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By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean battery makers LG Chem and Samsung SDI are becoming more concerned about the safety of their electric vehicle (EV) batteries, with global carmakers deciding to recall their EVs one after another due to battery fire risks.
Industry officials said Monday the battery makers seem to be experiencing some "growing pains" due to increased public attention to EV fires.
"Of course, cars shouldn't be catching fire regardless of whether they are gasoline or diesel-powered or electric vehicles. But attention is excessively turning to cases of EVs catching fire even though gasoline-powered cars catch on fire more often than EVs," an official in the local battery industry said.
General Motors announced on Nov. 14 (KST) that it has decided to recall 68,766 of the Chevrolet Bolt EVs produced between 2017 and 2019. The company said this is a preemptive move in response to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's ongoing investigation after three fires broke out under the back seat of parked Bolt EVs.
General Motors said the GM Bolt vehicles are equipped with batteries produced by LG Chem at the company's Ochang plant in Korea. To prevent further fires, the company will deliver software updates for the Bolt that will limit the maximum charge rate to 90 percent.
In regard to General Motors' decision to recall the Bolt EVs, LG Chem said the company "is fully cooperating with the U.S. carmaker to find out the cause of fire."
BMW and Ford, which use batteries made by Samsung SDI for their plugged-in hybrid cars, also decided to recall some of their EVs. BMW said in October that it would recall around 26,900 plug-in hybrid cars including the 330e model and Ford decided to recall its Kuga plug-in hybrid SUVs sold in Europe.
"Though the carmakers decided to recall their vehicles, the cause of the recall has not been revealed yet. Samsung SDI is waiting for their investigation," a Samsung SDI official said.
Not only batteries manufactured by Korean firms, but also products made by other companies are also having difficulties.
Tesla decided to recall its Model S and the Model X EVs after the U.S. EV giant found suspected defects in battery modules. Chinese authorities are also looking into the EVs of GAC Motor after some of the Chinese carmakers EVs that used CATL's batteries burst into flames this year.
Citing a recent report from CNN that there were about 181,500 highway vehicle fires reported for 2018 in the U.S. and the vast majority of these would have been in gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles, the industry official said EVs are relatively safer in terms of catching fire but EV battery makers and carmakers should still improve safety measures.
With more countries aiming to decrease their emissions, the demand for EV batteries is soaring. Thanks to investing heavily in the business during the past few years, Korean battery makers are able to see the fruits of their labor this year as the three battery makers saw their shares increase sharply.
According to data by market researcher SNE Research, LG Chem topped global EV battery sales from January to September this year. The researcher said LG Chem accounted for a 24.6 percent share in the global EV market. During this period, the company's battery production capacity was 19.9 gigawatt-hours, which was the largest.
Following LG Chem, CATL of China took second place with a 23.7 percent share and Panasonic of Japan was third with a 19.5 percent share. Two other Korean firms ― Samsung SDI and SK Innovation ― were fourth and sixth, respectively.
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