Michigan’s attorney general filed an antitrust lawsuit against four major oil companies Friday, claiming they have colluded for decades to reduce production and distribution of renewable energy and electric vehicles.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in western Michigan and named BP (BP), Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Shell (SHEL), as well as the American Petroleum Institute, saying the group acted “as a cartel, agreeing to reduce the production and distribution of electricity from renewable sources and to restrain the emergence of electric vehicles and renewable primary energy technologies in the United States.”
The lawsuit suit noted that in the 1970s, Exxon (XOM) developed the first hybrid gas-electric vehicle technologies, publicly showed an electric motor integrated into a hybrid gas-electric propulsion system installed in a Chrysler Cordoba, and partnered with Toyota to develop a hybrid gas-electric vehicle using a Toyota Cressida chassis.
“But Exxon never marketed that innovative hybrid engine technology and consistently has deferred meaningful investment in its lithium-ion and graphite-based battery technologies for EVs,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleged Chevron (CVX) sought to delay a critical EV and battery technology known as nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries by acquiring patents to restrict their use in automobiles.