Tesla gives away its electric car secrets for free

Tesla

Elon Musk, the CEO of the pioneering electric carmaker Tesla, has announced that the company is to "open source" all its technology patents in order to speed up the progress of electric car development.

In an extraordinary press statement entitled 'All our patents are belong to you' – a reference to online memes and gaming culture, in case you were wondering – Musk has categorically stated that Tesla will not challenge any company that takes advantage of its technology when building rival electric cars.
 

Having recently reviewed the Tesla Model S, this sounds great news for the future of the electric car, but commercial suicide for Tesla as a business. But Musk is determined not to let his company’s lead stand in the way of progress, saying:

"Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate lawsuits against anyone, who in good faith, wants to use our technology."
 

Elon Musk: "We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly evolving technology platform"

Going further, he also expressed frustration at the pace of electric vehicle change within the car industry establishment:

"At Tesla… we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla, We couldn’t have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales."
 

Tesla

Adding that it was impossible for Tesla alone to "build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis", Musk is clearly hoping that this move will spur the electric car market into much more radical action.

"Our competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories today."
 

While there appears to be a genuinely altruistic element to this unprecedented move by Tesla, Musk also clearly believes that the company has made its presence felt enough to remain a serious player in the electric car market.

"We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly evolving technology platform.

"Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard."

Over to you, rest of the car industry…
 

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By CJ Hubbard, Motoring Research