As vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology transitions from concept to commercialization, patent activity serves as a clear barometer of its technological maturity. A groundbreaking study published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, titled “Vehicle-to-Grid Energy Technologies: Patent Landscape Analysis, Technical Updates, and Innovations Towards Sustainable Transportation,” offers the first comprehensive global analysis of V2G patent trends.¹ By examining over 2,000 patents filed between 2008 and 2025, the researchers map the trajectory of V2G innovation—revealing where, how, and by whom this transformative technology is advancing.

A Surge in Innovation

As vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology transitions from concept to commercialization, patent activity serves as a clear barometer of its evolution. The trajectory of V2G-related filings mirrors the broader shift from exploratory research to market-driven development. Early filings were sparse, reflecting a nascent field dominated by academic inquiry and technical speculation. But that changed dramatically in the past five years, as more companies began developing commercially viable V2G products and infrastructure.

Patent filings in the V2G domain have grown steadily—from single digits in the early 2010s to double digits annually between 2020 and 2023, with continued momentum into 2025. The spike in 2020 coincides with global clean energy investments spurred by pandemic recovery programs, while the 2023 increase aligns with key breakthroughs in bidirectional charging standardization and the emergence of V2G-ready EV platforms.

Notably, the filings have shifted from academic and government institutions to large technology companies and automakers, signaling a pivot toward real-world deployment. This surge reflects a maturing innovation ecosystem—where competitive positioning, IP protection, and market differentiation now drive patenting behavior, rather than purely exploratory research.

Methodology: Mapping the Patent Landscape

The study employed a rigorous methodology to analyze V2G patents:

1. Data Collection: Patents were sourced from global databases (Lens.org, USPTO, WIPO, EPO) using keywords like “Vehicle-to-Grid,” “bidirectional charger,” and “smart inverter.”
2. Classification: Patents were categorized by technology type (e.g., bidirectional power flow, grid stability) and jurisdiction, using CPC/IPC codes such as *B60L53/66* (bidirectional charging) and *Y02T10/70* (e-mobility innovations).
3. Trend Analysis: The team tracked filing trends, assignee dominance, and emerging technologies, focusing on simple patent families (groups of patents sharing a priority document) to avoid duplication.
4. Validation: Manual screening ensured relevance, excluding design patents and consolidating overlaps.

This approach revealed not only growth patterns but also critical gaps in the pathway to commercialization. While patent filings increased significantly in areas like bidirectional power flow control and inverter integration, the analysis also uncovered underdeveloped clusters in communication protocols, interoperability, and grid integration standards—areas essential for real-world deployment. Moreover, many patents are held by a small number of dominant assignees, suggesting consolidation of intellectual property that could create barriers for new entrants or smaller innovators. These findings reinforce the idea that technological progress alone is not enough: achieving scale will require coordinated efforts to align standards, reduce costs, and open pathways for wider market participation. The patent landscape, in this sense, is both a record of innovation and a roadmap of where work still needs to be done.

Who’s Leading the Charge?

The V2G patent landscape is increasingly defined by a mix of automotive OEMs, global tech firms, and early-mover startups, signaling a shift from foundational R&D to commercial competition. Automakers like Toyota, Ford, and Hyundai lead in filings related to hardware—such as bidirectional onboard chargers, vehicle-integrated inverters, and advanced battery management systems. Meanwhile, technology companies and software-focused firms like IBM and Nuvve dominate filings in the digital layer of V2G: control algorithms, cloud-based aggregation, predictive dispatch, and communications protocols. These software patents often address the orchestration challenges of managing distributed energy assets within grid markets.

Academic institutions and government research labs continue to play a crucial role in advancing core concepts and early-stage innovation, but their presence in commercially focused filings has diminished. This reflects a broader trend in clean energy innovation: once the technical feasibility is proven, commercialization becomes a race for IP ownership, led by those with the capital and regulatory access to bring products to market.

Ford’s V2G-related patents, for example, emphasize vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid use cases tailored for consumer products, suggesting a near-term intent to integrate grid services into mass-market models. Nuvve, by contrast, has focused on system-level patents that form the backbone of real-world V2G deployments, particularly in the school bus fleet sector—where longer dwell times and predictable usage make bidirectional services more viable.

This stratification of the patent landscape highlights an emerging division of innovation labor: traditional automakers secure their hardware platforms, tech firms build enabling software, and early service providers seek defensible positions in aggregation and grid integration. For the V2G ecosystem to flourish, bridging these domains through standards, interoperability, and collaborative IP frameworks may be just as important as the individual technologies themselves.

What’s Being Patented?

The V2G patent landscape reveals where the industry is investing to solve technical and operational challenges. As V2G transitions from lab-scale concepts to scalable infrastructure, the clustering of intellectual property around certain classifications offers insight into which problems are being tackled first—and which remain unresolved. The majority of patents fall into three core categories:

1. Bidirectional Power Flow (B60L): Hardware solutions enabling controlled two-way energy exchange between EV batteries and the grid, including inverters, relays, and vehicle-integrated interfaces.
2. Smart Control Systems (H02J): Software and algorithmic systems for managing grid interactions—such as voltage regulation, load balancing, vehicle scheduling, and AI-driven optimization across fleets.
3. Grid Services (Y02T): Applications enabling EVs to participate in ancillary services markets, including frequency regulation, spinning reserve, reactive power support, and renewable smoothing.

These categories reflect a deliberate focus on building both the physical and digital infrastructure necessary for V2G to operate as a distributed energy resource (DER) at scale.

Beyond these dominant clusters, a new wave of filings points to where the industry is headed next. Emerging trends include wireless bidirectional charging, cybersecurity for V2G communications, and the integration of V2G into peer-to-peer and decentralized energy markets. These developments suggest that as the core functionality of V2G becomes more stable, innovators are turning their attention to scalability, security, and market flexibility. In this way, the patent record functions not only as a ledger of innovation but also as a forecast of how the V2G ecosystem may evolve in the years ahead.

The U.S., China, Japan, and the EU account for 85% of filings, reflecting their leadership in EV adoption and policy support. Notably, patent families (same invention filed in multiple countries) are expanding, signaling preparations for global commercialization.

Looking Ahead

Patents are a leading indicator of innovation. They reflect both R&D investment and perceived market potential. For V2G, the rising volume and sophistication of patent filings suggest a growing belief that EVs will not just consume electricity but supply it.

This trend supports the vision of EVs as distributed energy assets, capable of firming renewables, shaving peak demand, and enabling virtual power plants. The growing patent portfolio also signals to regulators and grid operators that V2G is not an abstract concept—it’s becoming embedded in real-world product development.

Patent filings often precede commercialization by several years. The fact that many of the most cited and technologically advanced patents were filed between 2020 and 2023 suggests that we may be entering a phase of accelerated V2G deployment in the latter half of this decade.

For utilities and grid planners, this data-rich analysis offers a roadmap to where innovation is happening—and a signal that the time to prepare for V2G integration is now.

For policymakers, the study provides evidence that the private sector is moving decisively to capture V2G value. Incentive design, interconnection reform, and program development must follow suit.

And for the V2G community? It’s a call to align around commercialization pathways that ensure these patented innovations don’t sit idle—but instead power the clean energy grid we need.

¹Maher G.M. Abdolrasol, M.A. Hannan, S.K. Tiong, Shaheer Ansari, Yanis Hamoudi, Pin Jern Ker, M.J. Hossain, Vehicle-to-grid energy technologies: Patent landscape analysis, technical updates and innovations towards sustainable transportation, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 224, 2025, 116142, ISSN 1364-0321,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116142.