Automotive

Toyota offers free access to over 20 years of electric vehicle patents

Toyota offers free access to over 20 years of electric vehicle patents
Manufacturer are being given royalty-free access to almost 24,000 Toyota patents relating to vehicle electrification development
Manufacturer are being given royalty-free access to almost 24,000 Toyota patents relating to vehicle electrification development 
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Toyota is mainly allowing access to technology relating to the development of hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell electrics
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Toyota is mainly allowing access to technology relating to the development of hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell electrics
Manufacturer are being given royalty-free access to almost 24,000 Toyota patents relating to vehicle electrification development
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Manufacturer are being given royalty-free access to almost 24,000 Toyota patents relating to vehicle electrification development 
Toyota's royalty-free patent archive includes nearly 2,600 electric motor patents, 2,020 relating to power control units, 7,550 for system controls, 1,320 for engine transaxles, 2,200 for chargers, and the addition of 2,380 fuel cell patents to the 5,680 already available since 2015
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Toyota's royalty-free patent archive includes nearly 2,600 electric motor patents, 2,020 relating to power control units, 7,550 for system controls, 1,320 for engine transaxles, 2,200 for chargers, and the addition of 2,380 fuel cell patents to the 5,680 already available since 2015
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Almost 5 years after Elon Musk allowed other manufacturers access to Tesla patents without fear of legal action – effectively making them open source – Toyota has announced that it's opening up its vehicle electrification patent archive to help speed up the development and adoption of electric vehicles.

Research and development of electric vehicles is costly and time consuming, as startups like Faraday Future know only too well. Toyota wants to help, announcing that it will grant royalty-free licenses to other manufacturers for nearly 24,000 patents (including some pending applications) relating to vehicle electrification technologies.

The focus of the electric vehicle technology being opened up by Toyota is for hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell electrics rather than battery EVs, and represents patents registered over more than 20 years of research and development. That shapes up as nearly 2,600 electric motor patents, 2,020 relating to power control units, 7,550 for system controls, 1,320 for engine transaxles, 2,200 for chargers, and the addition of 2,380 fuel cell patents to the 5,680 already available since 2015.

The company will also offer technical support to vehicle manufacturers that make use of Toyota's motors, batteries, power control units, electronic control units and more – for a fee.

"Based on the high volume of inquiries we receive about our vehicle electrification systems from companies that recognize a need to popularize hybrid and other electrified vehicle technologies, we believe that now is the time for cooperation," said the firm's Shigeki Terashi. "If the number of electrified vehicles accelerates significantly in the next 10 years, they will become standard, and we hope to play a role in supporting that process."

Applications for access to the royalty-free patents are open now, with the doors remaining ajar until the end on 2030.

Source: Toyota

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5 comments
5 comments
ChairmanLMAO
When the oil cartel jugernaut cedes its monopoly by commiting suicide we will be free to develop water cars, run with EV vehicles and utilse hydrogen/oxygen boosters(HHO). But, thats not likely to happen. Ever. But thank you Tesla and now Toyota for at least pretending to try.
jerryd
So they want others to use obsolete tech? BEVs beat these by a large amount and most of the patents have either run out, obsolete or proved useless, thus this PR stunt. If Toyota wants to do something, give us decent EVs. Or get left behind.
piperTom
Huzzas to Elon Musk for starting this sharing and to Toyota for seeing the wisdom. Patents don't foster new tech; they limit progress. Onward!
Don Duncan
Patent rights are not rights, but the opposite. They forbid thinking, inventing, and innovation by the threat of initiation of violence. All gov knows how to do is initiate violence, threaten, and defraud (lie about their means and its result). This is rarely discussed but it should be challenged as immoral and impractical. Gov elite are not gods by virtue of being elected. They are human and as such should be subject to the same morality as we are. The evil that they do is presently made possible by a moral blank check as if being an authority (having a badge) gives them exceptional rights "we the people" don't have. This is just like the royalty/monarchy of old.
Altairtech
I came to comment, but everything has already been said by the four posters above, to which I agree totally. As long as the military/industrial complex is running things in the background, we will always be strictly limited in the development of advanced technologies.