High-Voltage EV Connector Patents: Who Leads, Filing Trends 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2023 at 12 families and has since flattened rather than climbed, suggesting the core claim space around interlock and sealing designs is largely staked out.
- South Korea and China together outpace the US at the receiving-office level (26 and 21 filings respectively versus 29 in the US), pointing to where contested claim territory is concentrated.
- Ten co-assignee pairs show dense cross-filing between OEMs and suppliers such as Hyundai and Kia, signalling joint development programmes rather than arm's-length licensing.
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers 108 patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine high-voltage or high-current EV connector claims with specific technical concerns: temperature rise, contact resistance, interlock circuits, sealing IP ratings and vibration durability. The search deliberately excludes generic connector filings that do not address these performance criteria, so the set is narrower and more decision-relevant than a raw H01R13 pull would be.
Because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in this data are undercounts rather than a genuine falloff — real filing activity in those years will only become visible in later data cuts.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 108-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A flat-to-declining trend after a 2023 peak
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a midpoint of 7 in 2022 and peaked at 12 in 2023, but have not continued climbing since. Read alongside the publication lag, this looks less like a cooling field and more like a maturing one where the dominant claim architectures are already on file.
H01R dominates; B60L is the only substantial secondary class
107 of 108 records touch H01R (connectors and current collectors), confirming this is fundamentally a connector-hardware dataset. B60L (EV propulsion) appears in 17 records, showing the vehicle-system tie-in that distinguishes EV-specific connectors from generic high-current ones. Everything else — measurement, printed circuits, switches, pumps, refrigeration — sits in single digits, marking those as adjacent rather than core.
Shares are the percentage of the 108 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on High-Voltage Connectors for Electric Vehicles with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about high-voltage connectors for electric vehicles and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe patents setting the citation baseline
US7641499B1 — High voltage connector and interlocking loop connector assembly
A high voltage and interlock loop assembly has first and second high voltage connector housings complementarily constructed for releasable engagement with each other and for having a high voltage circuit running therethrough. First and second connectors for an interlock loop circuit are complementarily constructed for releasable engagement with each other, with one of the interlock loop connectors mounted on one of the high voltage connector housings. The interlock connectors have complementary abutment shoulders, one on a flexible tab that moves to misalign the shoulders when the housings are not fully engaged, breaking the interlock circuit.Filed by Aptiv Technologies (formerly Delphi); cited 68 times, making it one of the most-referenced interlock designs in this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US3720904A | Self-actuating loadbreak connector | 89 |
| 2 | US6024589A | Power bus bar for providing a low impedance connection between a first and second printed circuit board | 76 |
| 3 | US7641499B1 | High voltage connector and interlocking loop connector assembly | 68 |
| 4 | US20110111649A1 | Battery system | 60 |
| 5 | US20150318640A1 | High Voltage Connector Assembly | 42 |
| 6 | JP2010056088A | High voltage connector and interlock loop connector assembly | 29 |
| 7 | CN103430396A | 高压连接器组件 | 24 |
| 8 | US8597043B2 | High voltage connector assembly | 22 |
| 9 | CN101662104A | 高压连接器及互锁回路连接器组件 | 18 |
| 10 | US4653826A | High current connector | 15 |
Citation counts reward older filings simply for having been available longer to cite; treat this table as a map of foundational prior art, not a ranking of current strategic importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are read against filing dates, IPC codes and receiving offices.
Growth has plateaued, not accelerated
From 2 filings in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2023, then flat-to-lower readings since — even allowing for publication lag, this is not a market still in its land-grab phase. New entrants are more likely to be designing around existing interlock and sealing claims than filing on entirely open ground.
No single jurisdiction dominates
The United States leads narrowly, but South Korea and China together account for more filings than the US alone, and EPO and PCT routes add another 21 between them. Freedom-to-operate work on this topic cannot be limited to a single-jurisdiction search.
