Hyundai Kona’s’battery replacement’ recall begins… “Why I’m Subordinated” Some Customer Complaints

Input 2021.03.22 14:15

Recall in order of vehicle manufacturing… The standby time may be longer depending on the battery condition.

That caused several fire accidents Hyundai Motor Company (005380)Of Kona Electric Vehicle (EV) from next week according to the decision of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last month. However, complaints are emerging among consumers as a recall notice is delivered with different recall start times and actions taken for each Kona EV driver.

Hyundai Motor Company announced on the 22nd that it will begin recalling the replacement of all batteries for the Kona EV from the 29th. On the 24th of last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will replace all three models of’High Voltage Battery System (BSA)’, including the Kona EV, where a battery fire hazard was found. It is a large-scale recall with 75,680 units of Kona, which is the target of the recall, and the recall cost is expected to be around 1 trillion won.

In this regard, Hyundai Motor Company sent a customer notice to Kona EV consumers on the 19th. There are three versions of the customer notice, and the contents of the recall received by consumers were slightly different. First of all, if the battery has already been replaced through the first recall conducted by Hyundai Motor Company in October of last year, the BMS update to modify the software logic is carried out. It is a software upgrade that allows charging up to 80% instead of the previous limit of not starting when an abnormality is detected even after replacing the battery.

Customers who have not yet received battery replacement are divided into those who receive the replacement immediately from the 29th and those who have to wait for a future order. There are also consumers who have not yet received the notice. Regarding this, some consumers said, “What option is the recall?”, “Even if it was recalled once, it became a’brick (a phenomenon in which the car becomes completely disabled)’, but the second time is not changed?” The distance is 406km, but if it can only be charged up to 80% in case of abnormality, it is not possible to ride a car that is 324km long,” expressed dissatisfaction with the recall issue.

Hyundai Motor Company explained the problem that the recall was different for each consumer because of the difficulty in supply and demand for parts. The total amount of battery required for this recall is expected to be about 5GW, but it is difficult to significantly increase the production amount in a short period of time due to the characteristics of battery manufacturers that produce according to customer orders. LG Energy Solutions, a battery manufacturer of Kona EV, is known to produce 120GW (about 2 million units) of electric vehicle batteries per year. In addition to Hyundai Motors, it is supplied to General Motors (GM) and Volkswagen of the United States.

For this reason, Hyundai Motor Company SK innovation (096770)There was also speculation that it might be possible to request supply from other battery companies, such as. Kia, which uses the same battery as Kona (Kia Motors (000270)) Niro is equipped with SK Innovation’s battery, but some models have been equipped with LG Energy Solution’s battery.

A Hyundai Motor Company official said, “If a battery from another manufacturer is installed, it is necessary to check whether it fits well with other parts, so there is no plan to use SK Innovation’s battery in this recall.” “Recalls are made according to the vehicle manufacturing order, and the waiting time may vary depending on the battery supply and demand situation,” he said. “We will do our best for quick recall of all customers.”