In the early morning of Oct. 4, a fire broke out in Hyundai Motor's electric car "Kona Electric," which was being charged, and was burned down. This is the first time in eight days since the fire in Jeju on Sept. 26.
According to the Daegu Fire and Safety Headquarters, a fire broke out at around 2:47 a.m. at an underground parking lot in an apartment complex in Yooga-eup, Dalseong-gun, Daegu. The site of the fire was in front of a slow charger for electric vehicles in an underground parking lot.
Dalseong Fire Station in Daegu sent 23 vehicles and 55 personnel to the site and put out the fire at around 3:04 a.m. It is heard that the vehicle was burned down. At one time, some residents were evacuated, but no casualties were reported.
Officials of National Forensic Service were dispatched to the scene in order to accurately identify the causes of the fire and moved the vehicle.
Earlier, around 7:25 a.m. on Sept. 26, a fire broke out in the Kona EV, which was being charged at an apartment parking lot in Ildo 2-dong, Jeju City. The fire was put out in 22 minutes after burning the lower part of the vehicle where the battery was installed.
Since its launch in 2018, 30,000 units of the Kona EV, a compact SUV, have been sold in Korea alone. The best-selling electric cars in Korea were sold up to 13,587 units last year alone.
However, a fire started at Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant two years ago, and in September last year, a fire broke out at Kona EV, which was driving in Austria.
Including the Daegu fire, the number of fires in Kona electric vehicles worldwide totaled 12. There have also been 103 reports of defects in Kona electric vehicles reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's auto recall center.
According to the National Forensic Service's inspection report submitted by the National Police Agency to Rep. Jang Kyung-tae of the Democratic Party of Korea of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the National Forensic Service believes that two fires in Kona electric car last year were caused by faulty battery packs.
Subject to the inspection were a fire in Sinseok-dong, Gangneung, Gangwon Province, in July last year and an accident vehicle in Goun-dong, Sejong City in August last year, and the National Forensic Service investigated the possibility of arson, misfire and vehicle defects for two months after the accidents.
The National Forensic Service concluded in a report, "After ignition in the battery pack combination, the rear wheels and trunk were severely burned and damaged through the service plug," adding, "It is presumed to have been ignited due to electrical reasons inside the battery pack combination installed at the bottom of the vehicle."
"If there is a fine manufacturing defect at the time of manufacturing the battery, the damage may increase as the battery continues to charge and discharge at the beginning of the operation," he said. "If shock and vibration are applied to the battery while driving, it may have caused sparks due to overcurrent inside the battery."
The National Forensic Service said, "There was no specific feature related to ignition in other parts of the vehicle," adding, "There was a CCTV video that caused a fire when the first smoke was emitted from the underside of the vehicle, and no defects or abnormalities were found in the cooling system or electric vehicle chargers."
"There are various reasons for the fire," Hyundai Motor said. "We will investigate the exact cause of the fire, including the one in Jeju, with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport." "We will find out whether it is a battery problem, a defect in the design of the vehicle, and a problem with the high-speed and slow chargers, and we will review necessary measures such as recall or consumer relief according to the findings," he said.
