US Patent Issued to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America on Feb. 18 for "Modular vehicle power source storage" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,227,242, issued on Feb. 18, was assigned to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. (Plano, Texas).

"Modular vehicle power source storage" was invented by Brian Woods (Brighton, Mich.) and Kenichi Iwatsuki (Ann Arbor, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Vehicles and systems for modular power source storage. A vehicle may include a power source detachable from the vehicle. The power source may supply power to the vehicle and a remote device. The vehicle may further include a cargo bed that stores the power source. The cargo bed or a portion of the cargo bed may be removable from rest of the vehicle along with the powe...