Fast EV Charging Infrastructure Patent Landscape 2026
Fast EV Charging Infrastructure Patent Landscape in 2026
ABB entities dominate a moderately concentrated field of 933 patent families, with electric-vehicle propulsion and grid-power systems accounting for the bulk of technical activity. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis—recent three-year filings are up 70% over the prior window—though annual volume has eased from its 2022 peak and the most recent filing years are further understated by publication lag.
ABB leads a moderately concentrated applicant field with a clear first-mover advantage
ABB E-Mobility BV holds the largest position in the ranking with 82 patent families, followed by the Governing Council of the University of Toronto (42 families), Ford Global Technologies (40 families), EleapPower Ltd (37 families), and ABB (Schweiz) AG (30 families). Together, the top five filers account for 31% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total—a meaningful but not overwhelming concentration.
A two-tier structure is evident: the top two ABB entities combined hold over 110 families, creating a lead over any single challenger. The University of Toronto’s second-place position is notable given its academic origin, explained in part by deep co-filing partnerships with industry. Ford and EleapPower represent the strongest pure-commercial challengers outside the ABB group.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ABB E-Mobility BV | 82 | |
| 2 | The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | 42 | |
| 3 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 40 | |
| 4 | EleapPower Ltd | 37 | |
| 5 | ABB (Schweiz) AG | 30 | |
| 6 | Siemens AG | 23 | |
| 7 | Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 22 | |
| 8 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 20 | |
| 9 | Zoox Inc | 19 | |
| 10 | BorgWarner Inc | 18 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Rivian Holdings LLC | 17 | |
| 12 | Efacec Electric Mobility | 14 | |
| 13 | NOCO Company | 13 | |
| 14 | Kubota Corporation | 13 | |
| 15 | GHD Pty Ltd | 11 | |
| 16 | Marel Power Solutions Inc | 11 | |
| 17 | Hitachi Energy Ltd | 11 | |
| 18 | Zooz Power Ltd | 10 | |
| 19 | Moxion Power Co | 10 | |
| 20 | FlexCharging Inc | 9 |
ABB’s dual-entity presence—through both ABB E-Mobility BV and ABB (Schweiz) AG—suggests a deliberate portfolio segmentation between product-side charging systems and broader Swiss-headquartered power engineering IP. This structural advantage means any single challenger must surpass two independently ranked portfolios to displace the leader.
Applicant rankings and the corpus total of 933 are measured at the patent-family level; technology-branch, jurisdiction, and route-matrix figures are at the patent-record level, where a single family may be counted under multiple IPC classes or filed in multiple offices, so those figures can exceed the family total and are not directly comparable to it. Filing years 2025–2026 are further understated by publication lag and should not be read as a real slowdown.
Multi-year growth continues despite a post-2022 moderation in annual filings
Two charts together reveal the field’s pace and technical breadth: the annual filing trend shows when activity has accelerated or moderated, while the IPC branch breakdown shows which engineering problems attract the most patent effort.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew steadily from 36 families in 2017 to a pronounced peak of 187 in 2022, then moderated to 133 in 2023 and 148 in 2024. The 2025 figure of 89 and the 2026 figure of 18 reflect publication lag rather than a genuine retreat; the recent three-year window remains 70% above the prior equivalent period, confirming continued multi-year growth. The 2022 peak likely reflects stimulus-driven infrastructure investment cycles in the US and Europe.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) dominates at the record level, followed by H02J (power supply and grid systems) and H02M (power conversion). These three classes together account for the great majority of patent records, reflecting that fast-charging IP is primarily an engineering challenge at the intersection of vehicle-side electronics, grid interconnection, and AC/DC power conversion. Lower-volume branches such as H01M (batteries and fuel cells), G06Q (business and commerce data processing), and H01R (connectors and current collectors) signal adjacent areas with comparatively sparse coverage.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaFoundational and most-cited patents
The most-cited families that anchor this space. Hover a row and click to open it in Eureka.
