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| The battery technology race is led by Japan |
A joint study by the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency showed that Japan remains a market leader in battery technology.
Panasonic, Toyota and other companies have registered more than a third of the world's battery patents.
In 2018, the number of international patent applications related to batteries in Japan reached 2,339.
South Korea ranked second, according to a joint study that measured patent applications in two or more countries.
The East Asian economies are in a fierce competition for the dominance of batteries, which is critical to the widespread use of electric cars and renewable energies.
The study showed that China ranks fourth in patent applications, followed by the United States in fifth place, while the 38 countries that are parties to the European Patent Convention come third.
Between 2000 and 2018, 7 of the top 10 patent holders were acquired by Japanese companies.
Samsung is the South Korean company that has the largest production volume, with the volume of production reaching 4,787 inventions, while Panasonic ranked second with 4,046 inventions, followed by LG with 2,999 inventions.
Battery innovation has made huge strides over the past two decades. At least 7,153 international patent applications were filed for electrical storage in 2018, a significant increase from 1,029 in 2000.
Innovations in lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones and laptops accounted for 45% of patent applications for batteries in 2018.
Thanks to improved batteries, electric vehicles can continue to run on a single charge, and storage technology can reliably supply energy to offset fluctuations in solar and wind power production.
Japan leads the way in patent applications for batteries, but lags behind in electric cars.
The report pointed out that Japan's leading position in the field of battery technology does not yet possess a large share in the global electric vehicle market.
According to the study: China has 1.1 million electric cars, which represents half of the global market in 2019, while Japan accounted for only 2% of the global market in 2019.