Metal-Hydride Hydrogen Storage Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (74 records) with 2024 (107) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 6,079 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape draws on 6,079 published records matching metal hydride storage, hydrogen absorbing alloy, and metal hydride tank terminology, cross-referenced against hydrogen storage and containment language, spanning filings from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. The scope captures both the alloy chemistry side of the field — hydrogen absorbing alloys, powder metallurgy routes to hydride materials — and the systems side, including pressure vessels, valved tank assemblies, and the heat-exchange hardware needed to manage hydride charge and discharge cycles.
The filing record is led by a handful of Japanese and North American electronics and automotive names, but the technology composition shows the field is not a single claim space: it splits across battery/fuel-cell chemistry, inorganic compound processing, pressure-vessel engineering, and alloy metallurgy, each with a different competitive picture.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 6,079-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across the IPC subclasses that make up the field.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings climbed from 62 in 2017 to a peak of 142 in 2022, then eased in the years since — though 2025 and 2026 figures are understated because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. The cleanest recent read is 2021 to 2024, where filings rose from 74 to 107, a 45% increase over three years.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H01M (batteries, cells & fuel cells) appears on 51.1% of the 6,079 records, with C01B (non-metallic elements & inorganic compounds) close behind at 33.4%. F17C pressure vessels (16.8%) and C22C alloys (15.5%) mark the hardware and materials side of the field; B01J catalysis, B22F powder metallurgy, and the heat-management classes F25B and F28D each sit under 9%, meaning a record can and often does carry several of these classes at once.
Shares are the percentage of the 6,079 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Hydrogen Storage — Metal-Hydride Hydrogen Storage Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about hydrogen storage — metal-hydride hydrogen storage patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative filing and the most-cited prior art
US5953922A — Metal hydride hydrogen storage container with valved ports
A metal hydride hydrogen storage system comprising at least a first metal hydride storage module directly coupled to an identical second metal hydride storage module, where each storage module comprises a metal hydride pressure vessel with a first and second valved port and a metal hydride material disposed within it. The second valved port of the first module is directly coupled to the first valved port of the second module, with the ports normally closed and urged open on coupling.Filed by VODIK LABS, LLC; granted 1999-09-21.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20070282495A1 | System and method for assessing vehicle to grid (V2G) integration | 531 |
| 2 | US20040035401A1 | Hydrogen powered scooter | 299 |
| 3 | US5686196A | System for operating solid oxide fuel cell generator on diesel fuel | 253 |
| 4 | US6745801B1 | Mobile hydrogen generation and supply system | 247 |
| 5 | US6057051A | Miniaturized fuel cell assembly | 232 |
| 6 | US6122909A | Catalytic reduction of emissions from internal combustion engines | 218 |
| 7 | US20040187950A1 | Mobile hydrogen generation and supply system | 206 |
| 8 | US6376113B1 | Integrated fuel cell system | 205 |
| 9 | US5536591A | Electrochemical hydrogen storage alloys for nickel metal hydride batteries | 198 |
| 10 | US4728586A | Enhanced charge retention electrochemical hydrogen storage alloys and an enhanced charge retention electroche… | 193 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate references within this corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing decision
Three findings that shape where a new filing is likely to land relative to existing claim density.
The top of the field is genuinely crowded
The top five assignees combined account for 1,766 of the 6,079 records in scope, and the top ten push that to 2,354, or 38.7%. That is real concentration at the leading edge, though it still leaves the majority of the field distributed across a long tail of smaller filers.
Growth is real but recent years understate it further
Filings rose from 74 in 2021 to 107 in 2024, a 45% increase over three years and the clearest recent signal in the dataset. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are lower only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months — they should not be read as a slowdown.
Chemistry claims dominate over hardware claims
Battery and fuel-cell chemistry (H01M) touches just over half of all records, while pressure-vessel and gas-storage hardware (F17C) touches under a fifth. A filer targeting the tank and containment side of the problem is working in comparatively less-occupied claim space than one targeting hydride chemistry itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to hydrogen storage — metal-hydride hydrogen storage patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this from here
The landscape points to open questions that raw counts cannot answer on their own — claim scope, freedom-to-operate risk, and which specific sub-branches are worth a deeper technical read.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading portfolios
Concentration at the top of the ranking means a new filing in hydride chemistry or tank hardware is likely to sit near existing claims from the largest assignees.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaMap the under-claimed branches in detail
Heat-exchange integration, powder metallurgy alloy routes, and catalysis-assisted absorption show thinner filing density than the core chemistry classes.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on metal-hydride hydrogen storage patents
The dataset's assignee ranking shows a single leader with 643 records, well ahead of fifth place at 188 and tenth place at 69. The leaders are predominantly Japanese electronics and automotive firms with long histories in nickel-metal-hydride battery chemistry, alongside dedicated hydrogen-storage specialists. The top five assignees combined hold 1,766 records, or 29.1% of the 6,079 records in scope, so while there is a clear leader the field is not a duopoly.
Filings grew from 74 in 2021 to 107 in 2024, a 45% increase over that three-year span, which is the most reliable recent trend in the dataset. Filing counts for 2025 and 2026 appear lower, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than an actual drop in filing activity. The peak year recorded so far is 2022, at 142 filings.
Battery and fuel-cell chemistry under IPC class H01M appears on 51.1% of the 6,079 records in scope, making it the single most claimed area. Non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds (C01B) follow at 33.4%, with pressure-vessel and gas-storage hardware (F17C) at 16.8% and alloy metallurgy (C22C) at 15.5%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares overlap rather than sum to 100%, which reflects how closely hydride chemistry and containment hardware are claimed together.
Compared with the dominant chemistry and hardware classes, sub-areas like heat-exchange integration for hydride charge cycles, powder metallurgy routes to alloy hydrides, and catalysis-assisted absorption and desorption show comparatively thinner filing density. That does not mean these areas are unclaimed, but the claim space is less occupied than core H01M or C01B territory. A first filing targeting modular valved-tank coupling architectures, for instance, would face a less crowded prior-art landscape than one targeting core hydride alloy chemistry.
Japan leads with 2,217 records, more than the next several offices combined, followed by the United States at 1,296. The European Patent Office accounts for 730 records, the WIPO/PCT route 381, China 364, and Canada 193. The heavy Japanese share is consistent with the concentration of leading assignees in Japanese electronics and automotive companies with long-running nickel-metal-hydride battery programmes.
Research Hydrogen Storage — Metal-Hydride Hydrogen Storage Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole hydrogen storage — metal-hydride hydrogen storage patent landscape corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.