Sharing and charging, that is. Ford is opening up its electric vehicle (EV) patents to competitors. But unlike Tesla has made previously, the company is doing it for a cost.

Last Summer, Tesla made an unexpected move, something that not all companies on earth would do. They decided to open up all of their patents and allow anyone including their competitors to use them for free.

Later on, Ford Motor Co. has announced that they are following a similar move by Tesla of opening up its electric vehicle patents to competitors to help accelerate the development of those types of cars-for a fee.

The company's announcement aims at helping their rivals to enter the industry. But basically just licensing their electric vehicle patents is not unusual for most company. It is something that anyone would do. As reported, the licensing will cost somewhere between hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the patent.

And, this is not the first time Ford has opened its own patents for licensing. The company has worked with AutoHarvest previously to collect fees from other parties that would like to apply its patents, along with other competitors. It was only soy-based foam seating that Ford opened for free.

According to a source, "the costs will vary based on a number of factors, but the goal is to make it really reasonable for people to use them -- they won't be prohibitive."

Ford presently holds 650 patents relating to EV technology, more than 400 of which were filed last year, and another 1,000 are pending approval. Among the patented technologies available for a purchase include a battery charge balancing method and apparatus that can be used anytime instead of while the car is charging, a regenerative braking system and a driver feedback interface.

Ford currently offers six vehicles running on hybrid gas-electric engines: Ford Focus Electric, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Ford Fusion Energi, Ford C-MAX Hybrid, Ford C-MAX Energi and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.