AD&P; > February 2015 > NOTABLE
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Toyota, Hydrogen & the Network
Metcalfe's Law is a phenomenon of the networking
world. Essentially, it says that the value of a network is
proportional to the square of the number of connected
users.
Simply put: If I have a phone and no one else does, that's
not a particularly valuable thing. But as the number of
people with phones grows, the value of my phone (value
in this case being based on the ability to call x number of
people) grows, as well.
This sort of thinking may be behind Toyota's announcement at
the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Bob Carter, Senior
Vice President - Automotive Operations, Toyota Motor Sales,
U.S.A., Inc., stated in a speech, "As of today, Toyota solely
owns approximately 5,680 hydrogen-fuel-cell-related global
patents, some still pending."
This is a consequence of Toyota
working on fuel-cell technology for
more than 20 years. Evidence of that
work takes the form of the Mirai,
which will be launched in the U.S.
later this year. The Mirai is powered
by hydrogen.
Carter continued, "But for all we have
accomplished over more than two
decades of R&D; we are really only at
the starting gate with consumers."
And the company will be for some
time, as the total production of
the Mirai this year will be about
700 units. To put that number in
perspective, realize that Toyota
delivered 428,455 Camrys in 2014.
Figure that there are 260 working
days in a year. Based on that, there
could be 1,648 Camrys produced in a
day—more than double the number of
Mirais projected for the year.
Back to Carter:
"That's why I am happy and proud
to announce that Toyota will grant
royalty-free use of all 5,680 of
its solely owned fuel cell patents
including pending applications.
Toyota will allow the use of these
patents by companies manufacturing
and selling fuel cell vehicles through
the initial market introduction period
which is anticipated to continue
through 2020.
"This initiative will include patents