Wireless Power Transfer for Utility Grid Patent Landscape
The wireless power transfer for utility grid space is heavily concentrated, with WiTricity AI Tech LLC and Qualcomm together holding a commanding share of the top-ranked filers across 676 patent families. The field has plateaued near its 2017 peak on an annual basis, though a multi-year window still shows modest positive growth, signalling a maturing but active competitive environment.
WiTricity AI Tech leads a highly concentrated field
WiTricity AI Tech LLC sits at the top of the applicant ranking with 225 patent records, followed by Qualcomm Inc at 159 and WiTricity Corp at 99 — together these three entities account for the bulk of elite-tier activity in this space.
The top five filers collectively represent 51% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating strong concentration at the apex with a pronounced tier gap before the mid-field players such as Hyundai Motor Co Ltd (89 patent records) and Auckland UniServices Ltd (44 patent records).
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WiTricity AI Tech LLC | 225 | |
| 2 | Qualcomm Inc | 159 | |
| 3 | WiTricity Corp | 99 | |
| 4 | Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | 89 | |
| 5 | Auckland UniServices Ltd | 44 | |
| 6 | Strong Force EE Portfolio 2022 LLC | 36 | |
| 7 | PogoTec | 33 | |
| 8 | Apple Inc | 26 | |
| 9 | UT-Battelle LLC | 25 | |
| 10 | Daanaa Resolution Inc | 23 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | MYONGJI UNIV IND & ACAD COOPERATION FOUND | 22 | |
| 12 | InvertedPower Pty Ltd | 16 | |
| 13 | Phion Tech LLC | 15 | |
| 14 | RES & BUSINESS FOUND SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV | 14 | |
| 15 | Signify Holding BV | 13 | |
| 16 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 12 | |
| 17 | Utah State University | 11 | |
| 18 | Intel Corporation | 10 | |
| 19 | Scosche Industries Inc | 9 | |
| 20 | InductEV Inc | 9 |
The leaders’ positions reflect sustained, multi-year investment in core wireless energy transfer and EV charging infrastructure, establishing a portfolio depth that would require significant commitment for new entrants to match in the primary technology branches.
Filing counts for 2024–2026 are subject to publication lag and understate actual recent activity; trend readings for those years should be treated as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual volume has plateaued while EV charging dominates the technology mix
The filing trend and IPC composition charts together reveal a field that peaked in 2017 and has since stabilised, with power supply and grid systems (H02J) and electric vehicle propulsion (B60L) anchoring the technology base.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings reached their highest recorded level in 2017 at 114 records, then declined through 2020 before recovering partially to the 78–85 range in 2022–2023. The 2024–2026 bars are suppressed by publication lag and should not be read as further decline; the multi-year recent-window growth stands at 6%.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H02J (Power supply and grid systems) dominates the IPC mix with 1,243 records, nearly double the next largest branch B60L (Electric vehicle propulsion, 684 records), confirming that grid-interface and EV charging are the primary technical battlegrounds. Power conversion (H02M, 235 records) and magnetics (H01F, 220 records) form a secondary tier.
↗ 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.
Systems and methods for operating a wireless power…
Systems and methods are described herein for facilitating the switching of a power transfer direction in wireless power transfer systems. A ground unit comprises: one or more power transfer coils configured for providing wireless power transfer on an inductive power transfer frequency band; one or more positioning coils configured to emit position data… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wireless energy transfer between a source and a ve… | 1,006 |
| 2 | Grid Shifting System for a Lighting Circuit | 751 |
| 3 | Wireless power antenna alignment adjustment system… | 735 |
| 4 | Wireless energy transfer with variable size resona… | 500 |
| 5 | Wireless energy transfer and continuous radio stat… | 477 |
| 6 | Wireless energy transfer for vehicles | 430 |
| 7 | Wireless energy transfer converters | 426 |
| 8 | Wireless power transfer electric vehicle supply eq… | 425 |
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 allocation
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, collaboration networks, and geographic reach — collectively shape where new investment is likely to yield differentiated returns.
