As I wrote about a few days ago, Tesla recently opened up all of its patents to the market, stating that it wanted its competitors to use them to move the field of electric car technology forward. This sounds extremely noble and altruistic, but is it possible Tesla has some other motives? In Elon Musk's words Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” This, however, begs the question, what exactly does "in good faith" mean?
I believe Tesla has other motives for wanting to open up their patents. Namely, it is in Tesla's best interest to see as many electric cars on the market as possible, because more electric cars means wider adoption and implementation of the super-chargers that Tesla believes are necessary for their vehicles to become popular around the country. One big hurdle currently facing Tesla is that there are not that many charging stations located around the country, which is a serious detriment to anyone looking to drive their Tesla farther than a few hundred miles from home. With other, larger companies getting in on the electric car market, Elon Musk hopes they will help him in the building of these super-chargers, thereby making electric cars far more widespread.
There is an additional component to this. Tesla is currently by far the leader in terms of electric car battery technology. I believe that Tesla is confident that they will maintain this lead, as they have already established themselves as a company that makes an extremely high quality product. Therefore, they don't see a significant threat to sharing their technology with other companies because they already have a huge head start, both in brand-recognition in the EV market as well as in quality of product.
Sure, all of these things may have positive impacts on global climate pollution and on reduction of green house gases, but ultimately, Tesla, like all other corporations in a capitalist market, has to take care of its bottom line first. It is an extremely admirable move because they have found a way to maximize their profits while benefitting the world as a whole. I can't wait until Tesla releases an affordable vehicle that I believe will dominate US markets and return the United States to the top spot in international automobile production.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-12/why-elon-musk-just-opened-teslas-patents-to-his-biggest-rivals
I believe Tesla has other motives for wanting to open up their patents. Namely, it is in Tesla's best interest to see as many electric cars on the market as possible, because more electric cars means wider adoption and implementation of the super-chargers that Tesla believes are necessary for their vehicles to become popular around the country. One big hurdle currently facing Tesla is that there are not that many charging stations located around the country, which is a serious detriment to anyone looking to drive their Tesla farther than a few hundred miles from home. With other, larger companies getting in on the electric car market, Elon Musk hopes they will help him in the building of these super-chargers, thereby making electric cars far more widespread.
There is an additional component to this. Tesla is currently by far the leader in terms of electric car battery technology. I believe that Tesla is confident that they will maintain this lead, as they have already established themselves as a company that makes an extremely high quality product. Therefore, they don't see a significant threat to sharing their technology with other companies because they already have a huge head start, both in brand-recognition in the EV market as well as in quality of product.
Sure, all of these things may have positive impacts on global climate pollution and on reduction of green house gases, but ultimately, Tesla, like all other corporations in a capitalist market, has to take care of its bottom line first. It is an extremely admirable move because they have found a way to maximize their profits while benefitting the world as a whole. I can't wait until Tesla releases an affordable vehicle that I believe will dominate US markets and return the United States to the top spot in international automobile production.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-12/why-elon-musk-just-opened-teslas-patents-to-his-biggest-rivals
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