Nearly every filing sits in one IPC subclass
This is a tightly bounded hardware category: almost all records claim within H01R (connectors and current collectors), with B60L as the only secondary class of any real size. That concentration makes prior-art clearance more tractable than in a diffuse field, but it also means dense overlap between filings.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to high-voltage connectors for electric vehicles, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Company | Kia Corporation | 5 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Yura Corporation | 4 |
| Amphenol Electronics Korea Co., Ltd. | V-ENS Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| Hyundai Mobis | SAETHRE ROBERT B | 2 |
| Hyundai Mobis | MELCHER PAUL C | 2 |
| Hyundai Mobis | FERGUSON GEORGE X | 2 |
| Amphenol Electronics Korea Co., Ltd. | YOUN YOUNG JUN | 2 |
| Amphenol Electronics Korea Co., Ltd. | LIM KUN TAEK | 2 |
Ten identified co-assignee pairs, with the strongest links between Hyundai and Kia, and between Hyundai and Yura, point to shared development programmes rather than independent parallel invention.
Who holds the ground, and where the gaps sit
Recent-year momentum figures show zero new filings in the latest year across every major assignee tracked here, consistent with the overall plateau — but that reading needs the publication-lag caveat, since the newest filings from these same companies simply have not published yet.
Hyundai and Kia file as a coordinated bloc
The strongest co-assignee pair in the dataset links Hyundai and Kia, with a further link to Yura, indicating shared connector platforms across the group's vehicle lines rather than independent supplier sourcing.
Aptiv holds the interlock baseline
Aptiv Technologies' interlock loop connector patent is among the most-cited records in the set, and its claim architecture — abutment shoulders on a flexible tab that break circuit on incomplete engagement — shows up as a reference point across later interlock filings.
Connector specialists pair with vehicle integrators
Amphenol's Korean unit and V-ENS show a co-filing pattern distinct from the OEM cluster, suggesting connector component specialists partnering directly with integrators on sealing and contact-resistance claims rather than filing solo.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Company | 0 | — |
| Yura Corporation | 0 | — |
| Delphi Technologies | 0 | — |
| Hyundai Mobis | 0 | — |
| Amphenol Electronics Korea Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| TE Connectivity | 0 | — |
| Kia Corporation | 0 | — |
| Hanon Systems | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a well-defined core and thinner edges. Two directions are worth pursuing depending on what the reader needs.
Run freedom-to-operate against the H01R core
With 107 of 108 records sitting in H01R, a design-around review should start there and treat B60L overlap as the secondary filter, not the primary one.
Explore the IPC breakdownTrack the OEM-supplier co-filing pattern
The Hyundai-Kia-Yura cluster and the Amphenol Korea-V-ENS pairing suggest two different sourcing models worth watching for new joint filings.
See the assignee dataCommon questions on high-voltage EV connector patents
This dataset identifies 108 patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine high-voltage or high-current connector claims with specific performance concerns such as temperature rise, contact resistance, interlock circuits, sealing IP ratings and vibration durability. That figure is narrower than a raw connector-hardware search because it filters for these specific technical criteria. The true current total is likely somewhat higher than 108, since publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months and the most recent filings have not yet appeared in the record.
Filing activity clusters around a group of automotive OEMs and Tier-1 connector suppliers, with Hyundai and Kia showing the strongest co-filing relationship in the dataset at five shared families. Aptiv Technologies holds one of the most-cited foundational patents in the space, covering interlock loop connector design. No single assignee dominates outright; the pattern is a concentrated core group with a long tail of smaller filers.
Almost all filings — 107 of 108 — sit within IPC subclass H01R, covering connectors and current collectors generally. Seventeen records also touch B60L, the EV propulsion subclass, marking the EV-specific subset of this hardware category. Smaller counts appear in measurement (G01R), printed circuit assemblies (H05K), switches and relays (H01H), and a few mechanical adjacent classes, all of which are secondary to the connector-hardware core.
Filing counts rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2023, then flattened rather than continuing to climb, with a 2022 midpoint of 7. Read together with the roughly eighteen-month publication lag, the most recent years understate true activity, but the multi-year plateau before that lag window suggests the core claim architectures — interlock circuits, sealing designs, contact-resistance management — are already well staked out. New filers are more likely competing on refinements than on open ground.
US7641499B1 claims a high-voltage connector housing paired with an interlock loop circuit, where the interlock connectors have complementary abutment shoulders and one shoulder sits on a flexible tab. The tab moves to misalign the shoulders — breaking the interlock circuit — whenever the high-voltage housings are not fully engaged, providing a safety cutoff on incomplete connection. It is cited 68 times in this dataset, making it a reference point for later interlock-loop designs, so any new interlock mechanism should be checked against this specific shoulder-and-tab architecture before filing.
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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.
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.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.