Field has reached maturity with annual volume plateaued near its peak
The lifecycle evidence places this technology at the Maturity stage: annual filings have plateaued near their 2017 peak rather than continuing to climb. The field still shows positive multi-year growth (6% recent window), meaning incremental activity continues, but the era of rapid expansion is past. R&D teams entering now face an established prior-art landscape and should expect narrower claim space in core resonant-coupling approaches.
Maturity stageTop five filers hold 51% share among the hundred largest filers
The top five filers’ 51% share of the hundred largest filers signals strong concentration. WiTricity AI Tech LLC (225 patent records), Qualcomm Inc (159), and WiTricity Corp (99) form a dominant tier. A clear gap separates them from Hyundai Motor Co Ltd (89) and Auckland UniServices Ltd (44), which anchor the challenger tier. Entrants should expect well-defended core positions in H02J and B60L.
High concentrationHyundai–Kia and Korean university partnerships define the co-filing ecosystem
The most active co-filing pair is Hyundai Motor Co Ltd with Kia Corporation (75 joint records), far outpacing any other pairing. Hyundai and Kia each co-filed 20 records with Myongji University and 14 with Sungkyunkwan University, forming a dense Korean automotive–academic cluster. Hyundai also filed 7 records jointly with Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. This cluster indicates that Korean OEMs are leveraging academic IP pipelines to accelerate EV wireless charging development.
Korean OEM-academic clusterUnited States dominates filing jurisdiction; EPO and PCT provide secondary reach
The United States is by far the primary filing jurisdiction with 669 patent records, reflecting both the origin of leading applicants and the importance of the US market. Europe (EPO) follows at 206 records and WIPO (PCT) at 154, providing international reach for key portfolios. India appears at 97 records, suggesting growing interest in the subcontinent’s grid modernisation market. China, notably, shows only 3 records in this corpus, which may reflect corpus scope rather than absence of activity.
US-centric with EPO 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Kia Corporation | 75 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Myongji University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 20 |
| Kia Corporation | Myongji University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 20 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Sungkyunkwan University Research and Business Foundation | 14 |
| Kia Corporation | Sungkyunkwan University Research and Business Foundation | 14 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Hyundai America Technical Center Inc | 7 |
| Kia Corporation | Hyundai America Technical Center Inc | 7 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Hyundai Autron Co Ltd | 2 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | 汉阳大学校产学协力团 | 2 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Konkuk University Industrial Cooperation Foundation | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
WiTricity AI Tech and Qualcomm lead; Strong Force EE and Daanaa Resolution are new entrants gaining ground
The leader tier is defined by breadth across H02J grid-interface and B60L EV-charging branches. Two new-entrant challengers have emerged with sharply different technical profiles from the incumbents.
WiTricity AI Tech LLC
WiTricity AI Tech LLC leads with 225 patent records, concentrated in H02J power supply and grid systems (126 records at H02J7) and H02J50 wireless power sub-classes (124 records), with meaningful EV propulsion coverage (B60L53, 78 records). The associated entity WiTricity Corp holds a further 99 patent records with a near-identical technology profile, suggesting a combined portfolio that collectively anchors the field. The WiTricity Corp filing trajectory shows a sharp recent decline (trend: down 72% vs prior period), reflecting portfolio consolidation or strategic reassignment rather than a loss of competitive interest.
patent records: 225Strong Force EE Portfolio 2022 LLC
Strong Force EE Portfolio 2022 LLC enters as a new entrant with 36 patent records, but its technology emphasis diverges markedly from incumbents: its top sub-classes are H02J3 (grid power systems, 36 records), G06N20 (AI/machine-learning, 26 records), and G06N3 (neural network computing, 25 records). This AI-augmented grid-interface focus represents a distinct strategic angle from the resonant-coupling EV charging mainstream. With 27 recent filings and a new-entrant trajectory, it is among the most active emerging filers in the corpus.
