Korean Companies Hold 41% of Global Automotive Battery Patents

Korean companies are building up a solid lead in the market for electric vehicle batteries.

According to a market report on automotive batteries published by SNE Research on January 12, Korean companies held a 41 percent share of automotive battery patents as a percentage of the global total. LG Chem held 757 patents among 4,427 patents in 2014, accounting for 17.1 percent of all global patents. Samsung SDI owned 528 patents, accounting for 11.9 percent, while Hyundai Motor owned 244.

Japan’s Hitachi, a rival of Korean companies in the automotive battery industry, accounted for 7.9 percent of global patents, owning 349 patents in 2014. Toyota owned 242 patents, accounting for 5.5 percent of all patents. The share of patents owned by Japanese companies was no more than 60 percent of the share owned by Korean companies in 2014. Tesla Motors in the U.S. owned 65 patents, accounting for 1.5 percent of all patents.

U.S. companies owned 1,428 patents overall while Korean companies owned 1,039 patents. Japanese companies owned 989 patents and European companies held 569 patents in 2014.

Patents categorized to be concerning automotive batteries are related to technologies in assembly, cooling modules, durability, battery management, capacity control and thermal control.

Kenny Kim, CEO of SNE Research, said that based on the report, battery focused companies will take the lead in the automotive battery market in the future, replacing automobile companies.