Onboard Charger for Electric Buses Patent Landscape 2026
The onboard charger for electric buses field is highly concentrated, with Siemens Industry leading by a wide margin and the Hyundai–Kia–Yura ecosystem forming a tightly co-filing second tier. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak and the most recent years are further understated by publication lag.
Siemens Industry leads a highly concentrated field dominated by two distinct clusters
Siemens Industry Inc holds the top position with 19 patent families, followed by Hyundai Motor Co Ltd at 8 and Yura Corp Co Ltd and Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd each at 6. The top five filers together account for 65% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers.
The field splits into two clear tiers: a Siemens-led infrastructure-and-wireless cluster and a Hyundai-ecosystem cluster (Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis, Yura Corp) focused on vehicle-side charging protocols. Make My Day Ltd and Fermata Energy II LLC represent a third, smaller tier of niche V2G and fleet-optimization specialists.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Siemens Industry Inc | 19 | |
| 2 | Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | 8 | |
| 3 | Yura Corp Co Ltd | 6 | |
| 4 | Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd | 6 | |
| 5 | Make My Day Ltd | 4 | |
| 6 | Fermata Energy II LLC | 4 | |
| 7 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 4 | |
| 8 | Fermata Energy LLC | 3 | |
| 9 | Daimler Truck AG | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Siemens AG | 2 | |
| 11 | Eaton Intelligent Power Ltd | 2 | |
| 12 | Abhay Patwardhan | 1 | |
| 13 | Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee | 1 | |
| 14 | Vijay Chheda | 1 | |
| 15 | ELeapPower Ltd | 1 | |
| 16 | Tru Lock Tech LLC | 1 | |
| 17 | Vishwakarma Government Engineering College | 1 |
Siemens Industry’s commanding position, reinforced by a broad wireless-communication and power-management overlay, suggests that any entrant seeking to match its coverage would face significant freedom-to-operate challenges in both the hardware and grid-interface layers.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are likely under-counted due to standard patent publication delays; apparent softness in those years should not be read as a decline in inventive activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing volume surged from 2021 and technology composition is anchored in EV propulsion
The annual filing trend and technology-branch breakdown together reveal a field that accelerated sharply after 2020 and is anchored in electric-vehicle propulsion standards, with meaningful but smaller clusters in grid systems and business-process patents.
Annual filing trend
Filings were negligible before 2018, rose modestly through 2020, then surged in 2021–2023 with the highest recorded annual volume in 2023. The apparent decline in 2024 and 2025 reflects publication lag rather than a real slowdown; recent-window growth stands at 267% versus the prior three-year window. Treat 2024–2026 bars as floor estimates.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) dominates the branch mix by a wide margin, reflecting the core charging-interface and protocol work. H02J (power supply and grid systems) and G06Q (business and commerce data processing, including fleet and energy-management software) form a secondary layer, while H02M (power conversion), H04W (wireless networks), and H05K (printed circuits) are present but sparse — pointing to under-served adjacent areas.
↗ 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.
Varying vehicle charging bus
A power system, responsive to a detected change in an onboard charger or a generator, switches a converter from a first conversion setting, in which a first low voltage value of a medium-voltage bus port is converted to a first high voltage value of a high-voltage bus port, to a second conversion setting, in which a second low voltage value of the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Device for bi-directional power conversion and cha… | 31 |
| 2 | Vehicle and method for controlling the same | 20 |
| 3 | Method and apparatus for charging/discharging elec… | 18 |
| 4 | System and method of a mobile electrical system | 17 |
| 5 | Method and apparatus for charging/discharging elec… | 14 |
| 6 | A method and apparatus for planning an electric ca… | 13 |
| 7 | Marine charging system | 6 |
| 8 | Devices, systems, and methods for optimization of … | 5 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, co-filing ecosystems, and geographic spread — shape where new R&D investment is most or least exposed to existing IP.
Growth stage, past its 2023 filing peak
The lifecycle evidence classifies this field as Growth: the recent three-year filing window is 267% above the prior three-year window, confirming multi-year expansion. However, annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak. Entrants can still establish positions, but the window before the field matures into consolidation appears to be narrowing.
Growth stageTop five control nearly two-thirds of the leading-filer pool
The top five filers account for 65% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, a level that signals meaningful concentration. The tier gap between Siemens Industry (19 patent families) and the next cluster is substantial, making it difficult for new entrants to replicate breadth without targeted, high-value filing strategies. Niche positioning — particularly in power conversion or wireless charging — may offer more tractable entry points.
High concentrationHyundai–Kia–Yura triangle is the dominant co-filing ecosystem
The most active co-filing relationships are between Kia (Kia Corporation) and Hyundai Motor (8 co-filed patent families), Kia and Yura Corp (6), and Hyundai Motor and Yura Corp (6). This triangle suggests a tightly integrated OEM–tier-1 development chain that coordinates IP jointly, raising barriers for third parties seeking to license into Hyundai-platform vehicles.
