South Korea to advance EV battery certification scheme after fires

South Korea's government and ruling party have agreed to move up an electric vehicle battery certification programme, the party said on Sunday, as authorities seek to alleviate public safety concerns after a series of fires involving EVs.

The government will start the battery certification scheme in October, earlier than scheduled, to help guarantee the safety of EV batteries, Han Zeea, a spokesperson for the People Power Party, told reporters. The government also agreed to require automakers operating in the country to identify batteries used in their electric vehicles.

The agreement on tougher rules for EV safety follows the government's move to urge car makers to voluntarily disclose the information after an EV fire on August 1 that damaged hundreds of vehicles and created public panic.

The blaze, which appeared to start spontaneously in a Mercedes-Benz EV with Farasis Energy batteries, took eight hours to extinguish, destroying or damaging about 140 cars and forcing some residents in the apartments above to move to shelters.

In recent days, some car companies have voluntarily started naming the manufacturers of batteries they use.

South Korean battery makers had no reason to oppose specifying where their power sources were used, though the public should not assume batteries were always to blame for EV fires, industry sources told Reuters earlier.

Experts say getting car companies to identify batteries would give consumers more choice, but some question how it would improve safety given the lack of definitive data on which battery brands are more prone to fires.

As part of beefed-up safety measures, the government will revise fire equipment rules to install wet pipe sprinkler systems in underground parking spaces with EV charging stations and expand chargers that prevent overcharging, said Han, the party spokesperson.

Electric vehicles do not appear to catch fire nearly as much as recent headlines might suggest. EVs are less of a fire risk than conventional cars, some data showed.

But auto experts say EV fires burn differently than those in cars with internal combustion engines, often lasting longer and being harder to extinguish as they have a tendency to reignite.

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