LG, SK, Samsung set to benefit from disclosures of battery info

Officials from Gwangju Metropolitan City's Buk District Office promote guidelines to prevent fires caused by electric vehicles at a public parking lot with EV chargers in the district, Tuesday. Yonhap

Cautious optimism is growing that Korea's major battery manufacturers — LG Energy Solution, SK On and Samsung SDI — may gain the upper hand over their Chinese rivals, as a growing number of carmakers have disclosed their use of Korean batteries to cope with fears for the safety of electric vehicles (EVs).

Hyundai Motor, the first carmaker to disclose its battery information, said it installed batteries from LG and SK in 12 out of its 13 EV models, except for the Kona Electric equipped with products from China’s CATL.

Kia, the sister company of Hyundai Motor, said it also used the products of LG and SK for most of its 12 EV models, although some versions of the Ray EV and the Niro EV are equipped with CATL’s batteries.

BMW, the first foreign carmaker to disclose its battery information, said it used Samsung SDI’s products in eight out of 10 EV models, except for the ix1 and ix3 equipped with CATL’s batteries.

Given that Korean batteries have been considered to be safer than Chinese products, their voluntary disclosure has been viewed as part of efforts to reassure consumers, after a recent underground garage fire caused by a Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 electric sedan equipped with a battery from China’s Farasis Energy.

On Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz also disclosed the origins of the batteries used in its EVs, despite batteries from CATL and Farasis being used in 14 out of 16 of its EV models.

“We have received battery cells from various manufacturers,” Mercedes-Benz Korea said.

“As we finished discussions with our headquarters, relevant institutions and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, we decided to disclose the manufacturers of the batteries used in our EVs.”

In an apparent attempt to reassure consumers, the German firm put the EQC equipped with LG’s batteries on top of the list of its EV battery information, followed by the EQA that switched from CATL’s battery to SK’s in 2023 and the EQB that has used SK’s products.

“The recent phobia about EVs can be an opportunity for us, as the underground garage fire showed the risks of low-priced Chinese batteries,” a Korean battery company official said on condition of anonymity.

“Carmakers will have no choice but to use high-quality Korean batteries to attract consumers.”

Domestic battery firms, however, have been wary of the possibility of all EVs losing trust of consumers, regardless of the origin of the batteries they use.

They also emphasized that it is inappropriate to blame batteries for all EV-related fires.

Amid the lingering concerns over the safety of batteries, the government held a series of meetings of relevant ministry officials between Monday and Tuesday, in line with President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order to take measures to dispel worries over EV-caused fires.