Onboard Charger Powertrain Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. the yearly count peaked at 8 families in 2022 and has not exceeded that since — this is a claim space that stopped expanding before it matured.
- The most-cited art is a single lineage. the top two cited records both describe a dual-output grid-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-grid onboard charger, filed years apart by the same technical thread, and together anchor most of what follows.
- Filing is split across three jurisdictions with no single center of gravity. the United States, India and WIPO/PCT together account for the bulk of receiving offices, with India's share notably high for this category.
What this landscape covers
Integrated onboard charger technology sits at the intersection of vehicle propulsion and power conversion: a single power stage is asked to do double duty as a traction converter and as a battery charger, using the traction motor’s own windings as energy-storage elements rather than adding a dedicated charging circuit. The 47 patent families in this dataset span filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, concentrated overwhelmingly in B60L (electric vehicle propulsion), with heavy overlap into H02M (power conversion) and H02J (power supply and grid systems) — confirming that this is claimed primarily as a vehicle-power problem, not a grid or motor-control problem, even though both adjacent classes carry real weight.
Publication naturally lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025-2026 count understates actual filing activity in those years; treat the most recent bar in any trend chart as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 47 families: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim weight.
A flat-to-declining filing curve
Filings ran at 5 in 2017 and climbed unevenly to a peak of 8 in 2022 — the dataset's midpoint year — before easing off. That shape reads as a technology that had its claim-staking window already close rather than one still accelerating; new entrants now face denser prior art for comparatively less white space than the peak year suggests.
B60L dominates, H02M and H02J follow closely
41 of 47 records touch B60L, the vehicle-propulsion class, with 27 in H02M and 26 in H02J — many records span more than one class, showing that claims routinely stitch propulsion, conversion and grid-interface language together in the same document. Smaller counts in H01F (inductors/transformers) and H02P (motor control) mark where the integration actually happens at the component level, and G06Q's two records hint at charging-management software claims that remain a minor thread.
Shares are the percentage of the 47 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Onboard Charger Electric Powertrain with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about onboard charger electric powertrain and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this space
WO2025154097A1 — Integrated onboard charger of an electric vehicle
Filed by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and published 2025-07-24, this application discloses an integrated onboard charger that determines whether the vehicle is in traction or charging mode and, based on that determination, operates the traction converter as a boost-buck converter — using two or more traction motor windings as energy-storage elements to charge the battery.Mode-detection plus boost-buck operation of the traction converter is the core mechanism claimed here.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160016479A1 | An integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electri… | 207 |
| 2 | US20210155100A1 | Vehicle on-board charger for bi-directional charging of low/high voltage batteries | 182 |
| 3 | US20180222333A1 | Integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electric v… | 154 |
| 4 | WO2019199964A1 | Vehicle on-board charger for BI-directional charging of low/high voltage batteries | 87 |
| 5 | US10562404B1 | Integrated onboard chargers for plug-in electric vehicles | 86 |
| 6 | US9931951B2 | Integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electric v… | 40 |
| 7 | US20190126763A1 | Electric motor with integrated charger | 30 |
| 8 | US11491883B2 | Vehicle on-board charger for bi-directional charging of low/high voltage batteries | 25 |
| 9 | WO2015192133A2 | An integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electri… | 22 |
| 10 | US10696182B2 | Integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electric v… | 19 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and skew toward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations; read them as an influence signal, not a currency ranking.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the trend, the citation table and the IPC mix, aimed at where a new filer or licensor should be looking.
The peak has already passed
With 2022's count of 8 never exceeded and the trend flat-to-declining since, this is a category where the loudest claim-staking already happened. A new filer entering now is working against an established prior-art base rather than a growing one.
One lineage anchors the field
The two highest-cited records both describe a dual-output grid-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-grid onboard charger — one at 207 citations, a later continuation-style filing at 154. Anything claiming bidirectional G2V/V2G charging through a shared power stage should be benchmarked against this lineage first.
Claims routinely cross three classes at once
The near-overlapping counts across B60L, H02M and H02J mean most applications in this space are drafted to cover propulsion, power-conversion and grid-interface language simultaneously — a defensive pattern worth matching rather than narrowing away from.
