Battery-Buffered EV Charging Patent Landscape 2026
Battery-buffered EV charging is a growing field with 2,894 patent families in scope, led by automotive OEMs and grid operators rather than pure-play charging specialists. The competitive structure is moderately fragmented: the top five filers hold 17% of the top hundred filers’ combined total, leaving substantial room for challengers across power conversion, solar integration, and AI-driven charge management.
GM Global Technology Operations leads a moderately fragmented field
China (51), ChargePoint (49), General Electric (49), and ZECO Systems (45). The ranking reflects a mix of OEMs, utilities, and charging-network operators — an unusually broad coalition for a single charging technology niche.
The top five filers account for 17% of the combined total of the hundred largest filers, which signals a moderately concentrated upper tier without the extreme dominance seen in more mature sectors. A second tier of seven applicants — BMW, Porsche, Proterra, LG Energy Solution, Hyundai, Toyota Motor North America, and Ford — each holds 28–36 patent families, creating a sizeable challenger band.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 65 | |
| 2 | State Grid Corporation of China | 51 | |
| 3 | ChargePoint Inc | 49 | |
| 4 | General Electric Company | 49 | |
| 5 | ZECO Systems | 45 | |
| 6 | NOCO Company | 41 | |
| 7 | Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 36 | |
| 8 | Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG | 33 | |
| 9 | Proterra Inc | 32 | |
| 10 | LG Energy Solution Ltd | 30 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Hyundai Motor Company | 30 | |
| 12 | Toyota Motor North America Inc | 30 | |
| 13 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 30 | |
| 14 | ABB E-Mobility BV | 29 | |
| 15 | Tesla Inc | 28 | |
| 16 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 28 | |
| 17 | Siemens AG | 28 | |
| 18 | Proterra Operating Company Inc | 28 | |
| 19 | ADS-TEC Energy GmbH | 26 | |
| 20 | Wobben Properties GmbH | 24 |
The presence of both vertically integrated automakers (GM, BMW, Porsche, Hyundai, Toyota) and grid infrastructure players (State Grid, General Electric, ABB E-Mobility, Siemens) implies that the technology is being contested simultaneously from the vehicle side and the grid side, raising IP collision risk for any entrant that bridges both domains.
Filings from roughly 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and are likely under-counted; trend readings for those years should be treated as preliminary. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Sustained filing growth with a grid-and-vehicle technology core
Annual filing volume has climbed steadily from 2017 through the most recently complete years, while the technology mix is dominated by power-supply and grid systems alongside EV propulsion — confirming that buffered charging is fundamentally a grid-integration problem as much as a vehicle-charging one.
Annual filing trend
Filed patent families grew from 205 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 438 in 2024, a 40% uplift over the recent window. The 2025 and 2026 figures are materially under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as a decline; the underlying growth trajectory remains intact through 2024.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) together account for the overwhelming majority of IPC classifications, establishing those as the core technical battleground. Adjacent branches — including G06Q (business and commerce data processing), H01M (batteries and cells), H02M (power conversion), H02S (photovoltaic/solar), and G06F (digital data processing) — each carry substantially lower filing counts, marking them as under-served relative to the core.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Direct current to direct current battery based fas…
A battery based DC fast charging system is provided. The system is configured to provide DC fast charging capabilities to an electric vehicle charging station and to recharge the battery system of the charging station by utilizing a renewable energy collection system and single-phase connection to the grid. A user connects an electric vehicle to the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surgical charging system that charges and/or condi… | 2,412 |
| 2 | Charging system that enables emergency resolutions… | 2,178 |
| 3 | Charging system that enables emergency resolutions… | 1,075 |
| 4 | Motion sensitive and capacitor powered handheld de… | 1,017 |
| 5 | Universal charging station and method for charging… | 586 |
| 6 | Indicia-reading system | 578 |
| 7 | Electric Vehicle Charging Station with Connectivit… | 474 |
| 8 | Traction battery charging with inductive coupling | 468 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations stand out: the field is still in active growth, the upper tier is moderately concentrated, co-filing activity is clustered around two distinct ecosystems, and US and Chinese jurisdictions dominate prosecution strategy.
Growth stage — annual filings still rising through 2024
The lifecycle is classified as Growth, with annual filings rising from 205 in 2017 to 438 in 2024 and a 40% uplift over the recent measurement window. Publication lag means 2025–2026 data understates current activity. Entry barriers are not yet prohibitive, but the pace of accumulation means a late entrant must build a differentiated position quickly to avoid being blocked in core H02J and B60L subclasses.
Growth stageModerately fragmented top tier with a strong challenger band
The top five filers hold 17% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total — concentrated enough to signal established incumbents but open enough that a focused challenger filing in adjacent subclasses could reach a competitive position within a typical R&D cycle. The seven-applicant second tier (28–36 patent families each) is close enough to the leader that a sustained filing programme could close the gap.
Moderate concentrationTwo distinct co-filing ecosystems: Porsche–ADS-TEC and State Grid’s subsidiary network
The most active co-filing pair is Porsche (Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG) and ADS-TEC Energy GmbH, with 15 joint patent families — the single strongest bilateral link in the dataset. State Grid Corporation of China anchors a second cluster, co-filing with State Grid Beijing Electric Power (9 families), State Grid Tianjin (6), China Electric Power Research Institute (5), Xuji Group (4), State Grid Jibei (4), and several other subsidiaries. These two ecosystems are geographically and strategically non-overlapping, so a Western entrant faces little direct IP collision from the State Grid cluster.
