Title page
Contents
Acknowledgements 5
Key findings and insights 6
Introduction 10
Motivation and methodology of the report 12
Hydrogen fuel cell technologies for the electrification of transport 14
General field overview, history, and global patent development of fuel cells 14
Hydrogen fuel cell technologies in transport: why hydrogen, and why fuel cells? 14
Fuel cell history 16
Fuel cell technologies 21
General overview 21
Polymer electrolyte or proton exchange membrane fuel cells 24
Solid oxide fuel cells 24
Direct methanol or liquid ammonia fuel cells and reformer technology 24
Phosphoric acid fuel cells 25
Alkali membrane fuel cells 25
Molten carbonate fuel cells 25
Patent landscape of fuel cell technologies 25
Fuel cell recycling 28
Cost analysis fuel cells in transport 29
Fuel cell recycling roadmap 29
Fuel cell automated production 31
Fuel cell technologies in transportation 35
Market application breakdown 36
Innovation origin view 38
Patent filings by patent applicant type 40
Market view analysis: where are fuel cell patents in transport being filed globally? 45
Shifting the analysis from a patent filing count to active patent portfolios 48
Dynamic and comparative company analysis 49
Top 20 universities and research institutes in the field 50
Fuel cell application: personal and commercial road vehicles 52
Fuel cells as range extender 56
Fuel cell application: shipping and marine vehicles 59
Fuel cell application: aviation and above-ground vehicles 65
Fuel cell application: rail and track vehicles 69
Fuel cell application: special vehicles 72
The future of fuel cell technologies in transport 78
Technology readiness level (TRL) 80
Patent perspective 80
Commercial viability 81
Customer benefits and problems 81
Need for action 82
Future drivers 82
Economic drivers 82
Political drivers 83
Roadmap and market outlook for hydrogen technologies in transport 83
Annex 85
Glossary 85
Patent searches 88
References 95
Table 1. Top 20 inventor origins, with filing trends over time and across transportation application fields 39
Table 2. Top 20 companies in fuel cells for transportation in general 49
Table 3. Active patent portfolios (without utility models) of top-ranked universities and research institutions in fuel cells in transport 51
Table 4. Active patent portfolios of the leading 20 players in fuel cells in road transport (left part of table) compared to recent patent filing activity... 58
Table 5. Active patent portfolios of the leading 20 players in fuel cells in shipping (left part of table) compared to recent patent filing activity (all patents,... 65
Table 6. Active patent portfolios of the leading 20 players in fuel cells in aviation (left part of table) compared to recent patent filing activity (all patents,... 68
Table 7. Active patent portfolios of the leading 20 players in fuel cells in rail and track vehicles (left part of table) compared to recent patent filing activity... 71
Table 8. Active patent portfolios of the leading 20 players in fuel cells in special vehicles (left part of table) compared to recent patent filing activity (all patents,... 76
Figure 1. Transport sector CO2 emissions by mode within the Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS), 2000-2030 10
Figure 2. Energy density plot - energy by weight versus energy by volume 15
Figure 3. Life cycle efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles compared to battery powered vehicles 16
Figure 4. Drawing from U.S. Patent US3112229, "Fuel Cell," by Inventor Francis T. Bacon, filed in 1961 and published in 1963 17
Figure 5. Patent filings in the field of fuel cells by year of filing (1950-2020) 18
Figure 6. Number of patent filings by the five key inventor locations 19
Figure 7. Number of patent families in the fields of fuel cells and fuel cells in transportation compared to electric vehicles (EVs) and to EVs excluding hybrid vehicles 20
Figure 8. Contribution of different patent applicant profiles to the patent data sets related to fuel cells (in general) versus fuel cells in transport 20
Figure 9. The basic fuel cell comprises two flow or bipolar plates and two catalyst-loaded electrodes either side of a central electrolyte 21
Figure 10. Main parts of a fuel cell 22
Figure 11. Fuel cell technology overview showing the most common fuel cell variants, the membrane type, temperature range and the chemical reaction involved 23
Figure 12. Common types of fuel cells and their power application range 24
Figure 13. Distribution of patent filings related to various fuel cells types across different areas of transportation 26
Figure 14. Patent filings by technology and inventor origin. Top: contribution of different inventor origins to different fuel cell technology patenting activity... 27
Figure 15. Cost breakdown of fuel cells for stationary applications in relation to production volume (estimated) 28
Figure 16. Cost model for the Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicle 29
Figure 17. Fuel cell recycling patent filings by year of filing (1970-2020) and top 10 applicants in the field of fuel cell recycling 30
Figure 18.1. Example: Beijing Nowogen Tech, CN110021772.A. Automatic production line for a fuel cell stack 31
