S Korean EV producers pushed to reveal battery details

South Korea's government has advised domestic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to disclose their battery information and to allow inspections after multiple fires have raised safety concerns.

It comes as authorities seek to ease EV owners' safety concerns after an EV earlier this month caught fire at an apartment complex in Incheon city and destroyed nearby cars. A fire at a lithium battery manufacturing plant at Hwaseong in June led to a chain explosion, killing 23 workers and injuring eight, according to South Korea's National Fire Agency.

South Korea's government formed a task force that carried out safety inspections at battery industrial sites, following the lithium battery manufacturing plant fire. The task force, led by its environment ministry, also inspected safety conditions of underground electric chargers and related facilities from July to early August, according to government agency the Office for Government Policy Co-ordination.

Multiple South Korean auto manufactures including Hyundai and Kia, as well as the South Korean units of global producers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, have released information about the installed batteries in their EVs. This has often been confidential and included their suppliers.

Hyundai and BMW Korea were among the first to disclose the information, with BMW Korea disclosing that the majority of its models use batteries from South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI, with the rest from Chinese battery manufacturer CATL. LG Energy Solution (LGES) and SK On are supplying most of Hyundai's EV batteries, with only the batteries for its Kona SX2 model from CATL. Kia also disclosed that the battery cells used in its EVs come from domestic producers LGES, SK On, as well as CATL. South Korea's Mercedes-Benz revealed that a number of its EV models use batteries from LGES, SK On, CATL, as well as fellow Chinese battery producer Farasis Energy.

South Korea's domestic sales of battery EVs (BEVs) in this year's first half fell by 15pc from a year earlier to 66,930 units despite firm domestic demand for BEVs in June. BEV sales in June rose to around 17,000 units, which was up by 16pc on the previous year and by 29pc against a month earlier.

By Joseph Ho