Two ecosystemsUS-first prosecution, with China and India as secondary priorities
The United States leads jurisdiction filings with 1,249 patent records, followed by China (975) and India (547). Europe via the EPO accounts for 353 records and WIPO PCT filings for 289, indicating that PCT is used as a gateway rather than a primary filing route. South Korea (59), Germany (36), and the UK (33) are relevant secondary markets but trail significantly. An applicant targeting global freedom-to-operate should treat US, China, and EPO as the minimum prosecution footprint.
US · China · India leadGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG | ADS-TEC Energy GmbH | 15 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Beijing Electric Power Company | 9 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Tianjin Electric Power Company Marketing Service Center | 6 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | China Electric Power Research Institute | 5 |
| Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG | ADS-TEC Energy GmbH | 5 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | Xuji Group Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Jibei Electric Power Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Chongqing Electric Power Company Electric Power Research Institute | 3 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. | 3 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
GM Global Technology Operations and State Grid lead distinct strategic approaches
The top two applicants illustrate the field’s dual nature: GM approaches buffered charging from the vehicle and charging-system side, while State Grid prosecutes primarily from the grid-management and network integration side. Both are active filers with positive recent momentum.
GM Global Technology Operations LLC
GM Global Technology Operations LLC holds 65 patent families — the largest portfolio in scope. Its technical focus is concentrated in H02J 7 (power supply and charging systems) and B60L 53 and 58 (EV propulsion and charging infrastructure), reflecting an integrated vehicle-plus-charger strategy. Recent-period filing momentum is +44% versus the prior three-year window, indicating an accelerating programme rather than a maturing one.
patent families: 65State Grid Corporation of China
State Grid Corporation of China files 51 patent families and stands out as a new entrant in the recent measurement window — meaning its recorded filing activity is concentrated in the most recent period. Its focus spans H02J 7 (charging systems), H02J 3 (grid integration), and B60L 53 (EV charging infrastructure), reflecting a utility-centric grid-stabilisation approach. Its co-filing network with regional subsidiaries amplifies its effective IP footprint well beyond the headline count.
patent families: 51| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 26 | ▲ +44% |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 14 | ▲ new entrant |
| ZECO Systems | 5 | ▼ -72% |
| NOCO Company | 10 | ▼ -44% |
| ChargePoint Inc | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
| Toyota Motor North America Inc | 19 | ▲ +27% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the buffered-charging core
Several IPC branches sit at materially lower filing densities than the H02J and B60L core, making them observable white-space areas. Those with clear technical relevance to buffered charging and a plausible entry path are noted below.
H02M · Power conversion (AC/DC)
H02M covers AC/DC and DC/DC power conversion — the electronics layer that mediates between the battery buffer and the charger output. With 193 patent records against thousands in the H02J and B60L core, this branch is sparsely filed relative to its technical centrality. An applicant with power-electronics expertise could establish a differentiated position in converter topologies optimised for fast, high-power buffer-discharge cycles, where existing players appear to be filing primarily at the system level rather than the component level.
Search this in Eureka →H02S · Photovoltaic / solar power generation
H02S (solar generation) registers 142 patent records, reflecting the nascent but growing integration of on-site solar with battery-buffered chargers — a configuration that can reduce grid demand charges and enable off-grid or weak-grid deployments. The sparse filing density suggests that solar-plus-buffer control algorithms and co-optimised hardware architectures are not yet heavily contested, offering a technically grounded entry path for players active in both solar and EV-charging domains.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ across power-supply, propulsion, and grid-management routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | H02J 3 · Power supply & grid systems | B60L 11 · Electric vehicle propulsion | G06Q 50 · Business, commerce & admin data processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proterra Inc | Strong · 70 | Moderate · 21 | Absent | Strong · 45 | Absent |
| ZECO Systems | Strong · 45 | Strong · 31 | Moderate · 14 | Absent | Strong · 43 |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | Strong · 53 | Strong · 42 | Absent | Emerging · 9 | Absent |
| State Grid Corporation of China | Strong · 41 | Strong · 24 | Strong · 26 | Absent | Emerging · 8 |
| General Electric Company | Strong · 46 | Absent | Emerging · 9 | Moderate · 17 | Emerging · 9 |
| NOCO Company | Strong · 41 | Strong · 28 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| ABB (Switzerland) AG | Strong · 31 | Strong · 23 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 2,894 patent families in scope globally. Annual filing volume grew from 205 families in 2017 to a recorded 438 in 2024, representing 40% growth over the recent window.
GM Global Technology Operations LLC leads with 65 patent families, ahead of State Grid Corporation of China (51), ChargePoint (49), General Electric (49), and ZECO Systems (45).
The United States leads with 1,249 patent records, followed by China (975) and India (547). Europe via the EPO accounts for 353 records and WIPO PCT for 289. A minimum prosecution footprint covering the US, China, and EPO captures the dominant share of activity.
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) are by far the most active IPC branches, establishing power-supply management and EV charging infrastructure as the technical core of the field.
Porsche and ADS-TEC Energy GmbH are the strongest bilateral co-filing pair with 15 joint patent families. State Grid Corporation of China anchors a second co-filing cluster with multiple regional grid subsidiaries, including State Grid Beijing Electric Power (9 families) and State Grid Tianjin (6 families).
H02M (power conversion electronics) and H02S (photovoltaic/solar integration) are notably sparse relative to the H02J and B60L core — 193 and 142 patent records respectively — and both have clear technical relevance to buffered charging architectures. These represent adjacent branches worth monitoring for white-space entry opportunities.
Ready to map your battery-buffered EV charging IP position?
Join 18,000+ innovators using PatSnap Eureka to map any technology landscape: search 2B+ patents and papers, surface key assignees, and generate a report like this in minutes.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. PatSnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.