Figure 18.2. Example: University Xi An Jiatong, CN113161572.A. Method and system for continuously producing fuel cells/electrolytic cells and battery/electrolytic cells 32
Figure 18.3. Example: Andritz, US 2022/0093937 A1. Device and method for producing flow field plates 33
Figure 18.4. Example: BOSCH, WO202008887. Method for producing a fuel cell stack 34
Figure 19. Number of patent families related to hydrogen fuel cell technologies in transport by year of first filing, from 2000 to 2020 36
Figure 20. Number of patent families filed in transportation by application field, from 2000 to 2020. Filing year is a patent family's first filing year 37
Figure 21. Overall application filing over time, according to patent filings by year of first filing and by application field. Filing year is a patent family's first year of filing 38
Figure 22. Share of patent filings by applicant type, 2000-2020. Filing year is a patent family's first year of filing 40
Figure 23. Global patent filings from universities and research institutions, 1970-2020. Filing year is a patent family's earliest filing year 41
Figure 24. Shares of patent filings by universities and public research institutions in China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany and the U.S., 2000-2020 42
Figure 25. Comparison between number of companies and universities and research institutions with at least one filing a year from 2000 to 2019 43
Figure 26. Comparison between companies filing at least one patent application a year from 2000 to 2019 - overall results, results without Chinese companies,... 44
Figure 27. Cooperative filings increased steadily between 2000 and 2020 45
Figure 28. Number of individual patent applications filed across top patent offices from 2014 to 2020 (top panel), and total number of patent applications... 46
Figure 29. Patent filing strategy by company. Bubble size indicates the total number of individual patent filings, limited to only filings from 2015 to 2019,... 47
Figure 30. World shares and change in world shares in transport during the period 2015-2021 for the top 10 companies 50
Figure 31. Comparison of the most active patenting Chinese car manufacturers based on active patent portfolio data, 2010-2021 53
Figure 32. Comparison of the most active patenting global truck and commercial vehicles manufacturers based on active patent portfolio data, 2005-2021 54
Figure 33. Active patent portfolios of the leading global automotive producers in fuel cells, 2006-2021 55
Figure 34. Active patent portfolios of the leading global automotive producers of electric vehicles, 2005-2021 56
Figure 35.1. Patent example: MAN Truck patent application, WO2021148367. Utility vehicle having fuel cell device 57
Figure 35.2. Patent example: Toyota, WO2018217835. Fuel cell vehicle with power modules 57
Figure 36. World shares and change in world shares between 2015-2021 for the top 10 companies 59
Figure 37. Active patent portfolios of the most active global ship manufacturers in fuel cells, 2005-2021 61
Figure 38. World share of active patents by company compared to all players in the field versus the change in world share between 2015-2021 62
Figure 39.1. Patent example: Wärtsilä, WO2020182308. A fuel tank arrangement in a marine vessel and a method of relieving hydrogen from a liquid tank arrangement 63
Figure 39.2. Patent example: MTU Friedrichshafen, now Rolls-Royce Solutions, WO2021185707. Control device and method for operating a fuel cell,... 63
Figure 39.3. Patent example: China Shipbuilding Group, Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, CN112572172. Hydrogen fuel cell electric propulsion for... 64
Figure 40. Active patent portfolios of the most active aviation companies, 2005-2021 67
Figure 41. Example: Metro Aviation (which has acquired Applicant Alakai Technologies), WO2020257646. Lightweight high power density fault-tolerant... 67
Figure 42. World share of active patents by company in the field of aviation compared to all players in the field versus the change of this world share between 2015-2021 69
Figure 43. Active patent portfolios of leading railroad and track-side active players, claiming rail or track applications in relation to fuel cells, 2005-2021 70
Figure 44. World share of active patents by company compared to all players in the field of rail in 2021 and change to this world share between 2015-2021 72
Figure 45. Active patent portfolios of the most active players in special vehicles, 2005-2021 73
Figure 46.1. Patent example: Plug Power, also a partner of Gaussin, WO2019213351. Fuel cell tank 73
Figure 46.2. Patent example: Nuvera (partner of Simply Hydrogen, Shanghai), WO2011049975. Battery state-of-charge management method 74
Figure 46.3. Patent example: Toyota, US 11142441. Industrial vehicle 74
Figure 46.4. Patent example: Infintium, US 20150056529. Forklift fuel cell supply system 75
Figure 47. World share of active patents by company compared to all players in the field of special vehicles and the change in this world share between 2015-2021 77
Figure 48. Brief technology assessment of hydrogen technologies in transport. (See Glossary for a detailed description of the five assessments.) 79
Figure 49. Hydrogen fuel cell in transportation roadmap, 2020-2050 84
Annex Figures
Figure A1. (Omit) 87