Everyone in the Western world knows transparency and China...

Everyone in the Western world knows transparency and China should not be used in the same sentence.




Updated Aug 13, 2024, 12:16 AM

Electric vehicle battery manufacturers are bracing themselves for increased scrutiny as South Korea considers new regulations requiring automakers to disclose their battery suppliers for each vehicle model, following a series of EV-related fires including a blaze in Incheon that damaged 100 vehicles.

The car in the Incheon fire was a Mercedes-Benz equipped with a battery from Farasis, a Chinese manufacturer ranked 10th in the world by revenue. The exact cause of the fire - whether it stemmed from the battery, the vehicle’s battery management system, or other external factors - remains under investigation.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held an emergency meeting on Aug 5 to discuss the possibility of implementing a battery reliability certification system and mandatory disclosure of battery manufacturers. The ministry also plans to hold a separate meeting with carmakers to gather their perspectives and potential countermeasures.

But transparency may come even without regulation.

Hyundai Motor Company, Korea’s largest carmaker, already took proactive steps by listing the battery manufacturers for all its EV models on its Korean website over the weekend. Following Hyundai’s lead, Kia disclosed the battery manufacturers for its seven EV models on Aug 5, and BMW Korea has followed suit.

This shift towards transparency has sparked a mix of concern and cautious optimism within Korea’s battery sector. On one hand, there’s a fear that such disclosures could lead to battery makers being unfairly blamed for fires, regardless of whether there was a problem with the battery.

“When an EV catches fire, the battery often goes up in flames too, but that doesn’t mean the battery was necessarily at fault,” explained an official from a leading Korean battery manufacturer. “With complete transparency, there’s a risk that consumers will automatically blame us whenever there’s an incident.”