Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Patent Landscape 2026
Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Patent Landscape in 2026
V2G is in a confirmed growth phase, with a 49% rise in patent families over the recent multi-year window and no sign of structural deceleration through 2024. Honda Motor leads a moderately concentrated field where automakers, wireless-charging specialists, and grid operators each hold distinct technology positions.
Honda leads a moderately concentrated V2G field with automakers and grid operators in distinct tiers
The V2G corpus covers 6,823 patent families globally. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. leads the applicant ranking with 329 patent families, followed closely by WiTricity AI Tech LLC (294) and Toyota Jidosha KK (288), with Qualcomm Inc. (209) and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. (198) rounding out the top five.
The top five filers account for 26% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers — a moderate concentration level indicating that no single player dominates the space and meaningful room exists for challengers. A visible tier gap separates the top five from the next cluster of mid-tier applicants, most of whom hold fewer than 200 families.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 329 | |
| 2 | WiTricity AI Tech LLC | 294 | |
| 3 | Toyota Motor Corporation | 288 | |
| 4 | Qualcomm Incorporated | 209 | |
| 5 | Hyundai Motor Company | 198 | |
| 6 | WiTricity Corporation | 189 | |
| 7 | State Grid Corporation of China | 162 | |
| 8 | Contemporary Amperex Technology (Hong Kong) Limited | 159 | |
| 9 | ChargePoint, Inc. | 121 | |
| 10 | Toyota Motor North America, Inc. | 121 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) | 113 | |
| 12 | BYD Co., Ltd. | 103 | |
| 13 | BMW AG | 92 | |
| 14 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 78 | |
| 15 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 69 | |
| 16 | State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co. | 67 | |
| 17 | Volvo Car Corporation | 67 | |
| 18 | Nuvve Corporation | 66 | |
| 19 | Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. | 59 | |
| 20 | Auckland UniServices Ltd. | 55 |
The leaders’ positions reflect divergent strategic emphases: Honda and Toyota anchor the automotive OEM tier, WiTricity AI Tech and Qualcomm concentrate on wireless power transfer, and Hyundai Motor bridges OEM charging and grid-interaction systems. This multi-axis structure means incumbency in one route does not automatically translate to dominance in another.
Applicant rankings and the 6,823-family corpus total are measured at the patent-family level. Technology-branch (IPC), jurisdiction, and route-matrix figures are at the patent-record level — a single family can carry multiple IPC codes or be filed in multiple offices, so those counts can exceed the family total and are not directly comparable to it. The most recent 18–24 months are under-counted due to publication lag; treat 2025–2026 filing volumes as provisional.
Annual filings still rising; EV propulsion and grid-power systems dominate the technology mix
Two views into the corpus reveal both the pace of activity and where technical effort is concentrated. The filing trend shows the multi-year growth trajectory; the IPC composition shows which technical branches carry the most patent-record weight.
Annual filing trend
Annual family counts rose from 333 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 1,185 in 2024, reflecting the Growth life-cycle stage with a 49% rise over the recent window. The apparent dip in 2025 (794) and the low 2026 figure (161) are artifacts of publication lag, not a real deceleration — final counts for those years will be substantially higher once pending applications publish.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
At the patent-record level, B60L (Electric vehicle propulsion) and H02J (Power supply and grid systems) are by far the dominant branches, each carrying over 5,900 records, confirming that the field’s core is the charging interface between vehicle and grid. H02M (Power conversion), G06Q (Business and commerce data processing), and H01M (Batteries and cells) each account for roughly 650–1,050 records, representing active secondary branches. Deeper classes such as G06N (AI models), H04L (Digital transmission), and H02S (Solar/PV) carry 50–260 records each, signaling early-stage cross-disciplinary activity.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaFoundational and most-cited patents
The most-cited families that anchor this space. Hover a row and click to open it in Eureka.
Dynamic scheduling of electric vehicle bidirection…
An exemplary system comprises a memory that stores and a processor that executes computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable components comprise an optimizing component that generates a fleet-level solution for maintaining a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system by a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs), and a scheduling… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smart electric vehicle (EV) charging and grid inte… | 1,035 |
| 2 | Wireless energy transfer between a source and a ve… | 1,006 |
| 3 | Wireless power antenna alignment adjustment system… | 735 |
| 4 | Smart electric vehicle (EV) charging and grid inte… | 583 |
| 5 | Wireless power transfer for chargeable devices | 556 |
| 6 | Method and apparatus for an electrical vehicle | 506 |
| 7 | Wireless energy transfer with variable size resona… | 500 |
| 8 | Wireless energy transfer and continuous radio stat… | 477 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts accrue over time, so this list favours older, broadly-cited patents and may include general-purpose work beyond the specific topic; treat it as foundational context rather than a current-activity ranking.
