The South Korean government is considering requiring automakers to disclose the brands of batteries they use in electric vehicles (EVs), following recent electric vehicle fires that have raised consumer concerns about vehicle safety.
What Happened: An emergency meeting was held on Monday after a parked Mercedes-Benz EV caught fire on Aug. 1. The fire, which took eight hours to extinguish, destroyed more than 140 vehicles and forced the evacuation of residents of the apartment complex .
The government held a meeting chaired by the vice environment minister and attended by officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Fire Agency. The government is expected to announce new regulations soon, Reuters reported on Monday.
Officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport are scheduled to meet with automakers Hyundai Motor Group (OTC: HYMTF ), Mercedes-Benz Korea (OTC: MBGAF ) and Volkswagen Group Korea (OTC: VWAGY ) on Tuesday to discuss ways to disclose the brands of batteries used in electric vehicles.
Images of the burned vehicles have sparked consumer fears about EV safety, especially in South Korea, where many people live in apartments with underground parking.
Earlier this month, an electric crossover from Kia , the EV6 , equipped with batteries from South Korean manufacturer SK On, also caught fire in a parking lot.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, from 2013 to 2022, there were 1,399 fires in underground parking lots in Korea, of which 43.7% were vehicle fires. 53% of these vehicle fires were caused by electricity.
Last week, the Chosun Ilbo reported that South Korea was considering requiring electric car manufacturers to disclose the brands of their car batteries. Currently, automakers are only required to provide limited details about their batteries and are not required to disclose the names of the manufacturers.
Why It Matters: The domestic EV market in South Korea has been growing steadily. Hyundai and Kia recently secured the largest share of the U.S. EV market. Geely Automobile also plans to enter the Korean market with premium EVs by 2026. The proposed regulation could impact these automakers’ EV strategies and consumer confidence.
Photo via Shutterstock
This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari .
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