Green car trend analysis using patent information

Green car related makers are pursuing a development of environment friendly vehicles to respond to greenhouse gas regulations, and they are expected to make short-term technological developments for mileage improvement. It is projected that the drive of commercialization of high mileage vehicles such as hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles would be accelerated, and that incentive programs by governments would be reinforced to promote these vehicles. Using patents related to green cars, patent trend by country and technological area, patent activity index, technology distribution by patent applicant´s nationality, and patent levels were analyzed. In the result of analysis, Japan and USA were found to be advanced in capital competitiveness and intangible capital competitiveness, and Korea had a relatively higher patent level compared to its capital competitiveness. Korea was analyzed to have a relatively high patent level of hybrid vehicle, while its patent level of clean diesel vehicles and fuel cell vehicles were lower than other advanced countries.