South Korea's EV Fire Panic: Explained

Here's why South Koreans are freaking out over EV fires lately.

South Korea EV Fires

Photo by: Twitter

Rob Stumpf

By: Rob Stumpf

Aug 20, 2024 at 12:30pm ET

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The world is watching as EV fires keep making headlines in South Korea.
Despite the panic, statistics show that EVs are three times less likely to catch fire than gas cars in the country.
Officials are piloting mandatory State of Charge limits in underground parking garages and at DC Fast Chargers.

Over the past month, at least three high-profile EV fires in Korea—each involving a different automotive brand—have sparked news stories worldwide.

South Korea has since become the focal point of domestic and international EV skeptics worried that a battery-electric in their neighborhood could be the next vehicle on the front page. Now, the people of Korea are spiraling into an EV-induced panic that resembles the old cries of "fan death."

Earlier this month, a Mercedes-Benz EQE caught fire in an underground parking garage 20 miles outside Seoul. The result was catastrophic, damaging 140 cars and sending 23 people to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Five days later, it happened again. This time, the culprit was a Kia EV6 that ignited while charging in a parking lot 100 miles away. Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control in about an hour and a half and suspected the cause to be a battery defect in the Kia (though the actual cause is still under investigation).

Now, Tesla is also under the microscope after a Model X took four hours to extinguish after going up in flames late last week while parking on the side of the road.

EV fires aren't exactly common. Despite having 544,000 EVs on the road in 2023, Korea has reported only 157 EV fires between 2019 and 2023. As for its 12.31 million gas-powered cars? The country's national fire agency says it had 10,950 reports of fires involving gas-powered vehicles during the same four-year stint.

This means, statistically, a gas-powered car is three times more likely to be involved in a fire than a battery-electric car. So why the panic?

Battery fires aren't exactly easy to put out. It can take thousands of gallons of water and countless hours to reliably extinguish an EV fire. Some EVs are even submerged in water for an extended period to prevent the battery fire from reigniting. This blazing battle has caused undue panic among the public and even some EV owners.

Even U.S. firefighters are concerned about EV fires becoming more commonplace Stateside.

"I’ve never had a gasoline car fire I couldn’t put out with 250-500 gallons of water in under five minutes plus some monitoring and mop up," wrote one firefighter on Reddit, noting that they sometimes need to close a highway for hours to follow emergency guidelines for putting out battery-electric car fires. "EVs present a number of additional challenges, like they can appear to be out and rekindle hours to days later. That doesn’t happen with gas vehicles."

"Anything that can burn while fully submerged in water terrifies me," said another.

Listings for used EVs are now seemingly increasing as a result. According to local news, the Korean used auto market saw an 184% jump following the first two fires. Ten percent of the newly listed EVs belong to the same Mercedes-Benz EQ family of vehicles that caught fire in the parking garage.

The average selling press of used EVs is also dropping quickly. Encar, a local used car platform, reports that used Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 models dropped as much as 1.97% compared to July and the Tesla Model 3 and Y dropped up to 3.36%—a "greater-than-average dip in prices for used imported vehicles."

South Korean officials met last week to discuss an emergency response to the recent EV fires and quell ongoing public concerns. As a result, it urged automakers to reveal the suppliers of its battery cells to help instill confidence in the public.

In the U.S., "Kia America has seen no similar issues but is monitoring closely in case similar actions are needed in the future," a spokesperson said. Likewise, a Hyundai Motor America official told InsideEVs: "Customer safety is Hyundai Motor Group’s highest priority. We will continue to work closely with local governments and relevant authorities to ensure a reliable and safe EV ownership experience."

In Korea, Mercedes revealed cells supplied LG Energy Solution (LGES), CATL, SK, and Farasis Energy. Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis use cells provided by LGES, SK, and CATL. Tesla says its vehicles use cells from LGES, Panasonic, and CATL. While it's claimed that the Mercedes that caught fire was equipped with cells likely supplied by Farasis, it's unclear which cells were used in the Kia and Tesla, which also burst into flames.

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In a controversial move, officials have also planned to instill a mandatory maximum charge limit in vehicles. Guidance from the Seoul Metropolitan Government will limit an EV's State of Charge (SoC) to 90% to enter an underground parking garage. Likewise, EVs using DC Fast Chargers will only be permitted to charge to 80%.

Both local EV owners and experts aren't convinced these countermeasures will help.

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"Excessive charging isn’t the governing factor with a fire," said Yoon Won-Sub, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University who teaches energy science and heads a battery research center jointly run by Samsung SDI. "EVs, from the start, are designed to never reach a full charge, even if the dashboard says they are 100 percent. It’s an unproven argument that batteries carry a higher fire risk when fully charged."

Meanwhile, automakers are scrambling to earn back the public's trust—something essential as EV sales aren't taking off like manufacturers planned. Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis offer free inspections to their customers to ensure their batteries are in safe operating conditions.

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