Jan 06, 2015 |
Toyota to give away fuel-cell patents to boost industry
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(Nanowerk News) Toyota will give away thousands of patents for its fuel-cell cars, it said Tuesday, in an effort to encourage other automakers into the new industry.
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The world's largest vehicle maker said it will allow royalty-free use of about 5,680 patent licences, including 1,970 related to fuel-cell stacks and 3,350 concerning fuel-cell system control technology.
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The firm also said the free patent licences will include about 290 items related to high-pressure hydrogen tanks.
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The cost-free licences will be allowed "through the initial market introduction period" of fuel cell vehicles (FCV), which the company expects to last until about 2020.
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A man refuels Toyota Motor's fuel cell vehicle "Mirai" at a hydrogen station in Tokyo. (Image: AFP/File Yoshikazu Tsuno)
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Toyota will also open about 70 patent licences related to hydrogen stations -- the equivalent of gas stands for internal combustion vehicles, and a vital link in the chain for drivers -- indefinitely for manufacturers and operators.
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"By allowing royalty-free use of FCV-related patent licences, Toyota is going one step further as it aims to promote the widespread use of FCVs and actively contribute to the realisation of a hydrogen-based society," the automaker said in a statement.
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The announcement came after Toyota last month rolled out the world's first mass market fuel-cell car -- the four-door Mirai sedan -- in Japan.
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The car -- whose name means "future" in Japanese -- will hit the US and some European countries, including Britain, Germany and Denmark, in 2015, Toyota has said.
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It hopes to sell more than 3,000 units of the car by the end of 2017 in the United States, and up to 100 annually in Europe.
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Fuel-cell cars are seen as the Holy Grail of green cars as they are powered by a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which produces nothing more harmful than water at the point of use.
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But a limited driving range and lack of refuelling stations have hampered development of fuel-cell and their cousin, all-electric cars, which environmentalists say could play a vital role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming.
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The Mirai can travel about 650 kilometres (400 miles) without refuelling, some three times further than an electric car, and its tank can be filled in a few minutes like gasoline engine vehicles, according to Toyota.
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