Lithium-Ion Battery Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 12.7% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees account for 6,099 of the 48,029 records in scope — a real lead, but not a lockout.
- Filing has cooled from a 2019 peak. Volume ran from 1,293 records in 2019 to 694 by 2024, a documented -45% swing between 2021 and 2024.
- H01M dominates, everything else is secondary. Core battery/cell classifications (H01M) touch 35.1% of records; the next largest class, power supply systems, sits at just 4.2%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1,258 records) with 2024 (694) — 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 48,029 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the lithium-ion battery patent record shows
The dataset covers 48,029 published records combining core cell chemistry language (“lithium ion cell”, “rechargeable lithium battery”) with functional claim terms like state of charge, electrode capacity and electrolyte stability. That combination captures the working layer of the field — not just materials patents, but claims tied to how a cell is measured, cycled and managed in use.
Filing activity peaked in 2019 and has since declined through the most recent complete year, 2024. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures in the trend are still filling in and should not be read as a continued slowdown on their own.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 48,029-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A 2019 peak, then a documented pullback
Records rose to a peak of 1,293 in 2019, then filing volume fell from 1,258 in 2021 to 694 in 2024 — a -45% move over that three-year span. Because publication trails filing by about 18 months, the 2025–2026 tail understates real activity and is not evidence of a continuing decline.
H01M carries the field; everything else is a minority share
H01M (batteries, cells & fuel cells) touches 35.1% of all records — by far the densest single class. Power supply/grid systems (H02J, 4.2%), inorganic compound classes (C01G, C01B, each 3.3%) and capacitors (H01G, 2.8%) trail well behind, with electric vehicle propulsion (B60L) at just 1.7%, suggesting most claim activity still sits inside the cell itself rather than at the system or vehicle-integration layer.
Shares are the percentage of the 48,029 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Lithium-Ion Batteries Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about lithium-ion batteries patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim from the corpus
Electrode material for rechargeable lithium battery, electrode structural body comprising said electrode material (US7141187B2)
An electrode material for a rechargeable lithium battery, characterized in that said electrode material comprises a fine powder of a silicon-based material whose principal component is silicon element, said fine powder having an average particle size (R) in a range of 0.1 μm≦R<0.5 μm. An electrode structural body for a rechargeable lithium battery, having an electrode material layer comprising said silicon-based material fine powder. A rechargeable lithium battery whose anode comprising said electrode structural body.Filed by Canon Kabushiki Kaisha; granted 2006-11-28.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6516227B1 | Rechargeable spinal cord stimulator system | 3,876 |
| 2 | US6895280B2 | Rechargeable spinal cord stimulator system | 1,671 |
| 3 | US7071287B2 | Aerogel metallic compositions | 1,531 |
| 4 | US5847566A | Battery capacity calculation method | 1,092 |
| 5 | US9026347B2 | Smart electric vehicle (EV) charging and grid integration apparatus and methods | 1,039 |
| 6 | US9197079B2 | System and method for tracking and archiving battery performance data | 833 |
| 7 | US9099877B2 | Battery management system for control of lithium power cells | 825 |
| 8 | US5411537A | Rechargeable biomedical battery powered devices with recharging and control system therefor | 789 |
| 9 | US20090278406A1 | Portable Power Supply | 781 |
| 10 | US6459175B1 | Universal power supply | 768 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate references — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the concentration, trend and citation figures above.
A lead, not a lockout
The top five assignees hold 12.7% of all records in scope, and the top ten hold 17.8%. That leaves the large majority of filings spread across a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants, which means freedom-to-operate analysis has to look well past the household names.
Volume has pulled back from its 2019 peak
Records fell from 1,258 in 2021 to 694 in 2024, a documented -45% change. Several leading assignees also show sharp year-on-year drops in the most recent tracked year, though that year is still incomplete in the record and should be read cautiously.
