On the 15th, a fire broke out in an electric city bus for Hyundai Motors running on the road in Changwon, Gyeongnam. /yunhap news
Fires have occurred in a vehicle equipped with LG Energy Solution batteries. On the 15th, a fire broke out in Hyundai Motor’s electric city bus’Elex City’, which was running on the road in Changwon, Gyeongnam. The bus was burned down, but fortunately, there were no passengers on the bus at the time, so there was no human injury.
The specific cause of the fire has not yet been identified. It may be a defect in the vehicle system or a battery cell. However, it is true that batteries are attracting attention as a cause of fire. This bus has the same battery as the Kona EV, which has caused 15 fires so far.
Hyundai Motor Company and LG Energy Solutions are taking this bus fire seriously. This is because if a fire occurs while many passengers are on board, it can lead to a large-scale accident. It could be a bad thing for Hyundai Motor Company, which is competing with Chinese-made electric buses in Seoul and other local governments.
Hyundai Motor’s Electric Bus Electic. / Provided by Hyundai
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Automobile Safety Research Institute are scheduled to announce the cause of the Kona EV fire as early as next week. Local governments that have introduced electric buses are also paying close attention to the situation because it is expected that the cause of the fire in Elexity will be revealed to some extent according to the results of the investigation.
The city of Seoul has introduced electric buses in large quantities since 2017 to revitalize green mobility. Currently, there are a total of 359 electric buses operating in Seoul (including village buses). Domestic cars include 134 Hyundai Motors, 103 Edison Motors, and 65 Woojin Motors. China-made 42 units of Haiger, 13 units of BYD, and 2 units of the Yellow Sea were supplied.
Among them, Edison Motors’ bus is known to use Chinese-made battery cells, and Woojin Industrial Systems is known to have LG Energy Solution batteries installed. It means that 45% of electric buses in Seoul are already running on Chinese-made batteries.
An industry official said, “Still, Chinese electric bus companies have been aggressive in the Korean market since last year, with price competitiveness ahead,” he said.
It is known that Hyundai Motor Company will install a battery produced by SK Innovation instead of LG Energy Solution in the’Electic 2′, which is scheduled to be released in August. An industry insider said, “The contract with SK was previously decided, and this time the Changwon bus fire did not affect it.”
Reporter Mansoo Choi [email protected]
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