Ford opens access to electric vehicle IP, for a fee

Ford has joined Toyota in opening its portfolio of patented technologies for electric vehicles to outside developers in a move which it states will help accelerate development in the field. The company has over 650 patents in the electric vehicles sector, with around 1000 pending applications.

Ford has six hybrid or fully electric vehicles in its portfolio: the Focus Electric, Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, C-MAX hybrid, C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid and Lincoln MKZ hybrid. Its patented technologies include the first system to allow charge balancing at any point, rather than just when charging; the company claims this was the first technology to allow use of lithium-ion cells in cars. It also has a system to maximise energy recovered through braking, by improving the interplay between friction braking and regenerative braking at certain air temperatures; and a driving behaviour feedback interface, which monitors braking and accelerating and uses data to inform the driver how best to maximise charge or fuel consumption.