Ford Motor Company announced on its website Thursday that it will open its portfolio of electric vehicle technology patents to competitive automakers in an effort to accelerate industry-wide research and development of electric vehicles.
Method and apparatus for battery charge balancing, temperature dependent regenerative brake system for electric vehicle, and driving behavior feedback interface are among the hundreds of patents for electric vehicles Ford will release.
“Innovation is our goal,” said Kevin Layden, director of Ford’s electrification programs in a statement, adding “The way to provide the best technology is through constant development and progress. By sharing our research with other companies, we will accelerate the growth of electrified vehicle technology and deliver even better products to customers.”
Ford said it is set to hire an additional 200 electric vehicle engineers this year.
Ford offers six hybrid or fully electrified vehicles at present. In total, Ford has more than 650 electric vehicle patents and approximately 1,000 pending patent applications on electric vehicle technologies. It filed for 400-plus electric vehicle patents in 2014, more than 20 percent of the total patents the automaker applied last year.
In June 2014, Tesla opened its patents to help boost the development of electric vehicles.