patent records: 36| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| WiTricity Corp | 13 | ▼ -72% |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | 4 | ▼ -85% |
| Auckland UniServices Ltd | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Strong Force EE Portfolio 2022 LLC | 27 | ▲ new entrant |
| Apple Inc | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| Daanaa Resolution Inc | 15 | ▲ new entrant |
| UT-Battelle LLC | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
Power conversion and magnetics: under-served branches adjacent to the dominant H02J core
While H02J commands the corpus, several adjacent IPC branches show notably lower relative depth, suggesting areas where incremental specialisation could differentiate a portfolio from the crowded mainstream.
H02M · Power Conversion (AC/DC etc.)
H02M covers AC/DC and DC/DC conversion circuits that are integral to the power electronics interface between a wireless transfer coil and the utility grid. At 235 patent records and a 7% share of the IPC mix, it sits well below H02J (1,243 records), indicating relatively sparse dedicated coverage. Engineers working on grid-tied inverter topologies optimised for dynamic wireless charging loads could find meaningful claim space here, particularly in combination with emerging grid codes for EV aggregation.
Search this in Eureka →H04L · Digital Information Transmission
H04L (digital information transmission) appears at only 68 patent records and 2% of the IPC mix, despite communication protocols being essential for grid-interactive wireless charging — vehicle-to-grid signalling, demand response coordination, and cybersecurity of the charging interface all fall under this umbrella. The low relative depth suggests that the protocol and data-link layer of wireless grid charging remains under-patented relative to the physical power transfer layer, which could represent an accessible adjacent entry point for software-forward organisations.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ across technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | H02J 50 · Power supply & grid systems | B60L 11 · Electric vehicle propulsion | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | H02J 5 · Power supply & grid systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm Inc | Strong · 285 | Moderate · 105 | Strong · 202 | Emerging · 32 | Moderate · 130 |
| WiTricity Corp | Strong · 126 | Strong · 124 | Emerging · 20 | Strong · 78 | Moderate · 50 |
| Hyundai Motor Co Ltd | Strong · 82 | Strong · 60 | Moderate · 26 | Strong · 53 | Absent |
| Auckland UniServices Ltd | Strong · 38 | Moderate · 17 | Emerging · 7 | Moderate · 8 | Moderate · 13 |
| PogoTec Inc | Strong · 34 | Moderate · 14 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| UT-Battelle LLC | Strong · 21 | Absent | Moderate · 7 | Strong · 11 | Moderate · 6 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus analysed here contains 676 patent families. Filing activity peaked in 2017 and has since plateaued, with the most recent years (2024–2026) under-counted due to publication lag.
WiTricity AI Tech LLC leads with 225 patent records, followed by Qualcomm Inc at 159 patent records and WiTricity Corp at 99 patent records. These three entities form a dominant first tier, separated by a clear gap from the next-ranked filers.
H02J (Power supply and grid systems) is the dominant branch at 1,243 patent records, followed by B60L (Electric vehicle propulsion) at 684 records. Power conversion (H02M, 235 records) and magnetics (H01F, 220 records) form a secondary tier.
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction with 669 patent records. Europe (EPO) follows at 206 records and WIPO (PCT) at 154 records. India is notable at 97 records. China shows only 3 records in this corpus, which may reflect the corpus scope rather than the full global picture.
Hyundai Motor Co Ltd and Kia Corporation form the most active co-filing pair with 75 joint patent records. Both also co-filed extensively with Korean universities: 20 records each with Myongji University and 14 records each with Sungkyunkwan University, forming a tight automotive–academic cluster.
H02M (Power conversion, AC/DC) and H04L (Digital information transmission) are adjacent branches with lower relative depth — 235 and 68 patent records respectively — compared with the dominant H02J core. The protocol and data-link layer of grid-interactive wireless charging (H04L) in particular appears sparse relative to the physical power transfer layer, which could offer differentiated claim space for software-oriented entrants.
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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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