Lithium Titanate Electrodes for Batteries

2011122 slides

“IP Overview” – Lithium Titanate Electrodes for Batteries

A sector in (re)search of competitiveness

Patent global landscape as a new tool to decipher market trends

In the current roadmap on emerging battery technologies, Lithium Titanate (LTO) raises high hope concerning

the possibility of high rate capability, fast charge, wide operating temperature range and long life cycle. Its

lower operating voltage that can be considered as a handicap also brings a significant advantage in terms of

safety. The LTO anodes are therefore of crucial interest for battery manufacturers and end-users of batteries.

This interest results in a very high research and patenting activity in the last five years. With the near expiry of

the historical patents (like the US5545468 Panasonic patent in 2013), many actors are building up their

portfolio in order to acquire a blocking position.

The present report analyses the patent environment and notably highlights the strategy of current major

players which are not necessarily the major patent holders. These major patent holders are end users (Toshiba,

Toyota, Panasonic, LG, Sanyo …), battery manufacturers (Yuasa Battery, BYD, Enerdel, Altair Nano…), material

manufacturers (Toho titanium, Titan Kogyo, Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha … ) and institutional entities (CEA, Chinese

Academy of Sciences (CAS), Univ Beijing …). The question can be raised for a few of them of their possibility to

evolve rapidly enough to maintain their market position towards better protected competitors.

In a sector where 450 patents and patent applications have been filed, this « IP Overview – Lithium Titanate

battery » provides you with a comprehensive panorama of the intellectual property landscape and helps you:

- Position your company’s R&D and IP Portfolio

- Identify key inventors and key players involved in specific compositions of anodes

- Understand the collaboration networks and theirs dynamics

Table of contents (1/2)

Brief outline of the technology

Brief outline of the market

Roadmap of emerging battery technologies

Patent Query

Evolution of patent filings (1981-2010)

Main applicants

Part of the portfolio hold by the 10 first applicants

Breakdown of filings of the main institutional over time

Breakdown of filings of the main industrial over time

Main co-filings between applicants

Industrial & institutional filings over time

Map of priority filings

Evolution of priority filings

Map of extensions

Evolution of the number of applicants

Breakdown by type of material

Breakdown by assignee

Most cited patent families

Most extended patent families

World analysis

Generalities

Table of contents (2/2)

Conclusion

For each regional focus is presented the following information

Industrial & institutional filings over time

Main applicants

Extensions

Main co-filings between inventors

Main co-filings between applicants

Breakdown by applicant

Regional focus USA focus

China focus

Japan focus

South Korea focus

Europe focus

Applicant focus PANASONIC

TOSHIBA

YUASA BATTERY

TOYOTA

ALTAIR NANO INC

CEA

TOHO TITANIUM

UNIVERSITY OF BEIJING

ISHIHARA SANGYO KAISHA

For each applicant focus is presented the following information

Evolution of patent filings

Map of extensions

Extension policy

Portfolio breakdown over time

Portfolio structure

Portfolio average age of the studied applicants

Citations analysis

Evolution of patent filings (1992-2010)

Low filings between 1990 and 2003 (0 to 20 patent applications per year)Strong increase since 2004 to reach 74 patent applications in 2009

449 patent families (1981-2010)

Breakdown of filings of the main institutional applicants over time

Among the 11 institutional top applicants, 6 entities are from China. All their patent applications have been filed since 2004. Over 50% of institutional patent portfolios were filed between 2007 and 2010. The University of Beijing is the major institutional applicant. European area is represented by two French research centers (CEA and CNRS).

Co-filings between applicants (1/3)

USA & CANADA

EUROPE

JAPAN

Map of priority filings

43

1

210120

910

20

4

1

4

2EP : 6

4

2

1

1

Priority patent applications stem mainly from Japan (210), China (120) and the United States (43)31 patent applications have been filed in a European country or via European procedure (6) 10 PCT priority applications has been filed

A majority (~ 54%) of the patents concerns Li4Ti5O12 anodes.

~ 9.6% concerns different structures of lithium titanate comprising partial replacement of titane by other transition metals (Mx) or combinations (Mn, Co, V, Ni, etc...).

~ 1.8 % of the patents claim titanic lithium acid as active material for anodes (classified in the category “others”)

The Category “Others” comprises: (HxLiy-xTizO4 0.9% ; HxTiyOz 0.9% ; Li2MxTi3-xO7 0.7% ; Li2Ti6O13 0.7; Li2Ti4O9 0.5%; Li4Ti11O20 0.4%; LiMxTi5-xO8 0.4%; Li7Ti5O12 0.2%).

