South Korean Govt Suggests Automakers to Disclose EV Battery Details After Accident

TapTechNews August 14th news, on Tuesday local time, the South Korean government held a meeting and suggested that all automakers voluntarily disclose detailed information about the batteries in electric vehicles, which was previously often regarded as confidential.

A serious fire accident occurred in South Korea this month. A Mercedes-Benz EQE electric vehicle exploded and caught fire in an underground parking lot in Incheon City. The accident damaged 880 vehicles in the parking lot and also caused the interruption of power and water supply for nearly 500 households for up to a week.

TapTechNews learned that in South Korea, electric vehicle companies do not publicly disclose detailed information such as battery manufacturers, and consumers can only rely on media reports or directly ask the car companies, but some car companies will not inform consumers of specific information.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have publicly disclosed battery information on their South Korean official websites. BMW said that among the 11 models sold in South Korea, two use CATL, and the remaining nine use Samsung SDI battery cells.

Mercedes-Benz said that the company purchases battery cells from multiple manufacturers, but all electric vehicle batteries are produced by a 100% owned subsidiary. Its battery cells mainly come from SKon in South Korea, CATL in China, and Farasis, and older models use LG's battery cells.