Tesla Motors is ranked as the world’s best-selling plug-in and battery electric passenger car manufacturer. It owns a market share of 16% of the plug-in segment (which includes hybrids) and 23% of the total electric segment 2020 sales.
Apart from electric cars and batteries, through its subsidiary SolarCity, Tesla develops and installs solar systems in the United States. Do read about some interesting highlights of Tesla’s patent portfolio :
Tesla’s Innovations across Technologies in Last 5 Years
Get detail report on Tesla’s patents filed in last 5 years across various technologies
How many patents does the CEO of Tesla have?
The CEO, Elon Musk, has 18 patents.
How many patents does Tesla Motors have?
Tesla has a total of 3404 patents globally. These patents belong to 1073 unique patent families. Out of 3404 patents, 2397 patents are active.
How many Tesla patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
What technologies are protected by Tesla Patents?
How Many Patents did Tesla File Every Year?
The drop in patent filing in recent years is because patent applications years are still in the process of being published. So, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
We included all the family members to plot the filing trend. A patent family can have multiple patent documents – filed globally or in a single country – covering a single invention.
Are you wondering why there is a drop in patent filing for the last two years? It is because a patent application can take up to 18 months to get published. Certainly, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Tesla Applications Filed | Tesla Patents Granted |
| 2023 | 4 | 20 |
| 2022 | 107 | 56 |
| 2021 | 106 | 71 |
| 2020 | 161 | 167 |
| 2019 | 187 | 188 |
| 2018 | 354 | 219 |
| 2017 | 249 | 169 |
| 2016 | 302 | 153 |
| 2015 | 330 | 108 |
| 2014 | 177 | 130 |
| 2013 | 195 | 120 |
| 2012 | 223 | 80 |
| 2011 | 211 | 54 |
How Many Patents did Tesla File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Tesla Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States Of America | 1539 |
| Europe | 292 |
| China | 280 |
| Japan | 260 |
| Korea (South) | 195 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 74 |
| Germany | 58 |
| Australia | 57 |
| Canada | 48 |
| United Kingdom | 27 |
| Mexico | 24 |
| Taiwan | 22 |
| India | 22 |
| Spain | 11 |
| Austria | 10 |
| Israel | 9 |
| Italy | 8 |
| Brazil | 7 |
| Hungary | 7 |
| Malaysia | 6 |
| Poland | 6 |
| Singapore | 5 |
| Chile | 3 |
| Portugal | 3 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| Russia | 2 |
| Denmark | 2 |
| Slovenia | 1 |
The chart below distributes patents filed by Tesla in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Tesla thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
Where are Research Centers of Tesla Located?
The exhibit below is plotted by considering the country where an invention in a patent family was introduced for the first time. In turn, this helps find the R&D centers across the globe and lets us peek into the kind of research going on in a particular country.
How R&D Direction of Tesla Changed Over the Years?
How Many Tesla Motors Patents Earlier Belonged to Other Companies?
The chart below breaks Tesla’s patents on the basis of their first owner. 48% of the patent families in Tesla’s patent portfolio are acquired and aren’t originally filed by Tesla.
10 Best Tesla Motors Patents
US7923144B2 is the most popular (cited 1097 times in other patents) patent of Tesla. It received citations from companies like Hyundai Motor Company, Lg Chem, Ltd., and Samsung Sdi Co., Ltd.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Tesla:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US7923144B2 | 1097 |
| US20090139781A1 | 442 |
| US7592537B1 | 331 |
| US7925552B2 | 258 |
| US20080312782A1 | 233 |
| US8109048B2 | 211 |
| US7698078B2 | 205 |
| US7626834B2 | 196 |
| US8067855B2 | 192 |
| US20050269988A1 | 183 |
How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Tesla patents?
The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Tesla invention. They couldn’t because Tesla had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO referred 705 Tesla patents in 4625 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).
The top citing companies in the Tesla patent portfolio are Ford, LG, and Samsung.
List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Tesla –
| Company | Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Tesla Patents | Number of Rejections (102 & 103) |
| Ford | 91 | 195 |
| LG Electronics | 77 | 215 |
| Samsung | 69 | 151 |
| Gm Global Technology | 63 | 131 |
| SunPower | 61 | 149 |
| Robert Bosch | 50 | 105 |
| Toyota | 50 | 90 |
| Hyundai Motor | 42 | 64 |
| Panasonic | 39 | 74 |
| IBM | 37 | 78 |
| Kia Motors | 27 | 41 |
| Atieva Inc | 23 | 37 |
| Audi | 21 | 51 |
| Volkswagen Group | 15 | 41 |
| Honda Motor Company | 15 | 26 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Tesla Patents
Top Tesla Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US20090139781A1 | 42 |
| US8336319B2 | 21 |
| US8686283B2 | 21 |
| US20070009787A1 | 21 |
| US8078359B2 | 20 |
| US8946547B2 | 19 |
| US8813460B2 | 18 |
| US7698078B2 | 18 |
| US8035027B2 | 16 |
| US9321362B2 | 16 |
| US7789176B2 | 15 |
| US8277965B2 | 14 |
| US20090023056A1 | 14 |
| US7923144B2 | 13 |
| US8109048B2 | 13 |
What Percentage of Tesla US Patent Applications were Granted?
Tesla (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 1100 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 867 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 85.7%.
Below are the key stats of Tesla patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Tesla?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear | 662 | 78.90% |
| Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton | 222 | 100.00% |
| Dentons Us Llp | 53 | 85.71% |
| Park Vaughan Fleming & Dowler | 40 | 100.00% |
| Tesla Motors Inc | 16 | 0.00% |
| Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery Llp | 12 | 100.00% |
| Patent Law Office Of David G Beck | 5 | 0.00% |
| Purepulse Technologies Inc | 5 | 100.00% |
| Dinsmore & Shohl Llp | 4 | 100.00% |
| Alston & Bird Llp | 2 | 100.00% |
One more thing, We have converted this entire analysis in PDF form that you can download and save for later reading (or sharing with your friends). You can download it using the form below:
