LAS VEGAS: Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota has announced that it will offer its patents covering hydrogen fuel cell technology free of cost, including those developed for its new model Toyota Mirai, in order to encourage the manufacture of vehicles having such technology.
The company made the announcement in Las Vegas Monday, the eve of the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where the automobile industry is increasingly making its presence felt with the incorporation of electronic devices in cars.
Toyota is going to offer approximately 5,680 patents related to hydrogen fuel cells, most of them concerning software that controls these cells.
The patents will be available to automobile companies that produce and sell cars having this technology, fuel companies having a chain of service stations and manufacturers of fuel cell components.
The patents will be offered royalty-free until 2020 and will not be available for any other purpose, although each request for permission will be individually looked into.
In return, Toyota wants other companies to share their hydrogen fuel cell patents, though it is not a precondition.
"The first generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, launched between 2015 and 2020, will be critical, requiring a concerted effort and unconventional collaboration," Robert Carter, Toyota Motor Sales USA's senior vice president of automotive operations, said in a statement.
The prototype Toyota Mirai was launched in the Japanese market in December and is expected to reach the US and Europe in the second half of this year.
However, the number of cars to be manufactured in 2015 would be limited to 700 units, of which 400 would be for the Japanese market.
These cars would be hydrogen-propelled and each one would cost around $60,000.