Toyota Giving Away 1,000s Of Fuel Cell Patents

The Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will go on sale in the U.S. by mid-2015. Toyota officials announced during a news conference at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early-January that they will give free access to nearly 6,000 different patents covering advanced fuel cell technology to the company’s competitors.

Toyota begins production of its new Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle this year. Though the Japanese giant was an early pioneer in the use of hybrid powertrain technology it has largely turned its corporate back on more advanced electric vehicles, betting that hydrogen provides a better way to meet the need for zero-emissions vehicles.

The new Toyota Mirai will deliver as 300 miles on a tank of compressed hydrogen, about triple the range of the lithium-ion-powered Toyota RAV4-EV, and filling up will take about five minutes, a fraction of the time needed to recharge batteries.

That’s not to say there aren’t problems with hydrogen power. The Mirai will be even more expensive than many comparable battery cars, Toyota planning to charge $57,000 for the futuristic looking sedan when it goes on sale in the U.S. later this year.

The bigger issue is the lack of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure. While there are electric outlets everywhere – if not high-speed chargers – there currently are only a handle of places where a Mirai could be refueled, almost all of those in Southern California.

The energy industry is reluctant to invest in hydrogen production and distribution unless and until there’s enough of a base of users. California lawmakers have set aside funds that could create a statewide network of hydrogen pumps, and Toyota – as well as competitor Honda Motor Co. – is investing its own cash to help set up still more outlets for the lightweight gaseous fuel.

The need to reach the tipping point, with enough fuel-cell vehicles on the road to make the technology viable, is why Toyota decided to license for free an estimated 5,680 patents covering fuel-cell vehicle technology, along with another seventy for refueling stations.

Along with Toyota, Honda plans to launch its own fuel-cell vehicle, the FCV, in 2016. Hyundai introduced a hydrogen version of its own Tucson model in mid-2014. Mercedes-Benz and General Motors are among the other manufacturers also expected to enter the market this decade.

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