Electric vehicle fast charging station with solar …
A high power EV fast charging station with solar energy system (EVFCS-SES) having a HV DC bus, several EVFCS-SES cells connecting in parallel and with their universal battery interfaces, and a storage battery system provides the following functions: solar energy generation; solar energy generation plus a direct storage battery charging; high power EV fast… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Power distribution and circuit protection for a mo… | 170 |
| 2 | Muilti-functional power management system | 121 |
| 3 | Devices, systems, and related methods for power co… | 118 |
| 4 | Digital Power Multiport Battery Charging System | 109 |
| 5 | Pulse battery charger methods and systems for impr… | 78 |
| 6 | A multimodal converter for interfacing with multip… | 77 |
| 7 | Configurable battery pack for fast charge | 76 |
| 8 | Digital power multiport battery charging system | 76 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts accrue over time, so this list favours older, broadly-cited patents and may include general-purpose work beyond the specific topic; treat it as foundational context rather than a current-activity ranking.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four lenses—maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography—translate the raw patent data into strategic signals for teams deciding where to focus next.
Growth stage, post-peak moderation
The field is classified as Growth: the recent three-year filing window is 70% above the prior equivalent period, confirming that the technology has not reached saturation. However, annual volume peaked in 2022 and has since eased, suggesting the field is transitioning from rapid early expansion toward more selective, deeper development. Entrants should expect established players to defend core positions while the frontier shifts toward system integration and adjacent branches.
Growth · post-2022 moderationModerate concentration with a dual-entity leader
The top five filers hold 31% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total—concentrated enough to signal incumbent advantages in core EV propulsion and grid-interface IP, but open enough that challengers in specialized sub-domains (connectors, business-logic, battery management) can build differentiated positions. ABB’s two-entity presence makes its effective lead larger than any single ranked applicant suggests. Ford’s +108% recent momentum and Siemens’ new-entrant status both indicate the competitive map is still being redrawn.
Moderate concentrationUniversity–industry co-filing anchors the Canadian cluster
The most active co-filing pair is the University of Toronto with Havelaar Canada Industrial R&D Lab Ltd (22 joint families), followed by the University of Toronto with EleapPower Ltd (14 joint families). BorgWarner co-files with both the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University (4 families) and the University of Michigan (2 families), indicating a secondary US Midwest cluster. These partnerships suggest that fundamental fast-charging power-electronics research is being commercialized through structured university–industry agreements, which may create licensing pathways for third parties.
University–industry co-filingUS-dominant filing with meaningful EPO and PCT coverage
The United States leads jurisdiction coverage at the patent-record level, followed by the European Patent Office and WIPO PCT filings. India ranks fourth, ahead of China—an unusual pattern for a hardware-intensive technology, possibly reflecting manufacturing-ecosystem IP strategies by ABB and others. Germany, Canada, and Australia round out the next tier. South Korea and Japan are relatively underrepresented given their domestic EV industries, which may indicate either white space or a different filing strategy by Asian OEMs in their home offices.
US-led · India ahead of ChinaGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | Havelaar Canada Industrial R&D Lab Ltd | 22 |
| The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | EleapPower Ltd | 14 |
| BorgWarner Inc | Board of Trustees of Michigan State University | 4 |
| BorgWarner Inc | Regents of the University of Michigan | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Top players differentiated by power-conversion depth versus vehicle-system breadth
The two leading filers illustrate distinct strategic postures: one rooted in grid-side power hardware, the other in charging-system architecture bridging grid and vehicle. Momentum data further distinguishes incumbents consolidating from challengers accelerating.
ABB E-Mobility BV
ABB E-Mobility BV holds 82 patent families—the largest single-entity position in the corpus—concentrated in B60L53 (EV propulsion / charging systems), H02M1 (power conversion), and H02J7 (battery charging power supply). Its sibling entity ABB (Schweiz) AG adds a further 30 families with a stronger power-conversion emphasis (H02M3, H02M1, H02M7), giving the ABB group a combined footprint that spans both vehicle-interface and grid-power engineering. Recent-period filings for ABB (Schweiz) AG are down 62% versus the prior window, suggesting portfolio consolidation rather than retreat, while ABB E-Mobility BV shows a more modest –7% trend.
families: 82Ford Global Technologies LLC
Ford Global Technologies holds 40 patent families and is the fastest-growing major incumbent in the dataset, with recent filings up 108% versus the prior three-year window. Its portfolio centers on B60L53 (EV propulsion), H02J7 (power supply and grid systems), and B60L50 (electric vehicle propulsion), reflecting a vehicle-integration strategy rather than standalone charging hardware. This acceleration positions Ford as the most credible near-term challenger to ABB’s lead, particularly in on-board and fleet-oriented charging architectures.
