Toyota Promotes Global Vehicle Electrification by Providing Nearly 24,000 Licenses Royalty-Free

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https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/27512455.html

Toyota City, Japan, April 3, 2019―With consideration for the amount of time, money and resources needed to develop sustainable mobility to help combat rising emissions and continuing to utilize currently available technology, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announced today two measures related to its patents and technical knowledge to further promote the widespread use of electrified vehicles.

First, Toyota announced that it will grant royalty-free licenses on nearly 24,000 patents it holds (including some pending applications) for vehicle electrification-related technologies. Second, Toyota will provide fee-based technical support to other manufacturers developing and selling electrified vehicles when they use Toyota's motors, batteries, PCUs, control ECUs, and other vehicle electrification system technologies as part of their powertrain systems.

Ultimately, by granting royalty-free patents and providing technical support on its vehicle electrification systems, Toyota aims to help further promote the widespread use of electrified vehicles, and in so doing, help governments, automakers, and society at large accomplish goals related to climate change.

"Based on the high volume of inquiries we receive about our vehicle electrification systems from companies that recognize a need to popularize hybrid and other electrified vehicle technologies, we believe that now is the time for cooperation," said Shigeki Terashi, Member of the Board and Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation. "If the number of electrified vehicles accelerates significantly in the next 10 years, they will become standard, and we hope to play a role in supporting that process."

The royalty-free patents are advanced technologies found in electrified vehicles, particularly those used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) that have helped Toyota realize enhanced performance, reduced size, and cost reductions. More specifically, the patents included are for parts and systems, such as electric motors, power control units (PCUs), and system controls. These are core technologies that can be applied to the development of various types of electrified vehicles including HEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). Together, Toyota will offer approximately 23,740 patents awarded over more than 20 years of electrified vehicle technology development. The grant period will start immediately and last through the end of 2030. Contracts for the grants may be issued by contacting Toyota and discussing specific licensing terms and conditions.

Toyota has already been offering 5,680 patents related to its fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) since January 2015. Now, Toyota is adding approximately 2,590 patents related to electric motors, 2,020 patents related to PCUs, 7,550 patents related to system controls, 1,320 engine transaxle patents, 2,200 charger patents, and 2,380 fuel cell patents (bringing the total of fuel cell related patents to 8,060).

As for the fee-based technical support Toyota will offer, specifics include providing overviews of vehicle electrification systems, control guides, and detailed explanations of tuning guides for vehicles that will utilize its systems. The guidance that Toyota will provide, for example, includes helping other automakers to achieve high-level product performance in terms of fuel efficiency, output, and quietness fit for the vehicles they are working to develop. The services will be contract-based. More details will be provided to interested parties.

By offering both royalty-free patents and technical support for electrified vehicles, Toyota sees an opportunity to encourage the development and market introduction of electrified vehicles around the world, something it has long considered a top-priority management issue based on its strong belief that environmentally-conscious vehicles will contribute to the fight against climate change only if they come into widespread use through reductions in CO2 emissions.

In 2015, Toyota identified targets to reduce its own emissions and established the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, a set of long-term action targets for sustainability, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions from its vehicles and plants, and in 2017, Toyota announced a sales plan for the proliferation of electrified vehicles covering the period through the end of 2030.

 

[Joaquin Ruhi]

A Reuters article on this news includes these notable excerpts:

...(Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki) Terashi said that the access excluded patents on its lithium-ion battery technology...

...“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...

...Lewis at Macquarie said automakers in China and Europe could be keen to access Toyota’s hybrid-vehicle patents as they look for lower-emission cars to sell in lower-tier cities where costly battery EVs are out of reach for many drivers.

Toyota is also betting on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) as the ultimate zero-emissions vehicle, and as a result, has lagged many of its rivals in marketing all-battery EVs.

In 2015, it said it would allow access to its FCV-related patents through 2020.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ccess-to-hybrid-vehicle-patents-idUSKCN1RE2KC

 

[flexus]

A Reuters article on this news includes these notable excerpts:



https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ccess-to-hybrid-vehicle-patents-idUSKCN1RE2KC

This is why Toyota contributes most to enviroment. Other companies are just for money including Tesla.

