Tesla Releases Patents in Unprecedented Move to Advance Electric Vehicles Other automakers, you, too, can build like Tesla.

CEO Elon Musk says so.

Tesla is now an open-source company, allowing its electric vehicle patents for outside use. Musk made the unprecedented announcement Thursday on his company blog.

�Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport,� he wrote. �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.�

News of Tesla releasing patents is a game changer for the EV industry. Photo credit: Windell Oskay/Flickr Creative Commons
News of Tesla releasing patents is a game changer for the EV industry. Photo credit: Windell Oskay/Flickr Creative Commons
Musk says he used to think patents were a good thing, but now he sees them as instruments to stifle growth. That the opposite of what he wants to do when it comes EVs. After all, �it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis,� Musk writes.

It unclear what the CEO means by �good faith,� but it could point to an agreement that would benefit Tesla. The company is almost ready to build a $5 billion �gigafactory� to produce enough lithium-ion batteries to drive down EV prices. A month ago, Musk said he envisioned 200 gigafactories down the line.

To represent a new, open-source beginning, Musk said the patents that covered a wall at Tesla Palo Alto headquarters have been removed.

�We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform,� Musk said.

Musk also owns  SpaceX, the firm that stands as the only private company to ever return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. He is also chairman of SolarCity, which he said can helpprovide solar energy for the national network of Tesla EV chargers his company is creating.