LFP Battery Safety & Protection Patent Snapshot 2026
The LFP safety and protection patent field is a small, fragmented corpus led by Drexel University, with activity that peaked in 2021 and has since eased. China dominates filing jurisdiction, while the technology mix is almost entirely anchored in core battery chemistry and cell-level protection.
Drexel University leads a highly fragmented field with no dominant commercial incumbent
Drexel University holds the top position in the applicant ranking, followed by a cluster of Chinese industrial and academic filers — Battero Tech, Southeast University, State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute, and NIO Tech Anhui — each at the same level. No single commercial player has established a commanding lead.
The top five filers together account for 48% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, a moderate concentration level indicating that activity is distributed across universities, state-owned enterprises, automotive OEMs, and specialist battery firms rather than concentrated in one or two incumbents.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drexel University | 3 | |
| 2 | Battero Tech Corp Ltd | 2 | |
| 3 | Southeast University | 2 | |
| 4 | State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute | 2 | |
| 5 | NIO Tech Anhui Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 6 | LG Energy Solution Ltd | 1 | |
| 7 | Shanghai CSIC Ship Propulsion Equipment Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 8 | Nanjing Tech University | 1 | |
| 9 | Inner Mongolia Power Group Co Ltd Inner Mongolia Electric Power Research Institute Branch | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | China State Shipbuilding Corporation No. 704 Research Institute | 1 | |
| 11 | State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 12 | Shandong Tianhan New Energy Technology Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 13 | Xiamen Donesty Ecommerce Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 14 | China National Nuclear Corporation Liaoning Nuclear Power Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 15 | Samsung SDI Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 16 | Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 17 | Shanghai Marine Equipment Research Institute | 1 |
Drexel’s lead position, driven by advanced electrolyte chemistry research, suggests that fundamental materials science remains an open front. The presence of NIO Tech and LG Energy Solution signals growing OEM and tier-1 cell-maker interest, but their individual positions are still limited.
The most recent 18 to 24 months of filing data are subject to publication lag and should be treated as under-counts; the apparent low volume in 2024 and 2025 does not necessarily reflect actual inventive activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2021 and the technology mix is anchored in core battery chemistry
Two charts frame the field’s trajectory and composition: the annual filing trend reveals a field that surged to a 2021 peak before easing, while the IPC branch breakdown shows near-total concentration in H01M battery and cell classes with thin coverage in adjacent safety and systems branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings were negligible before 2019, rose sharply to a peak in 2021 with five records, then stepped down through 2022 and 2023. Volumes in 2024 through 2026 appear very low, but those years are affected by publication lag and should not be read as a confirmed further decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) accounts for all 19 records in the corpus, confirming that protection work is being filed primarily under core electrochemistry classes. Fire-fighting (A62C), condensation polymers (C08G), electric measurement (G01R), and digital data processing (G06F) each appear in a small subset, while signalling and alarm systems (G08B), nuclear power plants (G21D), and power supply and grid systems (H02J) are each represented by only a single record.
↗ 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.
Battery pack, method and vehicle
The invention provides a battery pack, a method and a vehicle. The battery pack battery has a cell group. The cell group comprises a lithium iron phosphate cell and a ternary lithium-ion cell, wherein the lithium iron phosphate cell and the ternary lithium-ion cell are arranged in series with each another. (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dendrite-Free, Wide Temperature Range Lithium Meta… | 14 |
| 2 | 船舶磷酸铁锂电池系统及其热失控防控方法 | 9 |
| 3 | Battery pack, method and vehicle | 8 |
| 4 | 一种磷酸铁锂电池安全性评价方法、系统、设备及介质 | 4 |
| 5 | Gel polymer electrolyte including crosslinked netw… | 3 |
| 6 | 船舶磷酸铁锂电池系统 | 2 |
| 7 | 储能用磷酸铁锂电池安全管理系统的质态失衡预测方法 | 2 |
| 8 | Battery pack, method and vehicle | 1 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Drexel University
Drexel University holds 3 patent records, the highest count in the corpus. Its technology emphasis, shared with inventors Li Christopher, Li Xiaowei, and Zheng Yongwei, sits in condensation polymers (C08G) and core battery chemistry (H01M), pointing to work on advanced gel or crosslinked polymer electrolytes aimed at improving intrinsic LFP safety at the materials level. No momentum trend data is available for Drexel in the evidence.
patent records: 3Battero Tech Corp Ltd
Battero Tech holds 2 patent records, tying with Southeast University, State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute, and NIO Tech Anhui. Shanghai Lanjun New Energy Technology (the entity behind the Battero filing cluster) is flagged as a new entrant in the momentum data, having filed 2 recent records from a negligible prior base, suggesting an accelerating commercial interest in LFP safety rather than a long-established position.
patent records: 2Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 19 patent families. This is a small field, reflecting a relatively specialized intersection of LFP chemistry and safety or protection engineering.
Drexel University leads the applicant ranking with 3 patent records, focused on advanced polymer electrolyte chemistry. It is followed by Battero Tech, Southeast University, State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute, and NIO Tech Anhui, each with 2 patent records.
China is the leading filing jurisdiction by patent records, followed by the United States and Europe via the EPO. This reflects the concentration of Chinese industrial, state-owned, and academic applicants in the ranking.
The lifecycle assessment classifies the field as in Decline, with annual filings easing back from a 2021 peak and a recent-window growth rate of -22%. The most recent 18 to 24 months of data are subject to publication lag and may under-count actual activity, but the multi-year trend is one of slowing rather than growth.
H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) is present in all 19 patent records, making it the visible classification. Fire-fighting (A62C), condensation polymers (C08G), electric and magnetic measurement (G01R), and digital data processing (G06F) each appear in a small subset of records.
The evidence identifies one documented co-applicant relationship: State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute and Southeast University have co-filed 2 patent records together. No other co-filing pairs appear in the evidence for this corpus.
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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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