IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i17p4208-d1462351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Technological Advances and Opportunities of Developing Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: Based on Patent Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Yuxin Yuan

    (College of Information Engineering, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan 625014, China)

  • Xuliang Duan

    (College of Information Engineering, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan 625014, China)

  • Xiaodong Yuan

    (School of Management, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

Abstract

In general, the fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is regarded as more environmentally friendly than other vehicles. However, the commercialization of FCEV technology is hardly fulfilled due to high-cost fuel cells and an inadequate refueling infrastructure. Different technological trajectories of fuel cells are fiercely competitive, and related technologies are iterating quickly. It is an open issue in terms of what are the technological advances achieved or the opportunities for innovators. The paper proposes a novel approach to identify the key components of an FCEV by constructing the directed co-occurrence network of the International Patent Classification (IPC) and then adopts the Natural Language Processing (NLP) to construct the matrix of technology characteristics and functions. It is suitable to analyze the sentence structure of Subject–Action–Object (SAO) in patent documents by utilizing the NLP technology, which can help computers understand the text and communicate with us. The paper finds that the advances achieved in the fuel cell field are fuel cell composition, manufacturing fuel cells, and providing energy using fuel cells, and the advance in electric motors is supplying power for fuel cell vehicles, while the advances in hydrogen storage are to manage and store hydrogen. By contrast, the opportunities for innovators are to develop the control, diagnosis, and performance of the control system and hydrogen filling. This paper will be a contribution towards a better understanding of the advances and opportunities for developing FCEV technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuxin Yuan & Xuliang Duan & Xiaodong Yuan, 2024. "Exploring the Technological Advances and Opportunities of Developing Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: Based on Patent Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:17:p:4208-:d:1462351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/17/4208/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/17/4208/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yuan, Yuxin & Yuan, Xiaodong, 2023. "Does the development of fuel cell electric vehicles be reviving or recessional? Based on the patent analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    2. Wesseling, J.H. & Faber, J. & Hekkert, M.P., 2014. "How competitive forces sustain electric vehicle development," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 154-164.
    3. Bahrami, Milad & Martin, Jean-Philippe & Maranzana, Gaël & Pierfederici, Serge & Weber, Mathieu & Didierjean, Sophie, 2022. "Fuel cell management system: An approach to increase its durability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martin, Hanna & Martin, Roman & Zukauskaite, Elena, 2018. "The Multiple Roles of Demand in Regional Development A Conceptual Analysis," Papers in Innovation Studies 2018/10, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Andrey V. Lychev & Svetlana V. Ratner & Vladimir E. Krivonozhko, 2023. "Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis Models with Negative System Outputs for the Efficiency Evaluation of Government Financial Policies," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Li, Xiaotao & Yuan, Xiaodong, 2022. "Tracing the technology transfer of battery electric vehicles in China: A patent citation organization network analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    4. Wesseling, Joeri H. & Bidmon, Christina & Bohnsack, René, 2020. "Business model design spaces in socio-technical transitions: The case of electric driving in the Netherlands," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Diekhof, Josefine & Cantner, Uwe, 2017. "Incumbents' responses to innovative entrants: A multi-country dynamic analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-052, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Zheng, Xiao-Xue & Li, Deng-Feng & Liu, Zhi & Jia, Fu & Lev, Benjamin, 2021. "Willingness-to-cede behaviour in sustainable supply chain coordination," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    7. Hanna Martin & Roman Martin & Elena Zukauskaite, 2019. "The multiple roles of demand in new regional industrial path development: A conceptual analysis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(8), pages 1741-1757, November.
    8. Murakami, Keisuke, 2017. "A new model and approach to electric and diesel-powered vehicle routing," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 23-37.
    9. Samira Ranaei & Matti Karvonen & Arho Suominen & Tuomo Kässi, 2016. "Patent-based technology forecasting: case of electric and hydrogen vehicle," International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 20-40.
    10. Faisal Khurshid & Woo‐Yong Park & Felix T. S. Chan, 2020. "The impact of competition on vertical integration: The role of technological niche width," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 789-800, March.
    11. Mirzadeh Phirouzabadi, Amir & Savage, David & Blackmore, Karen & Juniper, James, 2020. "The evolution of dynamic interactions between the knowledge development of powertrain systems," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-16.
    12. Svetlana Ratner & Konstantin Gomonov & Svetlana Revinova, 2023. "Public Funding for Energy Innovation and Decarbonization Goals: A Coherence Challenge," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 40-45, July.
    13. Yuan, Xiaodong & Li, Xiaotao, 2021. "The evolution of the industrial value chain in China's high-speed rail driven by innovation policies: A patent analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Huang, Ruike & Peng, Yiqiang & Yang, Jibin & Xu, Xiaohui & Deng, Pengyi, 2022. "Correlation analysis and prediction of PEM fuel cell voltage during start-stop operation based on real-world driving data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    15. Monika Stoma & Agnieszka Dudziak, 2023. "Future Challenges of the Electric Vehicle Market Perceived by Individual Drivers from Eastern Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-20, October.
    16. Sierzchula, William & Nemet, Gregory, 2015. "Using patents and prototypes for preliminary evaluation of technology-forcing policies: Lessons from California's Zero Emission Vehicle regulations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 213-224.
    17. Mirzadeh Phirouzabadi, Amir & Blackmore, Karen & Savage, David & Juniper, James, 2022. "Modelling and simulating a multi-modal and multi-dimensional technology interaction framework: The case of vehicle powertrain technologies in the US market," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    18. Souzanchi Kashani, Ebrahim & Roshani, Saeed, 2019. "Evolution of innovation system literature: Intellectual bases and emerging trends," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 68-80.
    19. Faria, Lourenço Galvão Diniz & Andersen, Maj Munch, 2017. "Sectoral patterns versus firm-level heterogeneity - The dynamics of eco-innovation strategies in the automotive sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 266-281.
    20. J. H. Wesseling & E. M. M. I. Niesten & J. Faber & M. P. Hekkert, 2015. "Business Strategies of Incumbents in the Market for Electric Vehicles: Opportunities and Incentives for Sustainable Innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 518-531, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:17:p:4208-:d:1462351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.