Korea focuses on battery safety

South Korean officials met on Monday to discuss electric vehicle safety and may require car firms to disclose battery brands amid growing concerns after an EV blaze in an underground garage extensively damaged an apartment block, reports Reuters.

The fire appeared to start spontaneously in a Mercedes-Benz EV parked below a residential building. It took eight hours to put out, destroying or damaging about 140 cars and forcing some residents to move to shelters.

The country’s vice-environment minister was reportedly leading the meeting, which was also being attended by the transport and industry ministries and the national fire agency, an official said, with the government due to announce new rules soon.

On Tuesday, transport ministry officials will hold talks with automakers, including Hyundai Motor Group, Mercedes-Benz Korea and Volkswagen Group Korea, to discuss the proposal to disclose battery brands used in EVs, various media reports said.

The ministry did not immediately provide a comment on the reports. Hyundai Motor Group, Mercedes-Benz Korea and Volkswagen Group Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mercedes-Benz Korea subsequently expressed “deep regret” over the parking lot fire and vowed to fully cooperate with investigators in a statement sent to Yonhap, a Korean news agency.

However, the company refused to comment when asked to identify the model that is being investigated and which battery had been installed in that car.

“As the investigation is still ongoing, we ask for your understanding that we cannot provide further details at this time,” the company reportedly said.

Images published in media of dozens of charred cars with only their metal frames remaining in the parking lot fire have fuelled consumer fears about EVs, likely exacerbated because so many people in South Korea live in apartments, often with parking lots below, pointed out Reuters.

Early this month, Kia Corp’s electric crossover EV6, with South Korean battery maker SK On’s batteries, also caught fire in a parking lot, fire authorities said.

Car experts say that EVs burn differently to cars with internal combustion engines, with fires often lasting longer and harder to extinguish as they have a tendency to reignite.

The Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters in a report published in February said 1,399 fires occurred in underground parking lots in South Korea between 2013 and 2022, with 43.7% attributed to vehicles. It said electrical sources accounted for 53% of car fires in underground garages.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported last week that South Korea planned to require EV makers to disclose the brand of batteries in cars.

Automakers currently need to provide certain information about vehicles, such as fuel efficiency, but only limited details on batteries and do not have to name the manufacturers, the newspaper said.

Moon Hak-hoon, professor of automotive engineering at Osan University, reportedly said simply requiring car companies to provide the make of an EV battery would not prevent fires. But what would be more helpful is to certify the fire hazards of each battery brand, he said.

Park Moon-woo, lead author of a report on the response to EV fires in underground garages, reportedly said that disclosure would give buyers more choice, but noted that currently there is no definitive data on which EV battery brands are more prone to fires.