plant with affiliate TonenGeneral.