Fire-prone EV Batteries
A fire involving an energy storage system (ESS) supplied by LG Energy Solution (LGES) took place at a solar power generation facility in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, on April 6.
The fire destroyed the solar power facility operated by an individual, causing damage to property estimated at 440 million won. It was extinguished about four hours later.
Police and fire departments believe that the fire has started inside the energy storage unit and will conduct a joint inspection to determine the exact cause of the fire.
The fire drew attention as the ESS used the same electric vehicle (EV) batteries from LGES that caused a spate of Kona EV fires around the world.
Hyundai Motor has decided to recall about 82,000 vehicles, including more than 75,000 Kona EVs, to replace their lithium-ion batteries manufactured by LGES. The global recall will cost more than US$1 billion, of which LGES agreed to share 70 percent. The defective EV batteries were known to have been produced LGES’s factory in Nanjing, China.
GM also announced a recall of 69,000 Bolt EVs that run on LGES batteries in November last year. Early in 2020, a total of three fires broke out from Bolt EVs in the U.S. GM recalled the vehicles to lower the maximum charging rate of the batteries from 100 percent to 90 percent. The measure was taken as a fire may occur if the battery was charged 100 percent. The batteries for Bolt EVs were produced at LGES’s plant in Ochang, Korea.
In March this year, GM said that it would announce the cause of the fires along with a recall in April. GM may not need to replace or modify battery packs to address the fire concerns. But it may also have to replace batteries altogether as did Hyundai Motor. If it decides to replace batteries, LGES may also have to share the cost.
The latest ESS fire in Hongseong took place with just a few days left before the April 11 (local time) deadline of the U.S. President Joe Biden’s exercise of his veto power on the U.S. ITC’s ruling on a dispute between LGES and SK Innovation over EV battery technology.
The ITC ruled that SK Innovation misappropriated trade secrets of LGES, banning the former from importing EV batteries and battery components into the U.S. for 10 years.
Yet the ban could hinder the Biden administration’s goal to sharply increase the number of EVs on the road as it will virtually force SK Innovation to abandon its EV battery plant under construction in Georgia.
The latest ESS highlighted the fire risks of LG batteries again and could influence President Biden’s exercise of his veto power.