► Toyota’s patent sharing
► Licencing hybrid tech
► Royalty-free until 2030
Toyota has released almost 24,000 patents into the wild for other car manufacturers to use, royalty-free.
Those patents surround electrification and fuel cell technology and include componentry like motors and battery designs, control ECUs and more.
Why? Because Toyota wants to help push forward electrification that little bit faster and, while loads of car brands are busy developing their own electrified cars and systems, Toyota hopes that releasing these patents will help speed up the process. Given that it has been developing hybrids, plug-ins and hydrogen fuel cell cars for around 20 years, it does have a wealth of usable experience.
While Toyota says that use of the patents will be royalty-free, the brand will charge for ‘technical support’ on a contract basis. It will assist those who have been granted licences by providing info like control guides and tuning guides for specific vehicle designs.
There have already been around 5,680 patents available to use related to fuel cell tech since 2015, but Toyota has added:
- 2590 electric motor patents
- 2020 power control unit patents
- 7550 system control patents
- 1320 engine transaxle patents
- 2200 charger patents
- 2380 more fuel cell patents
There’s a time limit on applying, though. While the grant period starts now, it ends in 2030. Which, in fairness, is quite a long time. Those interested will have to get asking if they want more details.
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