Claim density sits inside the cell, not the system
H01M's 35.1% share dwarfs every adjacent class. Vehicle-level integration (B60L, 1.7%) and grid-facing power systems (H02J, 4.2%) are comparatively lightly claimed, which is where new entrants can find more open ground than in core cell chemistry.
Old citation leaders don't map to current filing activity
The most-cited records in this dataset date back well before the 2019 filing peak. High citation counts reflect years of accumulation inside the searched corpus, not that those inventions define where filing is happening now.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to lithium-ion batteries patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked assignee list spans 100 companies across battery cell makers, automakers and materials suppliers, with filing volume dropping off quickly after the leading names.
A clear top filer, well ahead of fifth place
The leading assignee's 1,951 records compare with 783 at fifth place and 431 at tenth — a steep drop-off that indicates real scale advantage at the very top, even though the combined top-5 share of the full corpus is modest.
Recent-year momentum has cooled across several leaders
Multiple leading assignees show sharp year-on-year declines in the latest tracked year, including drops to zero for some. Given the ~18-month publication lag, this partly reflects incomplete recent-year data rather than a full stop in R&D activity.
Co-assignee activity is concentrated in a few pairings
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in this dataset, and the strongest pairing reaches 38 joint records. Collaborative filing is the exception here, not the norm — most records carry a single corporate assignee.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. | 8 | -94% |
| BASF SE | 3 | -25% |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Valence Technology, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | 0 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Company | 0 | — |
| A123 Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The figures above describe the corpus as a whole. Turning them into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means drilling into specific claims and specific assignees.
Check freedom-to-operate against the ranked leaders
With the top 5 holding only 12.7% of records, competitive exposure is spread across a long tail — a single-assignee check is not sufficient due diligence.
Explore assignees in EurekaMap claim language in the under-claimed branches
Vehicle integration and grid-facing classes carry far lower density than core cell chemistry, which is where a narrowly drafted first claim has more room to stand.
Run a white space search in EurekaTrack the momentum shift past 2024
The 2021–2024 pullback is documented; what happens after depends on filings still working through publication lag.
Monitor filing trends in EurekaCommon questions about lithium-ion battery patents
The dataset's ranked assignee list of 100 companies shows a single leader with 1,951 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 783 and tenth place at 431. The five leading assignees together hold 6,099 records, which is 12.7% of the 48,029 records in scope. That leaves the majority of filings distributed across a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants, so a full competitive picture requires looking beyond just the top names.
Filing volume peaked in 2019 at 1,293 records and had fallen to 694 by 2024, a documented -45% change from the 2021 level of 1,258. That decline through 2024 is real, based on complete data. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so those most recent years are undercounted and should not be read as proof the field is continuing to cool.
Core battery and cell classifications under IPC class H01M account for 35.1% of all 48,029 records, far ahead of any other class. Power supply and grid systems (H02J) sit at 4.2%, inorganic compound classes (C01G and C01B) at 3.3% each, and electric vehicle propulsion (B60L) at just 1.7%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100%, but the gap between H01M and everything else is the clear takeaway: claim density is concentrated inside the cell itself rather than at the vehicle or grid-integration level.
The classes adjacent to core cell chemistry carry noticeably thinner coverage: EV propulsion integration (B60L) at 1.7%, cable and conductor materials (H01B) at 1.0%, and grid-facing power systems (H02J) at 4.2%, compared with H01M's 35.1%. These lower-density branches are where a first claim has more room to stand without colliding with dense prior art, though thinner coverage does not by itself mean the technology is commercially untested — it means the claim space around it is less crowded.
Not reliably. The most-cited records in this dataset, including two spinal cord stimulator patents and an aerogel composition patent that predate the 2019 filing peak, accumulated their citation counts over many years inside this searched corpus. High citation counts are a sign of long-standing influence within the dataset, not a signal of what is being actively claimed now. Recent-year filing volume and IPC composition are better indicators of current activity than citation rank.
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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.