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Ford's Deception; Claiming to open Plugin Patents to public

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by hill, Jun 3, 2015.

  1. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Trying to ride on Tesla's coat tails regarding (in eseence) opening up Tesla plug in patents -Ford claims to do the same thing. In fact - they lied, simply to look as chummy as Tesla;
    Ford Pretends To Open Up Its Patents Like Tesla, But Doesn't; Media Falls For It | Techdirt
    Ford Pretends To Open Up Its Patents Like Tesla, But Doesn't; Media Falls For It | Techdirt
    Hey ford ... thanks . . . . . for nothing.
    :D
    Not to be outdone - Toyota, similarly wanting to move their, "hopefully & maybe 10 years form now " hydrogen car project along - kind of does the same thing ... stating in essence,

    Toyota To Share Hydrogen Fuel Cell Patents - Forbes

    "hey we too, got hydrogen junk we'd love you to follow up on too !!! ..." No surprise . . . no one is taking them up on it. But at least their offer was sincere. I'm just wondering if the offer was an attempt to dilute the Tesla offer. Ok call me jaded ... but after Toyota started running anti plugin ads, it became hard to take their sincerity as sincere.
    .
     
    #1 hill, Jun 3, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2015
    Ashlem and telmo744 like this.
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Or to put it another way....

    -Chap
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Jun 3, 2015
    Ashlem, Tracksyde and ftl like this.
  3. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    I think in Toyota's case, they just want more automakers to jump on the hydrogen bandwagon, figuring that if enough of them sign up, then maybe fuel cell cars will become viable. And since almost every single one of them is cautious due to the uncertainty of fuel cell cars, Toyota is throwing the carrot out there, since they already did a lot of research into it.

    Whether any of them will take them up on the offer is another question though. You've still got the chicken and egg problem with hydrogen filling stations, and the cost of the hydrogen itself. Unless they manage to make it cheaper than regular gas and more fun to drive (the Mirai, for all its advances, still essentially drives like a Prius, which isn't seen as "cool" to many), I can't see why Joe and Jane public would be willing to buy FCV's when they barely take notice of EV's and hybrids right now.
     
    #3 Ashlem, Jun 5, 2015
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