Toyota has invested 100 billion yuan, but it is difficult to recover 70% of the patentsZhang Nan complained about the predicament
According to relevant data, in 2022, China's car sales surpassed Germany to become the world's second largest car exporter after Japan. China's total vehicle exports totaled 3.4 million units, surpassing Japan and Germany. From this, it is easy to conclude that China has become the world's largest car manufacturer.
However, it is worth mentioning that the share of new energy vehicles in China's auto exports is gradually rising to 24%, which means that China's development in the field of traditional fuel vehicles is much faster than that of Japan, Germany, and the United States.
China and the United States have been considered"Ahead of the curve"South Korea has quite good battery technology and occupies a large share and influence in the battery market.
At the same time, people also want to know that Japan and Germany are two"An old powerhouse"Why did its automobile production begin to decline, could it be that it could not keep up with the industrial technology of the times, so it fell behind?
Not long ago, Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota (Toyota) and chairman of the Japan Association of Manufacturers, publicly declared that they have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the research and development of hydrogen energy vehicles, and have mastered more than 70% of the patents in the field of hydrogen energy vehicles, but have never charged a penny of patent royalties!
This will surely raise the question of why these companies own 70% of the patents in the industry and charge very little royaltiesIs it because U.S. companies don't have to pay for Toyota's patents?This is not the case, as only very few companies will use these patents.
Electric vehicles are the main direction of the current development of new energy vehicles. In fact, more than one car company is developing hydrogen energy vehicles, and even Japanese car manufacturers are stepping up research and development and delivery"Swear"Ground on electric vehicles.
At the G7 meeting in April, Octopus, in its capacity as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, joined many prominent Japanese automakers such as Suzuki, Isuzu, and Yamaha in reiterating its opposition to fully electric vehicles. Toyota was in the book "Octopus" some time ago, and again"Heavy hand"for electric vehicles.
Toyota said Toyota's resistance to electric vehicles was right, and people finally realized "the actual importance of the technology" and that Japanese cars had to get ahead of the car market.
However, according to relevant news, Toyota itself has gradually increased its share of the electric vehicle market: Toyota plans to produce 150,000, 190,000 and 600,000 electric vehicles by 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively.
The reason why Toyota, Yamaha, and other automakers in Japan are reluctant to electric vehicles is because of the competition between hydrogen fuel vehicles and electric vehicles.
Japan as the automotive industry"An old powerhouse"The automobile industry has always been an important pillar industry in Japan, and in fact, Japan has a very strict plan for the development of the automobile industry. In the nineties of the 20th century, Japan put forward a plan to achieve modernization, and conducted in-depth research on it.
But at that time, Japan did not choose electric vehicles, but hydrogen vehicles. Hydrogen-powered vehicles have many advantages such as high fuel environmental protection, good safety performance, and long battery life. From Japan's point of view, hydrogen-powered vehicles are a new type of energy vehicles integrating hydrogen combustion, water and energy, and have broad application prospects. This reform mainly focuses on transmission clutch and engine technology, and conducts in-depth research on hydrogen vehicles.
By 2013, Japan will basically be able to form a complete hydrogen energy vehicle industry chain. Japan will use hydrogen-fueled vehicles as the only alternative. It can be seen that the speed of development of hydrogen-powered vehicles in Japan is indeed fast, but it is too much"Focus", too"Focus", so Japan missed out on the development of electric vehicles.
In fact, Toyota holds 70% of the patents in hydrogen vehicles, said Akio Toyoda. The remaining 30% are basically in the hands of Japanese car companies, and it can be said that Japan's hydrogen vehicle technology is basically in their hands. However, Japan has not invested much in R&D for the production and transportation of hydrogen energy, and intends to leave this part to others.
Some industry experts say it is clear that Japan's approach will lead other countries to abandon the use of hydrogen vehicles and choose another path. After all, the hydrogen-powered vehicle industry in the United States, Germany and other countries has been on a par with Japan, but China still needs to continue to conduct research on engines and transmissions in the development of hydrogen energy vehicles.
In addition, Japan also holds a large number of patents for hydrogen vehicles, and has begun to charge for patents. You have to understand that the higher the royalty, the less profit there is, and other businesses will avoid using patented technology.
This move by Japan had a negative impact on the electric vehicle market in China, the United States, Europe, and Japan at that time"Dumbfounded", you know, Japan has thrown so much money on hydrogen energy vehicles, and now these car countries are also"Don't play anymore", the money invested by Japan is equivalent to a waste. That money was basically squandered.
The development is inseparable from supporting facilities, such as charging stations and so on. If other countries do not engage in hydrogen vehicles, there will definitely be no supporting facilities, and it is difficult for the market to accept, which is a very difficult thing. If Japan concentrates on the domestic market, it will be difficult to meet the needs of Japanese automakers, because the Japanese market is so big.
Today, while other countries have yet to develop hydrogen-powered vehicles, Japan's automakers are in a difficult situation. If you continue to develop hydrogen-powered cars, it will be a waste of time, and if you change to electric vehicles, then the previous investment will be wasted, and more money must be invested to keep up.
Relevant data show that the total global car sales in 2022 will be 72.62 million units, an increase of 3 over the same period last year2%, of which 28.08 million units were sold in China, an increase of 44%, accounting for about 25% of the global market share. In China, 775,000 electric vehicles were sold, an increase of 54 percent from the same period last year4%。
It is easy to see from the above data the importance of the Chinese market to automakers, but the rapid growth of electric vehicle sales in China has offset the sales of traditional fuel vehicles that are almost non-existent in the Chinese market.
There is no doubt that Japan is on the wrong path in developing hydrogen vehicles, and Japan is too much"Greed"It is also one of the reasons.