Texaco to Make Nickel Hydride Car Batteries

Texaco Inc. and Energy Conversion Devices Inc. plan to mass-produce nickel metal hydride car batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.

The companies say nickel metal hydride batteries have twice the power and four times the life of regular lead acid car batteries. Made mostly of hydrogen and nickel, the batteries are “completely recyclable,” said Bill Wicker, senior vice president of Texaco.

Texaco plans to spend $150 million expanding existing manufacturing facilities in Kettering, Ohio, and Troy, Mich., that will produce the batteries in preparation for the 2003-04 automobile model years.

Texaco has a 20% interest in Energy Conversion Devices, which invented the batteries in the early 1990s.

Texaco shares fell 24 cents to close at $64.76 on the NYSE, and Troy, Mich.-based Energy Conversion rose 58 cents to close at $26.38 on Nasdaq.