Abstract:

Since recently,as a development trend of auto industry,electric vehicles is ushered in the unprecedented new opportunity. In this situation of the tripartite confrontation of the strong,a bunch of companies has achieved the breakthroughs on some key technologies,especially,battery and management technology of Tesla and TOYOTA are superior to others. Based on Professor Ernst’s patent portfolio theory as well as a partial modification of the patent portfolio method,the R&D advantages and the business opportunities of the global electric vehicle industry are evaluated in this paper by the technology scale,relative technology advantage,and relative technology integration capability,instead of the number of patent applications, the number of the patent granted patents,the number of IPC classes,the patent citation frequency,etc. The research conclusion will clarify the key R&D fields and strengths,and provide theories and data for business decisions on R&D investment and collaborators for electric vehicle enterprises in China.

Key words: patent portfolio, technology evaluation, technology advantage, partner