Hey, Guess What? Electric-Vehicle Secrets Are Finally Worth Stealing
A few short years ago, electric vehicles were the Rodney Dangerfield of the auto industry -- they couldn't get no respect. "Take my EV -- please!"
Today, EVs are so hot, apparently the secrets associated with building them are worth stealing. That's according to Renault, which suspended three employees earlier this month and last week charged "persons unknown" with "organized industrial espionage."
Renault isn't saying much else officially, other than the charges involve "strategic, intellectual and technological assets of our company." According to press reports, the case involves electric vehicles.
My, how you've grown!
There was a time when I felt sorry for the poor engineers who beat their heads against the wall in EVs. I went to a few EV trade shows in the early to mid-1990s but quit for two reasons. First, I kept seeing the same prototypes over and over. Second, every seminar back then reached the same conclusion: EVs weren't going anywhere until somebody came up with better, lighter, more powerful batteries that would enable a longer range.
Then along came rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the same kind as your laptop. Add tougher U.S. gas-mileage requirements, and suddenly in the last few years EVs have gone from the back burner to the front burner.
Renault in France and Nissan (NSANY.PK) in Japan are in a global alliance. Nissan has a lead in getting electric vehicles to market. The Nissan Leaf is the first EV in the U.S. market aimed at annual sales volumes in the tens of thousands, instead of a few hundred. Partner Renault has several EVs and plug-in hybrid models in the pipeline (photo).
So what, exactly, was stolen?
There's no telling from the outside looking in what precisely the alleged industrial espionage involves. From company to company most of the basic EV technologies look similar.
So what's to steal? I've heard that the real trick to a successful hybrid or EV can be found in the car's computer-chip brains that manage the whole system -- recharging and discharging; maximizing range without scrimping too much on acceleration; and without scrimping at all on safety.
However, computer chips may have nothing to do with the Renault case, that's just a guess on my part. Since Nissan is the first brand with a mass-market EV, maybe Nissan has found some trick to manufacturing the Nissan Leaf, to make it (relatively) affordable. That would be worth stealing, too. We'll have to wait and see how the court cases develop.
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Photo: Renault