Technological sovereignty in action: The case of patents in low-carbon transport

Abstract:

Europe is facing a double transition. On the one hand, there is the one defined by the targets of a ban on the production of ICE vehicles from 2035 and the CO2 zero net emissions for passenger vehicles by 2050: targets that outline a clear horizon, but on which European OEMs have not yet made investment decisions capable of supporting large-scale affordable vehicle production. Another transition concerns the specific technologies for producing new electric vehicles (NEVs), particularly batteries. Considered a potentially viable technological alternative for passenger cars, NEVs require a new powertrain with electric storage (a battery). The transition to electric vehicles is seen as a disruptive change in the automotive industry, with the abandonment of the production of internal combustion engines (both petrol and diesel) that have characterised the last 120 years of development in the organisation of the automotive industry. In the economic and policy debate around the transition (Pardi 2021; Pardi et al. 2023; Schade, Haug, and Berthold 2022; Klier and Rubenstein 2023; Pavlínek 2022b; 2023), great attention is being paid to the impact on labour (reduced by the dismantlement of production of ICEs and transmissions and not fully compensated by the production of batteries and related electronic controls), skills and competences needed to foster battery production, the charging infrastructure, the production of clean energy, the need for a new European regulatory framework, national/EU sovereignty over raw materials, energy and technologies needed for the production of NEVs. In such an unprecedented shift to new powertrains, battery production itself is now rapidly changing the scenario of the most performing technologies, the most convenient raw material to use and the most effective location for production facilities.
Schade, Haug, and Berthold (2022) shed light on the technological innovation system of battery cell manufacturing, focusing on the network of connections between the actors operating in the cur-rent market and regulatory environment, highlights the main components and relations from the demand side and the framework conditions in which the industrial, educational and political systems operate. The industrial system is characterised by various actors: OEMs, suppliers of components and parts, raw material producers, the chemical industry, and industrial engineering of manufacturing processes. The latter represents an essential link between the production component of the industrial system and its R&D environment, which also encompasses logistics, high-tech start-ups, R&D departments and knowledge networks. In this systems perspective, a key issue is precisely the dynamic of technological and production knowledge that is characterising the transition to electric vehicles: the research on less expensive raw materials and more powerful technologies to use them, ensuring not only the goal of zero net emissions, but also increasing battery performance and lifetime, together with faster and longer charges, and increasing the recycling of used batteries. All these interacting elements create a dynamic transition, the speed of which will depend, among other dimen-sions, on targeted research and innovation.
Although China has already demonstrated an advantage in electric vehicle production technologies, the question remains whether other countries may have the technical expertise to tackle the dynamic transition of electric vehicles. The question is particularly relevant for EU countries, which are now facing a rather impressive stalemate, characterised by requests advocated by some lobbies and political parties in the EU Parliament to smooth the ban on electric vehicles in 2035, and the proposal of a new EU policy for the automotive sector, as advocated by the European Competitiveness Report (European Commission, 2024).
To answer this question, we propose a cross-country analysis of all patents applications in the period 2010-2021 and elaborate network analyses to assess cross-country patenting at the country and subnational levels (territorial level 2). Policy implications are discussed for the potential of a European industrial policy to support the automotive transition to low-carbon road transport.