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| Firefighters put out a fire in a Kona Electric vehicle in Daegu, Jan. 23. Courtesy of Daegu Fire Department |
'Defects found in battery cells built at LG Nanjing plant'
By Nam Hyun-woo
Hyundai Motor will replace the batteries in 82,000 Kona Electrics and other vehicles using the same battery packs that were manufactured at LG Energy Solution's (LGES) plant in Nanjing, China.
The move comes after Hyundai Motor launched a recall of 77,000 Kona EVs to update their battery management systems (BMS) after more than 10 of the cars sold overseas caught fire. After more fires were reported after the recall, the carmaker decided to launch an additional recall to replace the battery packs in the vehicles.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Hyundai Motor has filed for a recall of 25,083 Kona Electrics, 1,314 Ioniqs and 302 Elec City buses that were sold domestically. The three will be subject to battery system assembly (BSA) replacement beginning March 29.
Hyundai Motor said the battery pack replacement will also include 50,597 Kona EVs, 4,402 Ioniq EVs and three Elec City buses sold worldwide. Those models were produced between November 2017 and March last year.
In a conference call, Hyundai Motor said the replacement would cost about 1 trillion won ($900 million) and it would discuss a cost sharing ratio with LGES after the ministry's investigation into the cause of the fires. It added that the cost would be reflected in its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2020.
"Though the investigation of the fires is ongoing, Hyundai Motor decided to replace the BSAs in the vehicles in order to eradicate potential risks regarding customer safety," the company said.
In approving the recall, the transport ministry suggested in its interim results that a number of risk factors may have had a role in the fires, but did not define a root cause.
The ministry said it had confirmed the risk of a fire due to the folding of an anode tap in the battery cells, which appeared to have pulled lithium residue from the cells. The ministry added, however, it is yet to replicate any of the reported fires.
The ministry also said it had confirmed errors in the BMS software, which was programmed by Hyundai Motor Group units, but needed further investigation to understand their relation to the fires.
"Though the ministry's investigation is incomplete, Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution decided to replace all BSAs for those vehicles because it is difficult to sort which battery packs carry risks," the ministry said. "We will continue our investigation."
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| A KONA electric vehicle |
Hyundai Motor and LGES have been at odds over the cause of the Kona EV fires. The former has claimed manufacturing errors, while the latter has said there were likely problems in the BMS designed by Hyundai Kefico, a Hyundai Motor affiliate.
However, a Kona EV caught fire in Daegu, Jan. 23, after its BMS had been updated in the previous recall. LGES said in a statement that it was "difficult to presume the folding of the anode tap was a direct cause of the fires, because, as the ministry announced, there have been no fires in replication tests." It added that the company has already improved manufacturing facilities at its Nanjing plant.
With Hyundai Motor and LGES deciding to replace the battery packs for the Kona EVs, attention is being drawn on how the two will share the costs. Hyundai Motor said it might reflect the estimated 1 trillion won first in its accounts and then seek reimbursement from LGES after the ministry's investigation is completed.
