In South Korea, new safety regulations are spawned due to electric vehicle fire accidents

Recently, the frequent electric vehicle fire accidents in South Korea have caused strong concerns among the public. To effectively deal with this situation, the South Korean government has taken active actions and spawned a series of new safety regulations.

On August 1, a serious electric vehicle fire accident occurred in an underground parking lot of an apartment in Incheon City, South Korea. A Mercedes-Benz EQE electric vehicle suddenly caught fire. The fire was extinguished after eight hours. This accident led to 23 people being injured and hospitalized. More than 700 residents were evacuated urgently. More than 140 cars were damaged. Among them, 87 cars were burned and 793 were blackened. Nearly 500 households had power and water outages. The property losses were extremely heavy. This is not an isolated case of electric vehicle fires in South Korea. Previously, a serious fire also occurred in a battery factory in Hwaseong, South Korea. These accidents have made the public highly concerned about the safety of electric vehicles.

Facing the concerns of the people, the South Korean government responded quickly. On September 6, South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo presided over a meeting of ministers of relevant departments on national political issues and finalized and announced countermeasures for electric vehicle fire safety management. From September 10 to October 21, South Korea issued a legislative notice on the amendment to the implementation regulations of the "Automobile Management Law". The amendment requires car manufacturers and importers to provide consumers with detailed information about batteries and battery cells when selling electric vehicles, covering the battery's capacity, rated voltage, maximum output power, as well as the battery cell manufacturer, type and main raw materials. In addition, the electric vehicle battery certification system originally scheduled to be implemented in February next year will be put into trial operation in advance in October this year.

The South Korean government also plans to expand the scope of the electric vehicle battery inspection checklist and add inspections of more information such as battery voltage, temperature, charging status and cumulative charge and discharge records. At the same time, increase accountability for electric vehicle manufacturers and charging operators and promote the implementation of compulsory product liability insurance. Charging operators will be required to purchase no-fault liability insurance to compensate for losses caused by electric vehicle fires. The South Korean government also promised to improve the battery management system and formulate battery risk standards for it to better detect fire risks. And start a pilot project in the first half of next year so that qualified electric vehicles can automatically notify firefighters in high-risk situations.

The South Korean Ministry of Transport said that the new legislation aims to ensure the public's right to know about the safety of electric vehicles, is committed to improving relevant systems and regulations, and further enhancing the safety of electric vehicles. The introduction of these new safety regulations shows the South Korean government's high attention to electric vehicle safety issues and its determination to solve this problem. It is expected to provide strong guarantees for the healthy development of South Korea's electric vehicle industry and also add confidence for consumers to use electric vehicles.