A man
refuels Toyota Motor's fuel cell vehicle "Mirai" at a hydrogen
station
in Tokyo on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)
|
Tokyo (AFP)
- Toyota will give away thousands of patents for its fuel-cell cars, it said
Tuesday, in an effort to encourage other automakers into the new industry.
The world's
largest vehicle maker said it will allow royalty-free use of about 5,680 patent
licences, including 1,970 related to fuel-cell stacks and 3,350 concerning
fuel-cell system control technology.
The firm
also said the free patent licences will include about 290 items related to
high-pressure hydrogen tanks.
Japanese
auto giant Toyota Motor's fuel
cell vehicle "Mirai" is displayed in
Tokyo
on November 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/
Yoshikazu Tsuno)
|
Toyota will
also open about 70 patent licences related to hydrogen stations -- the
equivalent of gas stands for internal combustion vehicles, and a vital link in
the chain for drivers -- indefinitely for manufacturers and operators.
"By
allowing royalty-free use of FCV-related patent licences, Toyota is going one
step further as it aims to promote the widespread use of FCVs and actively
contribute to the realisation of a hydrogen-based society," the automaker
said in a statement.
The
announcement came after Toyota last month rolled out the world's first mass
market fuel-cell car -- the four-door Mirai sedan -- in Japan.
The car --
whose name means "future" in Japanese -- will hit the US and some
European countries, including Britain, Germany and Denmark, in 2015, Toyota has
said.
It hopes to
sell more than 3,000 units of the car by the end of 2017 in the United States,
and up to 100 annually in Europe.
Fuel-cell
cars are seen as the Holy Grail of green cars as they are powered by a chemical
reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which produces nothing more harmful than water
at the point of use.
But a
limited driving range and lack of refuelling stations have hampered development
of fuel-cell and their cousin, all-electric cars, which environmentalists say
could play a vital role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global
warming.
The Mirai
can travel about 650 kilometres (400 miles) without refuelling, some three
times further than an electric car, and its tank can be filled in a few minutes
like gasoline engine vehicles, according to Toyota.
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