CPC technology class · B60

B60M - Power Supply Lines

Power supply lines, and devices along rails, for electrically- propelled vehicles. 559 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

559
US patents granted: #17/19
in B60: 0.2%
B60 class share: -16%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Power Supply Lines ranks #528 of 670 CPC technology areas - 559 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 16% over five years.

#528
of 670 CPC technology areas: 559
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Mitsubishi Electric
leading assignee (27): -16%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B60M's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B60M recorded 231 grants versus 274 in 2015–2019 (-16% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 73 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 35 (+109% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Alstom Transport Technologies holds 4.7% of the class ; the top three share 11.4%.

Leaderboard read

B60M concentration, lead at 4.7%

Alstom Transport Technologies leads this historical grant record at 4.7% of B60M - foreign corporation assignees hold 69% of class grants (127 of 185). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.7%
Top three share: 11.4%
Lead over #2: 0

Where B60M sits inside B60

Among 19 subclasses in B60 (Vehicles IN General), B60M ranks #17 and holds 0.2% of the parent class's 247,467 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B60R 42,931 B60W 39,530 B60K 34,645 B60L 29,944 B60Y 14,131 B60Q 13,530 B60N 13,335 B60T 11,759

Rising assignees active in B60M

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Nimble Robotics, Inc. 3.33x 3 → 10 company-wide · 7 in B60M
#2 Conductix-Wampfler GmbH 1.57x 7 → 11 company-wide · 9 in B60M
#3 Furrer + Frey AG 1.00x 0 → 1 company-wide · 6 in B60M
#4 Bombardier Transportation GmbH 0.86x 42 → 36 company-wide · 26 in B60M
#5 NXP Aeronautics Research, LLC 0.71x 7 → 5 company-wide · 7 in B60M

B60M grants by year, peak 2019 (73)

US utility-patent grants per year in B60M, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 16% versus 2015–2019.

Alstom Transport

26
Bombardier Transportat…

26
Proterra

12
Conductix-wampfler

9
Nimble Robotics

7
Nxp Aeronautics…

7
Furrer + Frey

6
Southwest Jiaotong…

4
Bombardier Primove

4
Konnectronix

4
Technova

4
Tesmec S P A

4

What this shows Mitsubishi Electric is the most active filer in B60M, holding 27 of the 559 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B60M
Rank	Company	Patents in B60M
#1	Alstom Transport Technologies	26
#2	Bombardier Transportation GmbH	26
#3	Proterra Ag, Inc.	12
#4	Conductix-Wampfler GmbH	9
#5	Nimble Robotics, Inc.	7
#6	NXP Aeronautics Research, LLC	7
#7	Furrer + Frey AG	6
#8	Southwest Jiaotong University	4
#9	Bombardier Primove GmbH	4
#10	Konnectronix, Inc.	4
#11	Technova Inc.	4
#12	Tesmec S.P.A.	4
#13	DTI Group Limited	4
#14	AFL Telecommunications LLC	3
#15	Persimmon Technologies Corporation	3
#16	Joy MM Delaware, Inc.	3
#17	Caterpillar Global Mining Equipment LLC	3
#18	Liko Research & Development AB	2
#19	Zodiac Pool Care Europe	2
#20	Plasser & Theurer Export von Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH	2

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B60M assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B60M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B60M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B60M's 559-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B60M (#528 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.8%) - not the B60 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B63J 559 B64B 560 H05F 557 B41N 568

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F16D 4.8% F04C 4.8% B22F 4.8% F16H 4.8%

Questions about B60M

Which company holds the most patents in B60M?

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation leads B60M with 27 patents (4.7% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 69% of class grants.

Which B60M assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B60M, Nimble Robotics, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (3.33x: 3 grants in 2019–2021 → 10 in 2022–2024) while holding 7 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B60M compare inside parent class B60?

Inside B60 (Vehicles IN General), B60M ranks #17 of 19 subclasses by grant volume and holds 0.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B60R (42,931 grants).

What to do with this data

B60M in context - here's where to go next.

Alstom Transport Technologies leads B60M with 26 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B60M ranks #528 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B60, the largest sibling subclass is B60R with 42,931 grants. Explore B60R

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B60M figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (559 grants in the tracked window).

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.