Audi Volkswagen Korea was again caught in controversy over new car certification. This time, the low-temperature mileage of the electric vehicle e-tron was pointed out as a problem.
The Ministry of Environment announced on the 19th that it plans to investigate the facts and take action on the error of Audi Volkswagen Korea’s electric vehicle certification.
According to the Ministry of Environment’s integrated low-emission vehicle integrated nurijip, the Audi e-tron 55 quattro model has a room temperature driving distance of 307km and low temperature driving distance of 306km on a single charge. The difference between the two is only 1 km. Since its launch in July last year, 601 e-trons have been sold.
The Ministry of Environment said that Audi Volkswagen Korea has submitted the low-temperature mileage measured according to US regulations, not domestic regulations. In Korea, when measuring the low-temperature mileage of an electric vehicle, all the functions of the heater are operated at the maximum, but in the United States, only the defrost function is operated while the heater is driven.
Audi Volkswagen Korea said, “After submitting the certification documents, during the verification process at the headquarters, we learned that the measurement regulations for (electric vehicle low-temperature mileage) are different in Korea and the United States.” I did.”
In this regard, the Ministry of Environment said that it will investigate whether Audi Volkswagen Korea has violated the Air Conservation Act, and will verify the result of the one-time chargeable mileage through an actual vehicle driving test.
Audi Volkswagen Korea has significantly strengthened its internal verification process since Diesel Gate in 2015. In the mid- to long-term vision plan announced in 2018, “The existing vehicle certification department was reorganized into the Technology Certification Compliance Department, and all processes from regulatory monitoring to certification preparation, vehicle entry into Korea, and customer delivery were reorganized to enhance efficiency and transparency.” He said, but this incident has led to a loss of trust.
Apart from the loss of trust of Audi Volkswagen Korea, criticism has also been raised that there is a flaw in the verification process by the Ministry of Environment.
Lithium-ion batteries, which are mainly used in electric vehicles, are made of liquid electrolyte, so when the temperature is low, the chemical reaction is slow and the performance is deteriorated. In addition, if you use a heater in winter, the battery consumption is even higher. Therefore, in electric vehicles, the difference between the driving distance at room temperature and low temperature generally occurs from as little as 30 km to as much as 90 km. In the case of the Audi e-tron, it is pointed out that the Ministry of Environment cannot avoid responsibility as well as it missed the problem and granted the final certification even though it was able to find the problem sufficiently on the document.