Tesla delivered the primary Cybertrucks yesterday, and with that supply occasion got here the revelation that with a view to get the vary it promised, the Cybertruck wants a separate battery pack within the mattress. However the same battery pack system was already patented years in the past, by one among Tesla’s rivals within the electrical pick-up house.
Tesla’s Cybertruck web site included a revelation a few characteristic that wasn’t talked about in its presentation: a “vary extender,” within the type of a further battery pack within the truck mattress which expands the truck’s vary.
It’s an attention-grabbing resolution, and we don’t know all the main points of it but. We don’t know the associated fee, the load, how it will likely be put in and uninstalled, or whether or not it even might be uninstalled.
The battery pack is meant for use “for very lengthy journeys or towing heavy issues up mountains,” in keeping with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It takes up a few third of the truck mattress, as might be seen in a photograph posted on Tesla’s Cybertruck website.
So, there’s nonetheless room for cargo, simply not the total 6 toes of mattress size that Tesla says the Cybertruck has.
However the truth that it was described as getting used solely “for very lengthy journeys or towing heavy issues up mountains” means that it will likely be detachable, since most individuals don’t do this type of factor each single day.
Making it detachable is definitely a very good resolution, as a result of it might decrease costs, make packaging simpler, and enhance effectivity for automobiles that merely don’t want a ridiculously huge 470-mile battery – and most drivers don’t want that.
And whether it is detachable, effectively, there’s already a patent on that.
In 2019, electrical truck maker Rivian filed a patent for a “detachable auxiliary battery” that will match into the entrance third-or-so of the truck mattress. This patent was granted in 2020, so Rivian at present has a patent on this expertise.
The patent is described as:
An electrical automobile system for transporting human passengers or cargo consists of an electrical automobile that features a physique, a plurality of wheels, a cargo space, an electrical motor for propelling the electrical automobile, and a main battery for offering electrical energy to the electrical motor for propelling the electrical automobile. An auxiliary battery module is attachable to the electrical automobile for offering electrical energy to the electrical motor through a primary electrical connector on the auxiliary battery module and a second electrical connector on the electrical automobile that mates with the primary electrical connector. The auxiliary battery module might be positioned within the cargo space whereas supplying energy to the electrical motor, and might be detachable and reattachable from the electrical automobile. The auxiliary battery module consists of an built-in cooling system for cooling itself throughout operation of the electrical automobile together with a conduit therein for circulating coolant.
We aren’t patent legal professionals right here, however this sounds awfully much like Tesla’s “vary extender.” The plain potential variations we will discover are if the vary extender doesn’t have built-in cooling, which is unlikely, or if the vary extender isn’t detachable, which doesn’t appear to jive with the assertion that it is just for lengthy journeys or with the advertising displaying it as an non-obligatory add-on (if that have been the case, why not simply supply completely different battery sizes?).
Tesla itself has many patents (and remains to be pursuing extra of them), however has pledged to not “provoke patent lawsuits towards anybody who, in good religion, desires to make use of its expertise.” It introduced this in a 2014 weblog put up, and adopted up by saying that it thinks a number of corporations are utilizing its patents.
So subsequent, the query is: is Tesla’s resolution completely different sufficient to keep away from Rivian’s patent safety? Has Tesla licensed the concept from Rivian, and we simply haven’t heard about it but? Or will Rivian return Tesla’s “good religion” and never provoke a patent lawsuit towards Tesla, if it does really feel prefer it has a adequate case to say that Tesla’s vary extender infringes on its patent?
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