Yesterday, Tesla Motors opened up all its patents to its competitors in an effort to accelerate the creation and adoption of electric vehicles around the world. As Tesla puts it:

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 patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

Tesla has one of the most successful electric vehicles in the Model S and has raised the bar on what an electric vehicle should and can be.  The Model S has a 300 mile range, far greater than any other mass produced electric vehicle on the market today.  In addition, the vehicle can be charged faster than most other electric vehicles using Tesla’s Supercharger network.

Hundreds of patents are going to be released by Tesla including those related to their fast charging system. When asked what Tesla’s shareholders will think of the patent release Tesla CEO Elon Musk downplayed the importance of owning patents saying it was more important for a company to be innovating than pursuing lawsuits against other companies doing similar things.

The opening up of patents is new territory for an automobile company and we here at RedlineNorth hopes this does indeed lead to further acceleration of electric vehicle development and adoption.

You can read the full text of Musk’s blog post on the subject.