US electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc announced earlier this month that it will open its patents for all to use, a move expected to give a boost to the entire electric vehicle market, experts said.

Innovations in battery management are among the strengths of the global electric vehicle leader. Most of its core patents between 2008 and 2013 related to battery safety controls, Chinese media report.

Tesla's number of patents surpassed 140 in March this year and it has another 258 pending, according to China Industry and Economy News.

CEO Elon Musk posted an article titled "All Our Patents Belong To You" on his blog in mid-June, noting "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," Musk wrote.

Senior auto expert Zhang Zhaohu told China National Radio that Tesla's purpose is to make the entire market bigger.

"Its true competitors are the large number of gasoline-powered vehicles still running on the road rather than the measly small number of electric car brands," Zhang said.

Though Tesla debuted its first sports car years ago, electric cars have still have less than 1 percent of the US market, the largest for electric cars worldwide. In China, the proportion is even smaller.

The radio station quoted an anonymous executive at domestic electric carmaker BYD Co Ltd saying Tesla's decision to share its patented technologies is expected to help expand the market.

The opinion was echoed by Zhang, who noted that the free patents are useful to Chinese companies as they learn from the technology portfolio.

Nie Guanghui, an innovation team leader at the Wuhan Institute of Technology, said Tesla's move will have far-reaching influence over the new energy car market.

It will help to lower tech barriers and attract more resources while lowering costs and developing potential clients, Nie said.

At the same time, Tesla's open attitude is anticipated to motivate leaders in the electric car industry throughout the world, he added.

The "open source movement", seen as a move to break technology barriers in the auto industry, reminds observers of Google's pioneering efforts in opening up its Android system, which has proved a success.

But Wang Qian, an IP professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, told the media that manufacturers who try to only use Tesla patents and stop developing their own could face big risks.

If Tesla updates its patents, they may have to pay higher license fees , he warned.

Also, if other manufacturers use Tesla's tech portfolio to design and make electric cars, it will make those designs de facto standards in technology, he said.

Then the market will turn from competition to compliance, industry watchers said.

Yet expert Zhang said even Tesla's technologies are far from mature.

"The entire industry needs a leap in quality," he said.

The key is to pool efforts to resolve such technological challenges as plug-in standards, range, and the safety of batteries and charging facilities, Zhang said.

Tesla CEO Musk wrote on his blog that "technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world's most talented engineers.

"We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla's position."

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

Tesla on display at an international tech fair in Shanghai. Gao Erqiang / For China Daily

(China Daily 06/25/2014 page17)