China’s thermal safety rules tighten in July 2026. The EU’s battery passport becomes mandatory in February 2027. And cybersecurity management is already required on every new EV sold in the region. And Battery Management System design must now comply with all three.
Companies like CATL, Toyota, GM, and Great Wall Motor are filing dual-sensor and multi-indicator architectures to catch thermal runaway earlier. BYD holds the single largest share of functional-safety patents in the dataset.
Cloud BMS and battery-passport infrastructure are moving just as fast. Even non-automotive players like BULL are now filing in these areas alongside OEMs.
However, areas like cell balancing and functional safety already peaked in 2024 and have been cooling off since. This matters when deciding where to put your R&D budget next.
This report maps filings across seven technology areas in BMS. It shows where filing activity is growing, where it’s cooling off. You will discover who holds the strongest position in each area and where a claim-level review is worth running before you lock in your next architecture decision.
141
patent families in BMS cybersecurity, with no single dominant company
94
patent families shared between Wireless BMS and Cloud BMS, showing the two are convergingÂ
37%
drop in functional-safety filings in 2025, the sharpest decline of any of the seven areas
What’s Inside the Report?
- Patent filing activities across the seven core BMS technology areas: state estimation, thermal safety, cell balancing, wireless communication, cloud connectivity, functional safety, and cybersecurity
- How do the EU battery passport, China’s thermal safety rules, and cybersecurity mandates map onto these seven BMS technology areas
- With the EU battery passport now a fixed deadline, which automotive companies are building the infrastructure behind it?
- Which battery-state estimation methods are leading are Chinese universities patenting right now
- How companies like CATL, Toyota, and Great Wall Motor are architecting thermal runaway detection ahead of China’s 2026 deadline
Identify which areas of the BMS still have room for a new patent position, and which are already too crowded to compete in.
