The new Patent Landscape Report “Decarbonizing Heavy-Duty Road Transport” for WIPO

Innovation Accelerates in Decarbonizing Heavy-Duty Road Transport

Heavy-duty road transport – trucks and buses – is essential to the global economy, but also a major source of emissions, accounting for 40% of total road transport emissions worldwide. With the sector still overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels, accelerating innovation in low-emission technologies is becoming increasingly critical.

The new EconSight patent landscape report for the World Intellectual Property Organisation in collaboration with the International Renewable Energy Agency analyzes global innovation trends from 2000-2024 across the technologies driving the decarbonization of heavy-duty road transport, including batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, charging infrastructure, vehicle efficiency, and digital solutions.

Key findings include:

• Rapid growth in decarbonization innovation
  Patents related to low-emission heavy-duty transport technologies increased from just 7% of sector patents in 2000 to around 20% in 2024. Annual published patent families grew more than twelvefold, from approximately 1,200 to nearly 15,400.
• Electrification is the dominant pathway
  Battery technologies now account for 73% of all low-emission energy source patents, with strong growth across the entire electrification value chain.
• Hydrogen technologies are gaining momentum
  While still smaller in scale, hydrogen-related patenting doubled between 2019 and 2024, suggesting growing interest in applications such as long-haul transport.
• Innovation is geographically concentrated
  China and the United States lead in total patent volumes, while Sweden and Germany show particularly strong specialization linked to their truck manufacturing industries. India has also emerged as a fast-growing innovator, supported by government-led electric bus initiatives.
• Industry leaders dominate patent activity
  Major automotive manufacturers and suppliers – including Toyota, Volkswagen/Traton, Hyundai, Ford, Bosch, and ZF – account for the majority of innovation activity, highlighting the mature and industry-driven nature of the sector.

The report also highlights a growing gap between rapid advances in infrastructure-related innovation and the slower pace of real-world deployment needed to support large-scale fleet electrification.

Overall, the findings show that the technological foundations for decarbonizing heavy-duty road transport are advancing rapidly, with battery-electric solutions clearly leading the transition.