South Korea Pushes for Mandatory Disclosure of EV Battery Brand Information

The government and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) agreed on Sunday to introduce a system mandating automakers to disclose the battery brand information of all electric vehicles (EVs). During a meeting between senior government officials and PPP officials, the two sides also agreed to launch at an early date a system mandating automakers to get government certification on the safety of the batteries for their EV models, which was initially set to be introduced in February next year.

The move comes amid safety concerns triggered by a fire that began in a parked Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle on Aug. 1, which destroyed a parking garage inside an apartment complex in Incheon, 27 kms west of Seoul, while either completely destroying or damaging over 100 cars.

Days later, a fire broke out in a parked EV in Geumsan, 166 km south of Seoul, reports Yonhap news agency. Automakers have voluntarily released the information of battery brands used in their electric vehicles following the incident.

The government and the PPP also agreed to deploy equipment to put out fires in EVs to all fire stations nationwide, conduct free safety checks on EV batteries annually and distribute 90,000 units of "smart chargers" that prevent the excessive charge of batteries.

In addition, underground parking lots in newly constructed buildings will be required to install sprinklers capable of early fire detection and prevention.

After having remained mostly reactive in their responses to such safety fears, car manufacturers are now coming out to actively promote the safety of EVs as they seek to resuscitate the automotive segment that has seen a recent slowdown in demand globally amid the so-called adoption chasm.

Industry heavyweights Hyundai Motor and Kia, in particular, are seeking a breakthrough in the global EV demand lull with their new affordable yet advanced models, the Casper Electric subcompact model and the EV3 crossover model, respectively.