Ford To Licence EV Patents To Rivals

Ford is taking a leaf out of Tesla’s playbook, revealing this week that it will make its patents on electric vehicle technology available to all-comers.

The news follows an announcement from Tesla founder Elon Musk in June last year, declaring that a wall of patents at the company’s headquarters had been cleared off “in the spirit of the open source movement”.

Some months later, Toyota announced that it too would share a number of key technology patents, specifically those related to hydrogen fuel-cell systems.

Toyota’s offer comes with an expiry date, however, with the global giant confirming that rivals will have until 2020 to make the most of its 5600 patents on hydrogen technology.

But, while Tesla and Toyota will make their patented research available to any and all interested parties for free, Ford will make its patents available for an undisclosed fee.

“To access Ford’s patents and published patent applications, interested parties can contact the company’s technology commercialization and licensing office, or work through AutoHarvest - an automaker collaborative innovation and licensing marketplace,” the company said in a statement today.

Ford is a founding member of AutoHarvest, which means that while it is prepared to share its discoveries with rivals keen to enter the EV market or build on their existing technologies, it will not be passing on the opportunity for profit.

Ford says it has more than 650 patents on electric vehicle technology, along with a further 1000 patent applications.

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