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Toyota Will Share 23,740 Hybrid Vehicle Patents For Free (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters:
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp will offer free access to its hybrid-vehicle patents through 2030, it said on Wednesday, seeking to expand use of the lower-emission technology even as the global industry shifts toward fully electric cars. The pledge by one of the world's biggest automakers to share its closely guarded patents, the second time it has opened up a technology, is aimed at driving industry uptake of hybrids and fending off the challenge of all-battery electric vehicles (EVs).
Toyota said it would grant licenses on nearly 24,000 patents on technologies used in its Prius, the world's first mass-produced "green" car, and offer to supply competitors with components including motors, power converters and batteries used in its lower-emissions vehicles... Toyota's move to unlock its patents underlines its belief that hybrids are an effective alternative to all-battery EVs, given a fuel efficiency roughly double that of gasoline cars, lower cost and that they do not need charging infrastructure. Toyota vehicles account for more than 80 percent of the global hybrid vehicle market. "Toyota has realized that they made a mistake by protecting their hybrid technology for years. This prevented diffusion" said Janet Lewis, head of Asia transportation research at Macquarie Securities.
"Toyota on its own can't get key technology accepted, but if other companies use it, that offers the best chance of expansion," she added.
The article notes statistics from LMC Automotive that hybrid vehicles "account for around 3 percent of all vehicles sold globally, eclipsing the roughly 1.5 percent share of all-battery EVs."
Shigeki Terashi, Executive Vice President of Toyota, said, "we believe that now is the time for cooperation."
Toyota said it would grant licenses on nearly 24,000 patents on technologies used in its Prius, the world's first mass-produced "green" car, and offer to supply competitors with components including motors, power converters and batteries used in its lower-emissions vehicles... Toyota's move to unlock its patents underlines its belief that hybrids are an effective alternative to all-battery EVs, given a fuel efficiency roughly double that of gasoline cars, lower cost and that they do not need charging infrastructure. Toyota vehicles account for more than 80 percent of the global hybrid vehicle market. "Toyota has realized that they made a mistake by protecting their hybrid technology for years. This prevented diffusion" said Janet Lewis, head of Asia transportation research at Macquarie Securities.
"Toyota on its own can't get key technology accepted, but if other companies use it, that offers the best chance of expansion," she added.
The article notes statistics from LMC Automotive that hybrid vehicles "account for around 3 percent of all vehicles sold globally, eclipsing the roughly 1.5 percent share of all-battery EVs."
Shigeki Terashi, Executive Vice President of Toyota, said, "we believe that now is the time for cooperation."
They are doing this to try to prolong the production of hybrid vehicles before everyone moves over to EVs. You can see it in their advertising too, attacking EVs directly with nonsense like "self charging hybrids" (aka fossil burners, the last efficient and most polluting way to generate electricity).
They missed the boat on EVs and now all the patents are divided up between Nissan/Renault, Hyundai/Kia and the Chinese. Europe has some too, mostly around the CCS standard that was invented because it's not CHAdeMO.
It's actually a huge crisis in Japan. Their automotive industry is heavily invested in hybrid tech and needs to pivot hard, but mostly lacks experience and patent portfolios. Also they spent a lot of money on hybrid R&D which looks like it will only be valuable for another decade or two tops so before the bulk of sales are EV.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Toyota's move to unlock its patents underlines its belief that hybrids are an effective alternative to all-battery EVs, given a fuel efficiency roughly double that of gasoline cars, lower cost and that they do not need charging infrastructure.
Sounds to me like it underlines their belief that hybrids have no place in a future made almost entirely of EVs, so they've done the math and realized that there's no sense in clinging to patents that don't have a future. Better to cash in now by giving the patents away and making some money on the component/part purchases they'll receive during the shrinking window in which those patents remain relevant.