August 24, 2024

South Korean Government To Impose Parking, Charging Limit On EVs After Mercedes-Benz EQE Incident


The Seoul Metropolitan Government will start regulating EVs that enter or park in underground or basement structures after a Mercedes-Benz EQE spontaneously combusted and destroyed 140 vehicles early this month. The EQE was launched in the Philippines in 2023 with a starting price of P 5.590 million.

While the exact cause for the EQE’s combustion has yet to be determined, according to The Korea Herald, the city government is set to amend its Guideline for Apartment Management Rules by the end of September. If passed, it will ban cars charged over 90 percent from entering basement parking and restrict public chargers from charging EVs beyond 80 percent. Although the clause isn’t mandatory, apartments that don’t comply may face exclusion from incentives or support programs funded by the city government.

The proposal will have owners manually set their cars’ charging limit to 90 percent (more advanced EVs from BMW, Hyundai, and Kia have this feature in their car’s menu system; while others such as those from BYD and MG do not). This will grant cars a so-called “charge limit certificate,” giving them access to basement parking.

At the same time, the proposal will have carmakers mandated to increase the safety margin of their EVs—the margin between the gross and usable battery capacity—from 3 to 5 percent to 10 percent.

Starting in September, the government will also impose a charging limit on its fast chargers, which will only let them charge EV batteries up to 80 percent. This cap will be extended to privately-operated chargers as well.

In the Philippines, the Department of Energy has already mandated that DC Fast Chargers have to be installed in well-ventilated, outdoor areas. Most establishments have complied to this ruling, but there have been some holdouts like the Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, Makati.

EV experts though are vehemently against the move by the Seoul government. Excessive charging, even in an EV’s high-voltage battery, isn’t a direct reason for a battery fire, experts say, as these batteries are designed to never reach a full charge in the first place (even if the car indicates 100 percent). It’s an unproven argument that batteries carry a higher fire risk when fully charged, they add.

The cathode material of nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries, like the one used in the Mercedes-Benz EQE—possesses a maximum theoretical capacity of 275 mAh; only 210 mAh is generally used in EVs which means there’s a safety margin of around 5 percent.

A total of 139 EV fires that have occurred in South Korea over the past three years, but only 26 cases happened during charging. Of the rest, a total of 68 cases occurred while driving, while 36 were started by parked cars.

Aside from the Seoul’s government’s plans to limit EV charging, the South Korean Ministry of Environment is looking at proposals to, among others, have carmakers disclose where they source their batteries in the light of the incident.

Since the incident, some car companies have begun voluntarily listing the manufacturers of batteries used in their EVs. For instance, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis revealed it uses batteries made by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and SK On, as well as China’s CATL. Foreign makes such as BMW mainly use Samsung SDI and CATL batteries, while Mercedes-Benz source theirs from LG Energy Solution, SK On, CATL as well as China-based Farasis—which was used in the ill-fated EQE.

9 comments:

  1. China car ok European not ok pala

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    1. China farasis EV battery ang gamit ng mercedez benz na nasunog

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    2. If you read the article, the Mercedes EQE that spontaneously burned and destroyed 140 other cars used china Farasis batteries. Whether European or chinese made, EVs are inherently dangerous to life and property.

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  2. Scary to realize that your EV can spontaneously burn while running, charging or parked. Even if it does not, another EV nearby can catch fire and burn others parked nearby just like in South Korea where a Mercedes Benz EQE EV destroyed 140 others. Another incident caused a fire in the owner's home while charging an EV. So much risk to your life, your family and friends just to be able to drive an Electric vehicle. Besides so many regulations will be imposed adding to the inconvenience so EVs are simply not worth buying. Besides being expensive, they have next to nothing resale values should you want to dispose it. Why bother with EVs.

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  3. Euro car ok China batteries scary

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    1. Euro not ok, poor decision hahaha

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    2. MB EQE uses chinese battery lol

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  4. Establishment should prohibit EVs from parking in an enclosed parking lot.

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  5. Chinese battery makers take shortcuts that's why such things happen. Made in China products are scary.

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