OEM ecosystemUS-centric filing with a meaningful European and PCT layer
The United States is the lead jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). India appears as a smaller but non-trivial filing destination, reflecting both manufacturing interest and local regulatory push for electric bus adoption. Japan and Germany have minimal coverage relative to their industrial relevance, suggesting either strategic filing gaps or early-stage domestic activity not yet captured.
US-first, global reachGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kia Corporation | Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | 8 |
| Kia Corporation | Yura Corp Co Ltd | 6 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Yura Corp Co Ltd | 6 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Siemens Industry anchors the field; Hyundai Mobis is a fast-rising challenger
Siemens Industry holds a commanding lead built on broad electric-vehicle propulsion and wireless-communication filings. Hyundai Mobis entered recently and is scaling rapidly within the Hyundai ecosystem, focusing on grid-interface and commerce-layer patents alongside core charging protocols.
Siemens Industry Inc
Siemens Industry Inc leads with 19 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in momentum terms, indicating its position was built rapidly in the recent filing window. Its technology emphasis spans B60L 53 (electric vehicle charging infrastructure) as the primary focus, with secondary coverage in H04W 12 (wireless communication networks) and G06Q 30 (commerce and administration data processing) — a combination that spans hardware interface, wireless charging, and fleet-service layers.
families: 19Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd
Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd holds 6 patent families and is also classified as a new entrant, meaning its current position was built in the most recent filing window. Its focus combines B60L 53 (charging infrastructure), G06Q 50 (sector-specific business data processing), and H02J 3 (grid power supply systems), reflecting a strategy that ties vehicle-side charging to grid-integration and energy-management software — differentiating it within the broader Hyundai ecosystem.
families: 6| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Siemens Industry Inc | 21 | ▲ new entrant |
| Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
| Fermata Energy LLC | 5 | ▲ new entrant |
| Make My Day Ltd | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| Daimler Truck AG | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
Power conversion and wireless networking are the most tractable adjacent branches
Several IPC branches adjacent to the dominant B60L core carry low filing counts, suggesting these areas are under-served relative to their technical relevance to onboard charging systems for electric buses.
H02M · Power conversion (AC/DC)
With only 6 patent records in this branch and a 4% share of the corpus, power-conversion circuitry is sparsely covered despite being a core enabler of efficient onboard charging. Advances in wide-bandgap semiconductor topologies (SiC, GaN) for high-power bus chargers represent a plausible technical entry path. The relatively low count may reflect that existing filers embed conversion claims within broader B60L patents rather than filing dedicated H02M claims, leaving room for focused converter-architecture filings.
Search this in Eureka →H04W · Wireless communication networks
Only 5 patent records fall under H04W, a 3% share, even though wireless charging and vehicle-to-grid communication are increasingly central to bus fleet management. Siemens Industry has some presence here, but the branch remains sparse for other filers. Entrants with expertise in wireless power transfer protocols or V2G communication standards could target this branch without immediately colliding with the dominant B60L positions held by the Hyundai ecosystem.
Search this in Eureka →How leading filers differ by technology route across the onboard charger space
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | B60L 55 · Electric vehicle propulsion | B60L 58 · Electric vehicle propulsion | B60L 50 · Electric vehicle propulsion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siemens Industry Inc | Strong · 20 | Absent | Emerging · 2 | Absent | Absent |
| Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd | Strong · 6 | Strong · 4 | Moderate · 2 | Moderate · 2 | Emerging · 1 |
| Fermata Energy LLC | Strong · 5 | Strong · 3 | Strong · 3 | Strong · 3 | Absent |
| Ford Global Technologies LLC | Strong · 4 | Strong · 4 | Absent | Moderate · 2 | Absent |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 2 |
| Yura Corp Co Ltd | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 65 patent families, representing the global body of work on this specific topic as captured in the PatSnap Eureka dataset.
Siemens Industry Inc leads with 19 patent families, well ahead of the next-ranked filer, Hyundai Motor Co Ltd, at 8 patent families.
The field is classified as Growth stage. The most recent three-year filing window is 267% above the prior three-year window on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak. The 2024–2026 data are further understated by publication lag.
The most active co-filing relationships are between Kia Corporation and Hyundai Motor Co Ltd (8 co-filed patent families), Kia Corporation and Yura Corp Co Ltd (6), and Hyundai Motor Co Ltd and Yura Corp Co Ltd (6), forming a tightly integrated OEM–tier-1 ecosystem.
The United States is the lead jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). India is a smaller but notable filing destination; Japan and Germany have limited coverage relative to their industrial scale.
H02M (power conversion circuits) and H04W (wireless communication networks) each have low filing counts — 6 and 5 patent records respectively — relative to the dominant B60L class. These branches represent under-served adjacent areas where focused filings on converter architecture or wireless charging protocols may encounter less crowding than in the core B60L space.
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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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