Breakdown by type of material

FAMILY REFERENCE NUMBER

(Number of citations)TITLE APPLICANTS

CITING APPLICANTS

(Number of citations)

US2006257746 (7)

Nonaqueous electrolyte battery , lithium-titanium composite oxide , battery

pack and vehicle

TOSHIBA

SUD CHEMIE (2)

BYD (1)

3M (1)

MEDTRONIC (1)

AGC SEIMI CHEMICAL (1)

TOSHIBA (1)

WO200246101 (6)Methods for obtaining

LI4TI5O12 , LI( 4-A )ZATI5O12 , or LI4ZBTI( 5-B )O12 particles

HYDRO QUEBEC

BATHIUM CANADA; AVESTOR LTD (1)

HYDRO QUEBEC (1)

SUD CHEMIE (1)

SAFT (1)

NANOTECTURE; UNIV SOUTHAMPTON (1)

ALTAIR NANO INC (1)

US6475673 (6)Process for producing lithium

titanate and lithium ion battery and negative electrode therein

TOHO TITANIUM

CEA (2)

XOLIOX SA; ALTAIR NANO INC (1)

TOHO TITANIUM LTD (1)

UNIV RUTGERS; TELCORDIA INC (1)

ALTAIR NANO INC (1)

List of the most cited patent families (3/3)

Lithium Titanate Electrodes for Batteries

USA Focus

Industrial & institutional filings over time

43 priority patent applications filed in the USA

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Filing year

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Inventors Joint institutional / industrial filings Institutional filings Industrial filings % of industrial filings

In accordance with the US procedure, the part of filings naming the inventors as applicant is important.Industrial filings outclass the landscape.

Main applicants

Industrial applicantsInstitutional applicants

4 types of applicants: mainly battery manufacturers (Enerdel, Valence Technology, Enersys, Altair Nano …), end users (Medtronic, ATK…), material manufacturers (Altair Nano, Nanogram,…) and institutional entities (US Government laboratories and the University of Chicago Argonne).

Extensions

Main areas of extension are Europe (11 extensions via European procedure), Japan (9) , China (7) and South Korea (7). PCT procedures (24) have been mostly used by the US priority

applicants for their patent extensions , in particular since 2006 as shown in this graph.

8

13

7 7

22

2

19

EP : 11

1

1

Main co-filings between inventors≥ 2 patent filings and since 2005

MEDTRONIC

ENERDEL

VALENCE TECHNOLOGY

ALTAIR NANO

US GOVERNEMENTUNIV CHICAGOUCHICAGO ARGONNE ENERDEL

Main co-filings between applicants

The main collaboration pool is only constituted by industrial applicants. This pool is not a R&D collaboration but illustrates different operations as merger and acquisition or spin off creation. So, ATK is a spin off of Honeywell and then Enersys Advanced Systems acquired the ATK Lithium-batteries division in Horsham (Hungary) in 2009. During these different operations, patents are placed in banks as warranty. That is the reason why JP Morgan Bank is represented in the graph. Only one collaboration concerns industrial and institutional applicants (Telcordia & Univ RUTGERS).

Breakdown by applicant and type of material

Most US priority patents are classified in the category “Lithium titanate Li4Ti5O12 spinel structure”. It is worthy of note that the main applicant in this class is MEDTRONIC, a medical devices manufacturer. All patents of this company claim a lithium battery comprising an anode with lithium titanate as active material. ALTAIR NANO, a supplier of lithium-ion energy storage systems and batteries, is the second major applicant in the Li4Ti5O12 category. Its patents protect mostly lithium titanate batteries or Li4Ti5O12 manufacturing methods. ENERDEL, a US domestic manufacturer of commercial-scale automotive-grade lithium-ion battery systems, is the third major applicant in this same category.

Number of forward citations of the patent portfolio (Self-citations are not taken into account)

Nu

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Citations analysis – forward citations of several applicant portfolios

BLOCKING POSITION

NONE BLOCKINGPOSITION

OR YOUNGPATENT

PORTFOLIO

(Bubble size is proportional to the number of patent families of the applicant’s portfolio)

Lithium Titanate Electrodes for BatteriesApplicants focus

TOHO TitaniumEvolution of patent filings

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1999 2000 2001 2002

Priority year

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• Portfolio size : 6 patent families • Average age of the patent portfolio : 10.83 years• Granting rate (US only) : 100% (2/2)• Priority filing country : 100 % US• 1 co-filing with MIT (2001)

TOHO TitaniumExtension policy

Only 2 extensions in US in 1999. Since 2002, it seems

that TOHO Titanium left the field of LTO battery.

TOHO TitaniumPortfolio breakdown over time

TOHO TitaniumPortfolio structure

Portfolio structure: 3 types of titanate are claimed by TOHO Titanium patents. 4 patents

protect Li2TiO3 and Li4Ti5O12.

A specific applicant portfolio

For a deeper analysis …

Patents filed a precise year

Patents filed in a specific country

Patents concerning a specific category

…

… we can provide you the patent list corresponding to:

… 3 months full access to the patent database :

Interactive graphs and tables

Access to the patent texts

Interactive graphs and tablesScreen shots

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