Keeping with a trend in the nascent alternative fuel vehicle industry, Ford Motor Company has announced that it is making its electric car patents available to other manufacturers to help them enter the industry.
However, unlike Tesla and Toyota, which opened up their patents for electric cars and fuel cell vehicles for free, Ford plans to license its patents for "hundreds and thousands of dollars," depending on the technology.
"We're proud of the work that we do," a Ford spokesperson told the Financial Times in defense of the company's decision to charge for access to its patents. "From the research we've conducted already, we feel that licensing is appropriate."
Ford currently owns 650 patents pertaining to electric vehicle technology, and another 1,000 are pending approval. Some of its patented technologies include a battery charge balancing method and apparatus that can be used anytime instead of while the car is charging, a regenerative braking system and a driver feedback interface.
Anyone interested in accessing Ford's patents can contact the company's licensing office or work with AutoHarvest, an auto industry collaborative foundation backed by Ford, General Motors, FCA and Hyundai, and pay the "reasonably priced" fees to use Ford's technologies.
This is not the first time Ford has opened its own patents for licensing. The Michigan-based car manufacturer, along with its rivals, has worked with AutoHarvest in the past to collect fees from other parties that would like to apply its patents. The only time that Ford opened a patent without charging a fee was for its soy-based foam seating.
One analyst believes that Ford's move has more to do with keeping the electric vehicle industry ahead of fuel cells. Earlier this year, Toyota took a page from Elon Musk's playbook and opened up more than 5,600 fuel cell vehicle patents in a bid to encourage car makers to develop vehicles running on hydrogen.
"I think this has a lot to do with what is going on in the alternative fuel vehicle market," said James Love, a patent attorney in Washington D.C.
Still, Ford insists "innovation is our goal."
"The way to provide the best technology is through constant development and progress," said Kevin Layden, director of Ford Electrification Programs. "By sharing our research with other companies, we will accelerate the growth of electrical vehicle technology and deliver even better products to customers."
Ford currently offers six vehicles running on hybrid gas-electric engines, namely the Ford Focus Electric, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Ford Fusion Energi, Ford C-MAX Hybrid, Ford C-MAX Energi and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.