India's share is unusually high for this category
India accounts for 12 of the tracked receiving-office filings, second only to the United States at 17 and ahead of WIPO/PCT at 9 — a jurisdictional weighting worth checking before assuming this is a US/EU-centric field.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to onboard charger electric powertrain, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the activity has cooled
Recent-year momentum across tracked assignees shows a field where even the more active filers have gone quiet in the latest tracked year — a pattern consistent with the flat overall trend rather than any single company pulling back.
University-industry co-filing is the norm, not the exception
The strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset each show 3 shared filings, and all three top pairs combine a university or research institute with an industry partner — a sign that much of the integration work is being validated jointly rather than filed by a single OEM alone.
Every tracked assignee shows zero in the latest year
Assignees including Ford Global Technologies, University of Maryland, IIT Madras and University of Toronto's governing council all register zero filings in the most recent tracked year, several down -100% YoY. Given the ~18-month publication lag, this likely understates true 2025-2026 activity rather than confirming a full stop.
A long tail with no runaway leader
Across 47 families, activity is distributed among universities, one or two OEM technology arms and a handful of specialist power-electronics firms, rather than concentrated behind a single dominant assignee — this is a field still open to a well-drafted entrant.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| University of Maryland | 0 | — |
| Ford Global Technologies, LLC | 0 | — |
| Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) | 0 | -100% |
| Eleap Power Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| The Governing Council of the University of Toronto | 0 | — |
| Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) | 0 | — |
| Cambridge Enterprise Limited | 0 | — |
| ZHUZHOU CRRC TIMES ELECTRIC UK INNOVATION CENT | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The filing plateau and the concentrated citation lineage both suggest specific next steps depending on whether you are filing, licensing or defending.
Map your own claims against the top-cited lineage
Before drafting around bidirectional G2V/V2G onboard charging, run a claim chart against the two highest-cited records in this set to see exactly where continuation filings have already extended coverage.
Explore in Eureka →Check the under-claimed sub-areas for freedom to operate
The gaps in H01F component-level integration and G06Q charging-management software are narrower than the B60L core — worth a focused search before assuming they are open.
Run a white space search →Track whether the 2025-2026 dip is real or a publication-lag artifact
Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent drop-off in the last two years needs re-checking against fresh filings before concluding the field has gone cold.
Set up monitoring in Eureka →Common questions about onboard charger patents
In this dataset, an integrated onboard charger is a power-conversion architecture where the vehicle's traction converter, and often its traction motor windings, are repurposed as part of the battery-charging path rather than relying on a fully separate charging circuit. Claims typically describe a mode-determination step — traction versus charging — followed by reconfiguring the same power electronics for the alternate function. This differs from a conventional onboard charger, which is a dedicated module with no functional overlap with the drivetrain.
Activity in this dataset is spread across universities, research institutes and industry co-filers rather than concentrated behind one dominant assignee, with several of the more active names — including Ford Global Technologies, the University of Maryland and IIT Madras — showing zero filings in the latest tracked year. Co-assignee pairs, several combining a university with an industry partner, appear repeatedly, suggesting joint academic-industry development is common in this niche. No single company holds a runaway lead across the 47 tracked families.
The filing trend is flat to declining: yearly counts peaked at 8 in 2022 and have not exceeded that since, including a partial final year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years likely understate true activity, but the multi-year plateau before that lag window still points to a maturing rather than an accelerating claim landscape. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should treat the sub-area as settled rather than wide open.
The two highest-cited records in this dataset both describe an integrated dual-output grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) onboard charger for plug-in electric vehicles, with the earliest at 207 citations and a related later filing at 154. A third record covering bidirectional charging of low- and high-voltage batteries sits close behind at 182 citations. Any new bidirectional-charging claim should be checked against this lineage first, since it anchors most of the citation graph in this space.
Among the receiving offices tracked in this dataset, the United States leads with 17 filings, followed by India at 12 and WIPO/PCT filings at 9; the United Kingdom, China and the European Patent Office each account for a smaller share. India's relatively high share is notable for this specific technology and is driven partly by academic institutes such as IIT Madras and IIT Bombay filing alongside industry partners. This spread means a jurisdiction-only search strategy centred on the US and Europe would miss a meaningful share of the relevant art.
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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.