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Cailianshe News, August 12 (Editor: Xiaoxiang)South Korean officials held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss electric vehicle safety and whether to require car companies to disclose battery brands, as consumer concerns grow after an electric vehicle fire in a basement garage severely damaged an apartment building earlier this month.

The culprit of the fire that shocked South Korea on August 1 was a Mercedes-Benz EQE electric car that was not charging at the time. The fire burned dozens of cars in the adjacent parking spaces and caused more than 100 cars to be damaged to varying degrees. Hundreds of residents were forced to go to emergency shelters because the buildings above the parking lot lost power.

Although no one was killed in the accident, the fire took eight hours to put out, and the news of the fire quickly made headlines in major Korean media.

An official previously said that South Korea's vice minister of the National Environment Ministry will lead the emergency meeting on Monday, and the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and the National Fire Agency will also participate. The South Korean government is expected to announce new regulations soon.

Local media also said that on Tuesday, South Korean transport ministry officials will hold talks with automakers including Hyundai Motor Group, Mercedes-Benz Korea and Volkswagen Group Korea to discuss proposals to disclose the brands of batteries used in electric vehicles.

South Koreans are particularly nervous

In densely populated South Korea, people's risk perception of electric vehicles is particularly prominent.The population density of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is much higher than that of New York or Tokyo. About half of South Koreans live in the greater Seoul metropolitan area.

Images on South Korean websites of dozens of cars reduced to their metal frames in a fire in an underground parking lot last week have heightened consumers’ fears about electric vehicles, perhaps because so many South Koreans live in apartments.High-rise apartment buildings, which are ubiquitous in South Korea, often have underground parking lots, and firefighters must overcome limited access.

Many industry experts say that the way electric vehicles burn is different from that of fuel vehicles. Since they are prone to reignition, fires often last longer and are more difficult to extinguish.

The Seoul Fire and Disaster Prevention Headquarters said in a report released in February this year that 43.7% of the 1,399 fires in underground parking lots in South Korea between 2013 and 2022 were caused by cars. Of the car fires in underground garages, 53% were caused by electric vehicles, the report said.

A South Korean lawmaker proposed last Wednesday that specialized fire extinguishers and equipment be installed in areas where electric vehicle batteries could catch fire.Some apartment complexes are proposing measures such as requiring electric car owners to sign a pledge accepting liability in any accidents.

Seek disclosure of battery brand

According to local media in South Korea, the South Korean government is also currently planning to require electric vehicle manufacturers to disclose the brand of their car batteries.

Under previous South Korean government regulations, automakers were required to provide certain information about their vehicles, such as fuel efficiency, but only limited details about their batteries and were not required to name the battery makers.

Last Saturday, Hyundai Motor Co. published the manufacturers of batteries used in 13 electric vehicles (including three models of its Genesis brand) on its official website after receiving many inquiries about electric vehicle battery manufacturers. The website shows that most of the batteries used in Hyundai and Genesis electric vehicles come from companies such as LG Energy Solution (LGES) and SK On in South Korea and CATL in China.

Moon Hak-hoon, a professor of automotive engineering at Osan University in South Korea, said that simply requiring car companies to provide the brand of electric vehicle batteries will not prevent fires. He believes that it would be more helpful to certify the fire hazard of each battery brand.

Park Moon-woo, lead author of the report "Report on Response to Electric Vehicle Fires in Underground Garages," said public information would give buyers more choices. But he pointed out that there is no definitive data on which brands of electric vehicle batteries are more likely to catch fire.

Currently, some Korean battery manufacturers are worried that "electric vehicle phobia" will further drag down the industry's recovery. In the second quarter of this year, the operating profits of LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI in South Korea both fell sharply year-on-year, while SK On has suffered losses for 11 consecutive quarters.