A new study by the Munich University of Technology (tum) shows that the number of patent applications for electrochemical energy storage technology has increased sharply in recent years, most of which are lithium based technology.

The report "monitoring the innovation of electrochemical energy storage technology: a patent based method" makes a differentiated analysis of which energy storage technologies are feasible when exiting fossil fuel energy. The report also made a sober assessment of the development of battery energy storage in the United States and Europe, pointing out that Western companies have lagged behind economically, because the number of patents applied for by Asian companies has increased significantly.

The report points out that since wind and solar energy are intermittent energy in themselves, if renewable energy is used to produce a large amount of electricity in the future, excess energy must be stored during the production period to compensate for fluctuations. Now some different electrochemical technologies are competing to meet these growing needs.

According to the report, understanding which technologies are the subject of more intensive development activities and will enter the market in the near future has important strategic significance for all stakeholders in the energy field, whether from the industrial, political or scientific fields.

It is understood that the number of patent applications submitted by Asian developers is almost four times that of their European counterparts.

The analysis shows that Asian enterprises will dominate the market. As early as 2011, 2100 patent family applications related to electrochemical energy storage belonged to Asian developers; 530 pieces belong to European developers, and only 410 pieces belong to American developers. Although the initial figure was high, since 2001, the number of applications from Asians has increased by 220%, while the number of applications from Europeans has increased by 260%, and the number of applications from Americans has increased by 70%.

The report shows that Asian companies still occupy a very dominant position when considering the quality of the portfolio. The researchers used an index that took into account both quantitative data and the number of application citations. According to this index, the top ten lithium battery companies include eight Japanese companies and one Korean company, among which Fuji is in the leading position. Only one American company, valence technology, was on the list. The National Center for scientific research (CNRS), the most successful institution in Europe, ranks only 25th.

Professor Isabell m.welpe, chairman of strategy and organization, said: "these results raise interesting questions about research policy and development management. For example, further research can study which strategies make some companies gain technological leadership in this field, and what lessons European and American competitors may learn from them."

This research is part of the eebatt project, which mainly studies the energy storage of decentralized fixed batteries in order to realize the effective utilization of renewable energy and support the stability of the power grid. The project is funded by the Bavarian Ministry of economic affairs and media, energy and technology, and jointly operated by tum, the Bavarian Institute of applied energy (ZAE Bayern) and varta storage GmbH. Article source:OFweek Vico