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Toyota opens fuel cell patents to drive "hydrogen society"

  

Category:  Alternative Energy

Via:  hal-a-lujah  •  9 years ago  •  19 comments

Toyota opens fuel cell patents to drive "hydrogen society"

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Toyota is serious about hydrogen fuel cell technology. It's so serious that it's not only welcoming competition, it's helping it. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the automaker announced that it will open more than 5,500 fuel cell patents and provide royalty-free licenses to other automakers and entities.

Upon walking into Toyota's CES press conference, the shimmering Mirai under the hard conference room lighting suggested that it might just be a rehashing of the details we already learned at November's LA Auto Show . Instead, Toyota used the Mirai as a jumping off point for what it terms the "hydrogen future."

"We're leaving the age of hydrocarbons and entering the age of hydrogen to create a hydrogen non-polluting society," physicist, futurist and author Dr. Michio Kaku said from Toyota's dais. "Seventy-five percent of the universe is made out of hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most plentiful substance in the universe. Contrast that now to oil, black gold, one of the rarest of substances on the Planet Earth. Nations will kill to secure supplies of oil. Oil is found perhaps in the most dangerous, volatile, unstable areas of the Planet Earth."

Toyota hopes to help jumpstart this future hydrogen society by sharing its intellectual property. This week's announcement represents the first time that it's sharing patents free of charge. The automaker helped to grow the gas-electric hybrid market in a similar manner, but those licensed technologies didn't come free.

"At Toyota, we believe that when good ideas are shared, great things can happen," said Bob Carter, senior VP of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. "The first generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, launched between 2015 and 2020, will be critical, requiring a concerted effort and unconventional collaboration between automakers, government regulators, academia and energy providers. By eliminating traditional corporate boundaries, we can speed the development of new technologies and move into the future of mobility more quickly, effectively and economically."

The approximately 5,680 total global patents break down into roughly 3,350 fuel cell system software control patents, 1,970 fuel cell stack-related patents, 290 high-pressure hydrogen tank patents, and 70 hydrogen production and supply patents. They will be made available to fuel cell vehicle manufacturers, fuel cell parts suppliers, and hydrogen fueling station companies through an initial market introduction period that Toyota expects to run until 2020. Toyota will consider requests from outside the transportation sector on a case by case basis.

Last year, Tesla announced a similar move, opening its EV patents to the competition. .


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Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
"Seventy-five percent of the universe is made out of hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most plentiful substance in the universe. Contrast that now to oil, black gold, one of the rarest of substances on the Planet Earth. Nations will kill to secure supplies of oil. Oil is found perhaps in the most dangerous, volatile, unstable areas of the Planet Earth."
 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
link   Kavika     9 years ago

Great news, I hope that they are successful in short order.

 
 
 
Dowser
Sophomore Quiet
link   Dowser    9 years ago

Me, too!

 
 
 
Cerenkov
Professor Silent
link   Cerenkov    9 years ago
Unfortunately, free hydrogen does not exist in practical terrestrial quantities. It takes energy to free H2.
 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
This is true, but hydrogen is a byproduct of other industrial processes. The salvage value is impressive.
 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
Unfortunately, hydrogen isn't sold at gas stations. Not sure where they plan to fill up at.
 
 
 
Petey Coober
Freshman Silent
link   Petey Coober    9 years ago

futurist and author Dr. Michio Kaku

is a publicity whore and not worth listening to . Not surprisingly the seeder of this crap does not realize that .

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
I thought you were too principled to comment on my seeds? Don't worry though, I won't run to Sixpick and beg him to remove your insults.
 
 
 
Petey Coober
Freshman Silent
link   Petey Coober    9 years ago

That wasn't an insult ... just fact . But don't cry about your lack of understanding . There is no correcting someone who thinks he's got all the answers ...

 
 
 
Miss_Construed
Freshman Silent
link   Miss_Construed    9 years ago

I think the fueling station aspect is why they are sharing. There will be no way to market until there is significant investment in the infrastructure required to sell hydrogen at pumps with the same convenience as gasoline is sold.

So maybe if they free up the investment on the IP end, they can coax other market players to help start infra-structuring the equipment for energy supply.

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
It is a "fact" that someone "is not worth listening to". Do ever ever think about anything you ever write? You make a statement like that, about someone in the industry who clearly has a following (as opposed to you), and then you mock ME for thinking I have all the answers? Lol. I'm sure the hydrogen fuel cell industry is hanging on your every word.
 
 
 
Petey Coober
Freshman Silent
link   Petey Coober    9 years ago

Feel free to waste your own time reading Dr. Kaku . But wasting other readers time on Dr. "Kaka" is inexcusable ...

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
That's a big part of the reason why hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles are currently limited to mass public transportation and fleet vehicles that all return to a central facility every day.
 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
Feel free to stop wasting your time here then, genius.
 
 
 
Petey Coober
Freshman Silent
link   Petey Coober    9 years ago

Done ... But I will leave with this warning to the other readers of your garbage : Don't listen to this fool !

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
Dr. Michio Kaku has excellent credentials, is world reknown, and has appeared in countless scientific journals, films, and public speaking engagements. You may as well lump Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, and Stephen Hawking in with your idea of "fools".
 
 
 
Cerenkov
Professor Silent
link   Cerenkov    9 years ago
I've seen plans where the waste heat from turbines (nuclear or gas) can be used to crack water.
 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
link   seeder  Hal A. Lujah    9 years ago
Sounds like a great idea for the fracking and refinery industry to diversify into, instead of bleeding off all that waste into the atmosphere.
 
 
 
Cerenkov
Professor Silent
link   Cerenkov    9 years ago
Multiple speaking gigs is no indication of wisdom.
 
 

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