 

[Motor]

Toyota sees opportunities in leveraging hybrid tech

The head of Toyota's electric vehicle business said the automaker has received interest from more than 50 companies since announcing last week that it would offer free access to patents for EV motors and power control units.

Shigeki Terashi also said Toyota Motor Corp. aims to use partnerships to cut by as much as half the outlays for expanded electric and hybrid vehicle components production in the United States, China and Japan.

"Until now we have been a tier one automaker, but now we also intend to become a tier two supplier of hybrid systems," Toyota Executive Vice President Terashi said.

Supplying rivals would greatly expand the scale of production for hardware such as power control units and electric motors that are used in gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fully electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, he said.

Toyota last week outlined plans to offer automakers and auto suppliers royalty-free access to nearly 24,000 electrified vehicle technologies patented by the Japanese automaker.

In an interview on Thursday at Toyota's global headquarters in Toyota City, Japan, Terashi provided new details of Toyota's strategy, and its anticipated impact on the company's investment plans.

By offering to supply rival automakers with parts used in Toyota's gasoline-sipping hybrid vehicles, the Japanese automaker sees a way to slash capital outlay by roughly half for new plants required to build electric car components for future models, Terashi said.

"We believe that this approach will reduce investment costs significantly," he said.

Terashi said Toyota projects a surge in demand for electrified vehicles globally as regulators insist new vehicles emit substantially less carbon dioxide, and that working with Toyota would offer others a low-cost path to compliance.

Toyota's internal goal is to sell 5.5 million electrified, Toyota-brand vehicles annually by 2030, up from about 1.6 million vehicles now, he said.

Already, Terashi said, Toyota believes it could reach the 5.5 million target as early as 2025. The company is working on plans for a new round of capital spending to expand capacity for producing the hardware required.

By offering to supply electric vehicle hardware, and the know-how to integrate it into vehicles, Terashi said Toyota wants to reduce its capital outlay, and create a new source of revenue.

"We anticipate that there will probably be very few automakers who use our patents to develop their own hybrids from scratch, so by using our system and our components, and offering our support, we can work together to develop these cars," Terashi said.

In the last 20 years, Toyota has managed to dominate the global market for hybrid cars by constantly improving and lowering the cost of the technology it pioneered in the Prius - and keeping this expertise a closely guarded secret.

Toyota's new business foray underlines the challenges facing even the largest global automakers as they confront some of the most profound technological changes for automobiles in a century.

Toyota is now trying to take advantage of its lead in refining hybrid vehicles, even as it runs behind global rivals such as Volkswagen Group and Tesla in bringing full-electric vehicles to showrooms.

Since pioneering the Prius in 1997, Toyota has sold more than 13 million hybrids, which twin a conventional gasoline engine and electric motor, saving fuel by capturing energy during coasting and breaking and using it to power the motor.

Roughly 15 percent of Toyota's annual global sales are hybrids, including the Corolla and the RAV4. Last year it sold 1.6 million hybrids globally, more than the 1.3 million full-electric cars sold by Tesla, Nissan and all other automakers combined.

To meet the expected surge in hybrid demand, Terashi said he is planning to increase production capacity for hybrid components mainly by adding capacity at existing plants.

Toyota has initially courted its partner automakers. It already supplies the plug-in hybrid system for Subaru Corp's Crosstrek SUV crossover model, and last month Toyota announced that it would be a global supplier of hybrid systems to compact car maker Suzuki.

The success of the Prius has helped to brand Toyota as a maker of affordable, reliable green cars and has been key to the automaker's reputation as a leader in low-emissions vehicle technology.

Terashi brushed off the risk that Toyota could lose this edge by offering its hybrid technology to other automakers, arguing that it held a crucial, 20-year head start over its rivals.

"Even if an automaker is able to develop and produce a car using our systems and parts which complies with emissions regulations, its overall performance would never be the same as ours," he said.

https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/toyota-sees-opportunities-leveraging-hybrid-tech