families: 40| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| ABB (Schweiz) AG | 21 | ▼ -62% |
| The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | 6 | ▼ -50% |
| Ford Global Technologies LLC | 25 | ▲ +108% |
| ABB E-Mobility BV | 13 | ▼ -7% |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 7 | ▼ -36% |
| Siemens AG | 21 | ▲ new entrant |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 14 | ▲ new entrant |
| Zoox Inc | 7 | ▼ -42% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant fast-charging core
Five IPC classes appear at low record counts relative to the dominant B60L and H02J classes. Two stand out as warranting closer attention based on their technical adjacency and plausible entry paths; the others are noted as observations of relative sparsity.
H01R · Connectors & current collectors
H01R accounts for only 41 patent records—roughly 2% of total records—despite connectors being a direct physical interface in every fast-charging transaction. High-power connector design (thermal management, contact resistance, mechanical durability under repeated insertion cycles) is a distinct engineering problem from power electronics, yet is underrepresented here. ABB E-Mobility BV shows limited H01R activity (4 records), suggesting even the leader has not deeply colonized this branch. Teams with materials or precision-manufacturing expertise could build a focused position with a realistic entry path through connector-standard bodies (e.g., CCS, CHAdeMO successor work) and OEM qualification programs.
Search this in Eureka →G06Q · Business, commerce & admin data processing
G06Q covers billing, session management, grid-services markets, and demand-response business logic—with only 58 patent records in scope. As fast-charging networks scale, revenue-sharing, dynamic pricing, vehicle-to-grid settlement, and roaming interoperability become commercially critical yet remain thinly patented relative to the hardware stack. New entrants with software or fintech backgrounds face fewer established blocking positions here than in power electronics. The entry path is relatively accessible, though patent protection in pure business-method claims varies by jurisdiction and applicants should weigh trade-secret strategies alongside filing.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across core technology routes
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | H02M 1 · Power conversion (AC/DC etc.) | H02M 7 · Power conversion (AC/DC etc.) | H02M 3 · Power conversion (AC/DC etc.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABB (Schweiz) AG | Strong · 62 | Moderate · 17 | Moderate · 21 | Moderate · 15 | Moderate · 14 |
| The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | Strong · 23 | Strong · 33 | Strong · 19 | Moderate · 11 | Emerging · 4 |
| Ford Global Technologies LLC | Strong · 35 | Moderate · 17 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Siemens AG | Absent | Absent | Strong · 17 | Strong · 14 | Strong · 21 |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | Strong · 20 | Strong · 14 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 6 |
| BorgWarner Inc | Strong · 14 | Absent | Moderate · 7 | Strong · 11 | Absent |
| EleapPower Ltd | Strong · 14 | Strong · 10 | Moderate · 7 | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 933 patent families. Applicant rankings and the corpus total are measured at the family level; technology-branch and jurisdiction figures are at the patent-record level and can exceed 933 because a single family may file in multiple offices or be classified under multiple IPC classes.
ABB E-Mobility BV holds the largest single-entity position with 82 patent families, focused on EV propulsion charging systems (B60L53), power conversion (H02M1), and grid power supply (H02J7). Including the related entity ABB (Schweiz) AG (30 families), the ABB group is the dominant force in the corpus.
The United States leads at the patent-record level, followed by the European Patent Office and WIPO PCT. India ranks fourth ahead of China, which is an unusual pattern for a hardware-intensive domain and may reflect specific manufacturing or regulatory IP strategies by leading applicants.
Yes, on a multi-year basis: the recent three-year filing window is 70% above the prior equivalent window. Annual volume peaked in 2022 and has since moderated, but the 2025 and 2026 figures are further suppressed by publication lag and should not be read as a genuine decline.
Five branches stand out as having comparatively sparse patent-record coverage: H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells), G06Q (business and commerce data processing), H01R (connectors and current collectors), H05K (printed circuits and assemblies), and H02P (control of motors and generators). H01R and G06Q are particularly notable given their direct technical relevance to fast-charging deployment.
Ford Global Technologies shows the strongest growth among established players, with recent filings up 108% versus the prior three-year window. Siemens AG and GM Global Technology Operations are both recorded as new entrants in the recent period. Conversely, ABB (Schweiz) AG’s recent filings are down 62%, suggesting portfolio consolidation.
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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.
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