What V2G’s structure means for R&D investment decisions
Reading concentration, life-cycle stage, collaboration patterns, and geographic spread together gives a clearer picture of where entry barriers are high and where white space remains actionable.
Confirmed Growth stage — annual volume has not yet peaked
The lifecycle evidence places V2G firmly in the Growth stage, with annual filings still rising and the 2024 recorded volume (1,185 families) representing the highest single-year figure in the dataset. A 49% multi-year growth rate confirms the field has not entered a consolidation or maturity phase. R&D investment made now enters a field where IP positions are still being established, but where the window for foundational claims in core charging protocols is narrowing.
Growth stageModerate concentration with a clear two-tier structure
The top five filers hold 26% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output — moderate rather than dominant concentration. A gap exists between the top five (198–329 families each) and the next tier (roughly 60–189 families each), indicating that catching the leaders in core B60L/H02J space requires sustained investment. However, in adjacent branches such as AI-based grid optimization (G06N) or wireless-power conversion (H02M), the concentration is lower and entry costs are structurally smaller.
Moderate concentrationHyundai–Kia–Myongji University cluster is the most active co-filing network
The most active co-applicant pair is Hyundai Motor and Kia (181 joint filings), followed by Hyundai Motor with Myongji University (52) and Kia with Myongji University (48). On the Chinese side, BYD co-files frequently with Shenzhen Fangchengbao Automotive (44), and State Grid Corporation co-files with State Grid Beijing Electric Power (35), China Electric Power Research Institute (26), and State Grid Tianjin Marketing Service Center (16). CATL and Shenzhen Times Future Energy also show 31 joint filings. These clusters signal that tri-party OEM–automaker–university alliances and state-enterprise ecosystems are structurally important to V2G IP formation.
Active co-filing clustersUS and China together account for the majority of patent records; India and Japan are significant secondary offices
At the patent-record level, the United States leads with 2,550 records and China follows with 2,225, together representing the two primary filing jurisdictions. Europe (EPO) contributes 1,023 records and WIPO (PCT) adds 741, providing broad international coverage. India (524) and Japan (512) are notable secondary offices, and Germany (446) reflects the importance of European automotive manufacturing. Filers seeking broad protection should prioritize US, China, and EPO as the minimum portfolio, with India and Japan as high-value secondary targets given EV adoption trajectories.
US + China dominantGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Company | Kia Corporation | 181 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Myongji University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 52 |
| Kia Corporation | Myongji University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 48 |
| BYD Co., Ltd. | Shenzhen Fangchengbao Automotive Sales Co., Ltd. | 44 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Beijing Electric Power Co., Ltd. | 35 |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) | Shenzhen Times Future Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 31 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | China Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 26 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | State Grid Tianjin Electric Power Company Marketing Service Center | 16 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Kia Corporation | 14 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | NARI Group Corporation | 10 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Honda anchors the OEM tier; Hyundai and Toyota are accelerating challengers
The top players differ meaningfully by technology emphasis and recent filing trajectory. Automakers concentrate on EV propulsion and grid interface protocols (B60L53, H02J3/7), while wireless-charging specialists (WiTricity, Qualcomm) emphasize inductive power transfer subclasses.
Honda Motor Co. Ltd.
Honda holds 329 patent families, the largest portfolio in the corpus. Its technology emphasis spans EV charging infrastructure (B60L53), grid-connected power supply (H02J3), and battery management (H02J7). Despite the scale of its portfolio, its recent filing trend shows a sharp deceleration (down 85% in the most recent period versus the prior), suggesting the bulk of Honda’s foundational V2G claims were filed in earlier years and its current focus may have shifted toward prosecution and licensing rather than new primary filings.
families: 329Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.
