Global EV Patent Counts are Growing, with BYD in the Lead – CleanTechnica

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During the recent opening of the new BYD Zhengzhou All-Terrain Race Track, Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD Group’s Brand and Public Relations Department, shared several lists from the global automotive big data platform www.autopat.cn showing BYD well ahead in the global patent count for HEVs (conventional hybrid vehicles), BEVs (full battery electric vehicles), and overall NEVs (a term for plugin hybrids, BEVs, and hydrogen vehicles).

This should not be a surprise to anyone who has been following BYD closely. Its 120,000+ R&D engineers currently submit an average of 45 patent applications and have 20 patents awarded per day. R&D spend is consistently higher than net profits. If you see BYD patent announcements in your news feed, there is clearly a lot going on. Even though many of the company’s patents are for other parts of its diverse business and do not appear on these lists, BYD has built a significant lead in EV intellectual property (IP). At this rate, the gap is poised to widen.

Looking at the different lists, far more attention is being paid to BEV IP, with over 9 times as many patents compared to hybrids. While BYD overtaking Toyota’s previous lead in hybrid patents has historical significance, the BEV numbers are far more impactful.

Looking Further Down the List

BYD clearly wanted you to pay attention to their position at the top, and the organization compiling the list wanted you to pay attention to national origin (we’ll get back to that). However, there are other interesting aspects to the ranking, especially when focusing on just BEVs.

Toyota comes in at second with less than half as many BEV patents compared to BYD. However, it is interesting to see Toyota, as well as Honda at fourth, so prominently placed. We have tended to see them as a bit behind in the BEV market. In addition, Toyota has technology partnerships with BYD and FAW at fifth. As such, Toyota has access to significant BEV IP if it decides to put it to use.

Beijing New Energy Vehicle Company, a division of BAIC Group, takes third position. While BAIC hasn’t seen as much attention lately, it partners with big names like Huawei, Canadian supplier Magna, Hyundai (#10), and Daimler. And it also makes its own brands, like Arcfox. BAIC was also recently found to have had the highest level of NEV subsidies to automakers in China from 2016 to 2022, over ⅓ of the total, which likely helped to fund its R&D (BYD, for comparison, received less than 1%). 

Following state-owned FAW, private sector Great Wall comes in at #6, while Geely comes in at #8. While these are two of BYD’s fiercest competitors in the market, they trail significantly in patents.

Also, toward the bottom of the top 10 are Ford and GM. While their BEV commitment can sometimes come into question, similar to Toyota, they have clearly invested in developing the technology, and we can hope to see new innovations on the road in the coming years.

Patents Aren’t Everything, But They Are Important

At this stage, I think it is important to temper the emphasis on patent count a bit. Not all patents are created equal. Some seem to be a significant breakthrough, while others seem to be a relatively minor tweak to existing technology. However, especially when looking at abstracts out of context, what can seem to be relatively minor could be a significant breakthrough, and vice versa.

Companies also apply for patents for different reasons. Sometimes it is to protect the technology of a product that they are introducing to the market. For BYD’s U7 technology showcase, for example, I seemed to be seeing many of the technologies in the car appearing as patent announcements while the vehicle was being displayed to the public. However, there are a wide range of patent strategies. Some offensive strategies focus on patenting an idea as early as possible to try to prevent competitors from developing those ideas. Some of those ideas never make it to market, like many of the fascinating inventions in the Popular Science magazines that I read growing up. Sometimes, the intention of the patent is to license technology, rather than to produce it. Sometimes, companies will file for patents to prevent other companies with similar ideas from suing them for patent infringement.

However, regardless of the strategy, patent count indicates an effort to develop and secure intellectual property. There are ways to build a viable company without controlling the patents. Companies can license technology, form partnerships, or access the technology through supplier relationships (like the above-mentioned Magna). Newer automakers Huawei and Xiaomi, for example, have focused patents on intelligent driving and connectivity, while also benefitting from EV technology developed with partners. But having IP is an advantage.

Turning that advantage into a marketable, reliable, and profitable product is another challenge. As Edison is credited with saying, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Simply developing the idea enough to obtain a patent does not guarantee success.

Back to China

The organization publishing the lists was clearly emphasizing China’s lead in EV patent count, with BYD as the top company. Beyond sheer patent count, the New York Times also examined China’s expanding lead in high-quality global patents and published research. Going from “copycat” to “innovator.”

The effort put into legally securing intellectual property is in stark contrast to the persistent accusations that China is just stealing US IP. And the shift in patents indicates that the old model of Chinese companies relying on technology from JV partners is no longer the case. They should feel proud of that progress, but it is just part of the bigger picture.

While it is easy to think about this in terms of competition, the proliferation of new patents also means that a lot of effort is being put into innovation around electric vehicles. That innovation is also an opportunity. Through licensing, partnerships, and supplier relationships, more advanced technology can be accessed. New inventions can also be built upon the innovations of others, even if a licensing agreement is needed for the foundational technology that underlies them.

Companies are not just claiming a piece of the technology pie, but also making the pie much bigger. While those who are trying to close themselves off from the world might feel threatened, the potential for global collaboration based on the increasing flow of innovation is a reason to be optimistic.