South Korea to promote EV battery certification system after series of fires

South Korea’s government and ruling party have agreed to increase a battery certification program for electric vehicles, the party said Sunday, as authorities seek to ease public safety concerns after a series of fires involving electric vehicles .

The government will start the battery certification scheme in October, earlier than scheduled, to help guarantee the safety of EV batteries, Han Zeea, a spokesman for the People’s Power Party, told reporters. The government also agreed to require automakers operating in the country to identify the batteries used in their electric vehicles.

The agreement on stricter electric vehicle safety rules follows the government’s move to urge carmakers to voluntarily disclose the information after an August 1 electric vehicle fire that damaged hundreds of vehicles and created public panic.

South Korea’s alarm over electric vehicle battery fires highlights safety concerns

The fire, which appeared to start spontaneously in a Mercedes-Benz EV with Farasis Energy batteries, took eight hours to extinguish, destroying or damaging about 140 cars and forcing some residents of the apartments above to move to shelters.

In recent days, some car companies have started voluntarily naming the battery manufacturers they use.

South Korean battery makers had no reason to object to specifying where their energy sources were used, although the public should not assume batteries are always to blame for electric vehicle fires, industry sources said earlier. for Reuters.

Experts say making car companies identify batteries would give consumers more options, but some wonder how it would improve safety given the lack of definitive data on which battery brands are more prone to fires.

As part of the enhanced safety measures, the government will revise fire equipment rules to install wet-pipe sprinkler systems in underground parking lots with electric vehicle charging stations and expand chargers that prevent overcharging, said Han, the word of the party.

Electric vehicles don’t seem to be catching fire as much as recent headlines would suggest. Some data have shown that electric vehicles pose a lower fire risk than conventional cars.

But auto experts say electric vehicle fires burn differently than those in cars with internal combustion engines, often lasting longer and being harder to put out because they tend to reignite.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Photo: A joint investigation team walks through the site of a burned battery factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, after a devastating fire killed several people, mostly Chinese migrant workers, in one of the deadliest areas in the country. flames in years. (Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP)

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