Hyundai holds 198 patent families and is one of the field’s most actively growing filers, with a recent filing trend up 41% versus the prior period. Its technology focus is concentrated in EV charging (B60L53), V2G grid services (B60L55), and battery power management (H02J7). Hyundai’s close co-filing partnership with Kia (181 joint filings) and Myongji University effectively amplifies its output, making the Hyundai-Kia-Myongji cluster collectively among the most active in the field.
families: 198| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 33 | ▼ -85% |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) | 91 | ▼ -36% |
| WiTricity Corporation | 12 | ▼ -78% |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 100 | ▲ +41% |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 108 | ▲ new entrant |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 41 | ▲ +11% |
Under-served adjacent branches in power conversion, commerce, and battery management
The following IPC branches sit adjacent to the dominant B60L/H02J core and carry meaningfully lower patent-record counts relative to their technical relevance to V2G. They are observations of relative sparsity; whether each represents a viable entry point depends on a team’s existing capabilities and freedom-to-operate position.
H02M · Power conversion (AC/DC etc.)
H02M carries 1,046 patent records — roughly one-sixth the volume of the dominant B60L and H02J branches — despite being technically central to any bidirectional charger design. AC/DC and DC/DC conversion efficiency, topology selection, and switching control are prerequisites for commercially viable V2G hardware. The relative sparsity suggests that converter-level innovation (e.g., wide-bandgap device integration, adaptive topology switching for V2G duty cycles) may carry lower filing density than the system-level charging interface patents that dominate the corpus. Teams with power electronics expertise and existing H02M portfolios may find this branch offers more room for differentiated claims.
Search this in Eureka →G06Q · Business, commerce & admin data processing
G06Q has 1,025 patent records, placing it fourth by volume but still far below the vehicle and grid interface classes. This branch covers the commercial and transactional layer of V2G: energy market participation, dynamic pricing, demand-response contracts, and fleet aggregation business logic. As V2G moves from pilot to commercial deployment, the IP landscape for settlement protocols, virtual power plant software, and consumer-facing billing platforms is relatively open compared to the hardware charging layer. The technical entry path is software-dominant, which lowers hardware capital requirements but raises questions about patent eligibility in some jurisdictions.
Search this in Eureka →Leaders differ sharply by technology route — wireless transfer vs. grid interface vs. battery management
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | H02J 3 · Power supply & grid systems | B60L 55 · Electric vehicle propulsion | B60L 11 · Electric vehicle propulsion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Strong · 199 | Strong · 167 | Strong · 176 | Strong · 138 | Emerging · 28 |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | Absent | Strong · 284 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 309 |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) | Moderate · 88 | Strong · 184 | Moderate · 40 | Emerging · 34 | Absent |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Strong · 100 | Strong · 102 | Strong · 54 | Moderate · 41 | Moderate · 34 |
| WiTricity Corporation | Strong · 122 | Strong · 109 | Absent | Moderate · 25 | Moderate · 38 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Strong · 160 | Moderate · 65 | Absent | Moderate · 65 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 6,823 patent families globally, with a 49% growth rate over the recent multi-year window, confirming the field is in an active Growth stage.
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. leads with 329 patent families, ahead of WiTricity AI Tech LLC (294), Toyota Jidosha KK (288), Qualcomm Inc. (209), and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. (198).
At the patent-record level, the United States leads with 2,550 records, followed by China (2,225), Europe EPO (1,023), WIPO PCT (741), India (524), and Japan (512). The US and China together represent the two dominant filing offices.
B60L (Electric vehicle propulsion) and H02J (Power supply and grid systems) dominate at over 5,900 patent records each. Secondary classes include H02M (Power conversion, 1,046 records), G06Q (Business data processing, 1,025 records), and H01M (Batteries and cells, 659 records).
Hyundai Motor and Kia are the most active co-filing pair with 181 joint filings, followed by Hyundai Motor with Myongji University (52) and Kia with Myongji University (48). On the Chinese side, BYD and Shenzhen Fangchengbao Automotive co-file on 44 families, and State Grid Corporation co-files extensively with affiliated grid entities.
H02M (Power conversion, AC/DC) and G06Q (Business and commerce data processing) are the largest adjacent branches with meaningfully lower filing density relative to the dominant core — each carrying roughly 1,000 patent records compared to over 5,900 for the top two classes. H01M (Batteries), G06F (Digital data processing), and G01R (Electrical measurement) are smaller adjacent branches with even lower density.
Ready to map your own V2G patent landscape?
Join 18,000+ innovators using PatSnap Eureka to map any technology landscape: search 2B+ patents and papers, surface key assignees, and generate a report like this in minutes.
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.