South Korea To Advance EV Battery Certification Scheme After Fires

South Korea's government and ruling party have agreed to move up an electric vehicle (EV) battery certification program, the party said, as authorities seek to address public safety concerns following a series of fires involving EVs, Ju-min Park reported for Reuters.

An EV fire on August 1 damaged hundreds of vehicles and caused public panic. I Photo: PR Newswire / Farasis Energy

The government will start the battery certification scheme in October, earlier than scheduled, to help guarantee the safety of EV batteries, Han Zeea, a spokesperson for the People Power Party, told reporters.

The government also agreed to require automakers operating in the country to identify the batteries used in their electric vehicles.

This agreement on stricter EV safety rules follows the government's move to urge car makers to voluntarily disclose battery information after an EV fire on August 1 damaged hundreds of vehicles and caused public panic.

The blaze, which appeared to start spontaneously in a Mercedes-Benz EV equipped with Farasis Energy batteries, took eight hours to extinguish, destroying or damaging about 140 cars and forcing some residents in the apartments above to move to shelters.

In recent days, some car companies have voluntarily started naming the manufacturers of the batteries they use.

South Korean battery makers had no reason to oppose specifying where their power sources were used, though the public should not assume that batteries are always to blame for EV fires, industry sources told Reuters earlier.