Recall Cost Estimated at 1.4 Tril. Won
Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution have reportedly agreed to share the cost of recalling some 82,000 Hyundai electric vehicles for battery replacement at a ratio of 3:7.
LG Energy Solution, which provided fire-prone batteries to Hyundai Motor, agreed to take more responsibility for the fires that prompted the recall, which is estimated to cost 1.4 trillion won.
The cost-sharing agreement suggests that the main cause of the Kona EV fires was defective batteries from LG Energy Solution. An interim investigation by the state-run Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute (KATRI) cited a poor alignment (cathode tab folding) inside the battery cells as a probable cause of the fires.
Hyundai Motor will replace batteries for a total of 81,701 vehicles at home and abroad.