Where does Nikola Motor Company, LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Nikola Motor Company, LLC ranks #29,600 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Nikola Motor Company, LLC hold?

Nikola Motor Company, LLC holds 9 US utility patents granted between 2019 and 2021, spanning 8 technology areas.

What is Nikola Motor Company, LLC's Innovation Score?

Nikola Motor Company, LLC has an Innovation Score of 30.2 out of 100 (34th percentile of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Nikola Motor Company, LLC focus on?

Nikola Motor Company, LLC's top technology area is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers) with 8 patents, ranking #284 of 1,368 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 8 CPC subclasses total.

Is Nikola Motor Company, LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Nikola Motor Company, LLC's recent grant velocity is +100% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Nikola Motor Company, LLC's patents?

Nikola Motor Company, LLC's patents average 20.4 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Nikola Motor Company, LLC patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Nikola Motor Company, LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 9 granted patents across 8 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2019–2021. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Nikola ranks #29,600 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 9 patents across 8 technology areas.

#29,600
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: 34th percentile
by Innovation Score (30.2/100): 20.4
avg claims per patent: +100%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R29600 · US Corporation #29,600 · 9 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-NARROW · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-SURGE · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 9 grants
MID-PACK #29,600/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Nexstim Oyj
CPC-NARROW B62D · 8 areas
INNOV-THIN 30.2/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 20.4 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-SURGE +100% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Nexstim Oyj (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How Nikola’s 30.2 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 8.0 pts (26%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 10.0 pts (33%) Claim depth 12.3 pts (41%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Nikola Motor · this assignee

30
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Nikola's Innovation Score is 30.2/100 (34th percentile of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Nikola?

Each dot is one of Nikola’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Nikola’s own 20.4 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.9 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

Nikola vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

Where Nikola's grants concentrate

Nikola Motor Company, LLC is a focused PatentsView assignee: 8 CPC subclasses with 88.9% of grants classified under B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers). Peak complete grant year is 2020 (4 grants) versus a trough of 2 in 2021. By volume, Nikola sits between Nexstim Oyj and Ningbo Gude Electronic Technology Co., Ltd..

Nexstim Oyj

9
Next Issue Media

9
Nfinium Vascular

9
Nightlight Systems

9
Nimbus Group

9
Nimbus Saturn

9
Ningbo Abax-sensi…

9
Ningbo Gude Techn…

9
Nikola Motor ◀

9

What this shows Nikola holds 9 patents at rank #29,606, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nikola

By rank, the assignees closest to #29,606 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B62D (Motor Vehicles)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Nikola's primary technology class.

Nikola's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

30 34th percentile higher than 34% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2019–2021

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2019–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Nikola Motor Company, LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2019	3	33.3%
2020	4	44.4%
2021	2	22.2%

Which technologies does Nikola Motor Company, LLC patent most?

B62D - Motor VEHICLES; Trailers 8

B60G - Vehicle Suspension Arrangements 6

B60Y - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Aspects Cross-cutting Vehicle Technology 6

B60K - Arrangement OR Mounting OF Propulsion Units OR OF Transmissions IN VEHICLES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Plural Diverse Prime-movers IN VEHICLES; Auxiliary Drives FOR VEHICLES; Instrumentation OR Dashboards FOR VEHICLES; Arrangements IN Connection With Cooling, AIR Intake, GAS Exhaust OR Fuel Supply 6

B60J - Windows, Windscreens, Non-fixed Roofs, Doors, OR Similar Devices FOR VEHICLES; Removable External Protective Coverings Specially Adapted FOR Vehicles 4

F16H - Gearing 4

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 2

B60B - Vehicle Wheels ; CASTORS; Axles FOR Wheels OR CASTORS; Increasing Wheel Adhesion 1

Top 8 of 8 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Nikola Motor Company, LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Nikola Motor Company, LLC's lead technology class is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers), 88.9% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B62D
Ranked #29,600 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Nikola Motor Company, LLC against Nexstim Oyj, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 30.2/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent , US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.