Mercedes-Benz Korea released the names of its electric vehicle battery suppliers on Tuesday, bowing to public outrage after one of its cars burst into flame in a parking bay earlier this month.
The August 1 fire damaged hundreds of vehicles and created a national panic, with car parks across South Korea imposing a wave of ad hoc restrictions amid growing calls for transparency on battery supply chains.
South Korea is a major producer of batteries and electric vehicles, including local carmakers Hyundai and Kia, with EVs making up 9.3 per cent of new cars bought last year, higher than in the US.
“Although the analysis is still in progress, the CCTV footage suggests that this fire exhibits all the signs of being caused by a battery,” a spokesman at the Incheon Fire Department said.
According to experts, battery fires are tougher to extinguish than conventional ones due to the thermal runaway effect – a chain reaction within battery cells.
The Mercedes-Benz model EQE 350 that exploded into flames had a battery from Chinese manufacturer Farasis Energy, Mercedes Korea disclosed on its website Tuesday.
Local media have shown dramatic images of the car catching fire, causing a blaze that destroyed 40 vehicles in the parking space, with the fire department saying some 23 residents were hospitalised for smoke inhalation.
Fire authorities are investigating the deactivation of the car park’s sprinkler system in the fire’s initial minutes, with local media speculating a maintenance worker may have thought it had been activated in error.
The incident has heightened concerns about the safety of electric vehicles, prompting some apartment complexes to ban EVs from underground parking and to shut down charging stations.
Other Mercedes battery suppliers include South Korean companies LG Energy Solution and SK On and China’s CATL, the company revealed on Tuesday.
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Mercedes-Benz Korea is also offering free inspections for all of its EV models from Wednesday, it said in a statement. Separately, the company announced plans to donate about 4.5 billion won (US$3.3 million) to help residents affected by the explosion, even though the investigation into the fire is still under way.
Farasis was ranked 15th among the global battery makers, according to a BloombergNEF estimate of manufacturing capacity between 2023-2025. It began supplying batteries to Mercedes-Benz in 2018 as part of an eight-year contract with the German carmaker becoming a strategic investor in the company in 2020, some of the reports said. Farasis didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The fire has sparked a public demand for mandatory disclosure of battery suppliers by EV manufacturers, a measure the government is reportedly considering, according to local media.
“The government must compel both domestic and foreign carmakers to disclose information about battery supplies so that over 500,000 owners of EV vehicles can understand the degree of fire risk,” the Chosun newspaper said in an editorial.
One proposal being considered is banning EVs from underground parking areas when their charge exceeds 90 per cent, citing the increased fire risk.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
