Toyota to Share Hybrid Vehicles Patents and Secrets for Free with the World

Toyota announced on Wednesday, April 3 that it will offer royalty-free access to its hybrid vehicle technology patents as well as secrets until the year 2030. Japan’s largest automaker and one of the world’s most powerful car companies will permit licenses for almost 24,000 patented technologies relating to vehicle motors, power converters, and power batteries. Before this announcement, Toyota opened up its patents for hydrogen-fueled vehicles four years ago back in 2015.

This announcement comes at a time where private companies such as Toyota see hybrid vehicles as well as electric vehicles a short-term potential solutions to reducing air pollution as well as the effects of man-made climate change all over the world. Also, car companies in highly developed and industrializing countries such as China and India may take advantage of Toyota’s opening up of its patents in order to compete in the global hybrid and electric vehicle markets.

Developed countries across the world are already making serious efforts to put more renewable energy powered vehicles on their own roads. Countries such as Taiwan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Ireland, and Norway are already planning to phase out the sales, imports, and exports of any non-renewable energy powered vehicles between the 2020s and 2050s.