Ford has announced that it now holds nearly 500 patents for its hybrid technology due to the efforts of its electrified vehicle team in working to commit to growing the company’s intellectual property portfolio and developing its line-up of fuel-efficient vehicles.

“Ford continued to invest to develop new products like our new Fusion hybrids during the depths of the economic downturn,” said Chuck Gray, Ford chief engineer of global core engineering hybrid and electric vehicles.

“We succeeded in transforming our lineup with leading fuel efficiency, thanks in part to the many Ford inventors who are helping create some of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market,” he said.
 
One of those inventors is Ming Kuang, who has helped its hybrid patent portfolio grow from 10 in 2000 to nearly 500 today, a statement from Ford said.
 
“Kuang’s reason is simple, even though his inventions are complex and among the most advanced technologies available on Ford Motor Company hybrid vehicles,” Gray said.
 
“The work on Ford’s hybrid and range of more fuel-efficient vehicles is all about a commitment I made a long time ago to have a positive effect on our environment,” said Kuang. “It’s about helping make the world my children live in – and the world my children’s children will live in – a better place.”

Kuang is technical leader in vehicle controls at Ford electrification research and advanced engineering in Michigan, US.
 
His innovations can be found throughout Ford’s transformed lineup, one-third of which will feature a model with 40 mpg or more in 2012 and build on the company’s commitment to go further by giving fuel-efficiency-minded customers the power of choice.
 
His name is on 40 of the 461 patents held by Ford that fall under the hybrid category. Twenty-five of the 40 patents are in production including key components of Ford’s innovative power split architecture system found on vehicles like the all-new Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.
  
David Kelley, a Ford attorney who handles hybrid patents, said: “We get the high-quality patents that Ford really needs. With the high level of innovation from people like Ming, it makes sense that we should see our hybrid patent levels increase the way they have.” – TradeArabia News Service