Examining the Patent Landscape of E-Fuel Technology

Abstract

Although the end of combustion engine vehicles seems inevitable under a new climate target for 2030, a complete ban on the combustion engine would be counterproductive. E-fuels, which are produced using renewable electricity from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, could act as a possible large-scale solution for achieving climate-neutral mobility, as they allow us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while leveraging the existing energy infrastructure. Against such a background, it is critical to examine how the related technological landscape is constructed and might affect the subsequent knowledge generation. By adopting a social-network perspective, the aim of this study is to investigate the degree of technological knowledge relatedness of e-fuel technology using patent data. This is accomplished by analyzing the influence of individual knowledge areas and categorizing them into a matrix model, with each quadrant playing a unique role. The main findings show that the patent landscape is dominated by applications from the private sector, and the main knowledge base is centered around chemical engineering and production techniques for liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Furthermore, the analyzed knowledge flows are dominated by intra-technology knowledge flows, thereby being less prone to convergent technology evolution. In particular, the knowledge areas C10L 01 and C10J 03 demonstrated a high influencer role. The findings can also support R&D advisors and decision makers in policy development in reducing their efforts required for conducting technical intelligence activities and determining adequate policies for R&D portfolio management.