Daejeon-Gwangju-Daegu-Jeonbuk-Gyeongbuk, etc.
Move or discontinue underground charging facilities
Government: “Disclosure of all electric vehicle battery information”
The ‘electric vehicle phobia’ is spreading to local governments across the country due to the electric vehicle fire in Incheon. It has been confirmed that many metropolitan governments are closing or moving the electric vehicle charging facilities in their underground parking lots. It is expected that these guidelines will be reflected in the local government building review standards and spread to the private sector.
According to a comprehensive report by the Dong-A Ilbo on the 13th, five metropolitan autonomous bodies, including Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu, Jeonbuk, and Gyeongbuk, are organizing underground charging facilities in their offices following the electric vehicle fire in Incheon. Daejeon City has posted prohibition notices on 17 chargers in the underground parking lot of its office building. It plans to remove 17 slow chargers out of 22 charging facilities underground and install 4 rapid and 9 slow chargers above ground. Gwangju City is discussing suspending the use of all 5 chargers in the underground building and moving them above ground. Jeonbuk Province also decided to move 9 of the 19 underground chargers to above ground within this month and sequentially move the rest. Gyeongbuk Province decided to move electric vehicle parking facilities and charging stations within the provincial government building to above ground, and Daegu City plans to relocate them after a full inspection of the charging stations. Ulsan City, Sejong City, and Gyeongnam Province have previously completed their above-ground relocations.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to complete the revision of the ‘Seoul Metropolitan Government Building Review Standards’ by October, which requires that electric vehicle charging stations in new facilities be installed above ground in principle.
Accordingly, it is predicted that private facilities will follow suit, banning underground parking and charging of electric vehicles. An official from the electric vehicle industry said, “In industries where infrastructure is key to industrial development, such as electric vehicles, the government and local governments’ actions serve as standards, and the private sector tends to follow suit,” adding, “Since the mandatory installation of chargers in 2022 has been implemented, commercial facilities and apartments that have implemented government policies have spent significant amounts of money, so confusion is bound to increase.” On the 13th, the government recommended that manufacturers disclose battery information for all electric vehicles sold in Korea.
“We increased the number of electric vehicle chargers to meet government standards…” Apartment chaos
[전기차 포비아]
Local governments are sensitive to the closure of underground charging facilities
Mandatory ‘2% Installation’ by January Next Year… “Should Underground Charging Station Construction be Halted?”
‘Electric Vehicle Parking Only Above Ground’ Residents Conflict… Downtown Shopping Facilities and Buildings Also Worried
“This is how to put out an electric vehicle fire”
On the morning of the 13th, a ‘joint public-private education on electric vehicle fire response’ was held in the parking lot next to the administrative welfare center in Songdo 2-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Firefighters are setting up a water tank to suppress the fire, assuming that an electric vehicle is on fire. Citizens’ anxiety is growing after the electric vehicle fire incident that occurred at an apartment in Cheongna International City, Seo-gu, Incheon on the 1st of this month. Incheon = Newsis
As major metropolitan governments such as Daejeon, Gwangju, Gyeongbuk, Daegu, and Jeonbuk expand their electric vehicle aboveground policies by closing underground electric vehicle charging stations in their buildings, apartment complexes and large shopping malls across the country are also becoming increasingly concerned. Many major shopping malls in the city center have installed electric vehicle charging stations on the 5th and 6th floors underground, and apartment complexes that are legally required to install charging stations by January of next year are confused about whether they should stop construction.
On the 13th, an official from an apartment complex in Seoul said, “Last month, we decided to build an electric vehicle charging station with much applause, but there is growing discontent over whether it should be built as is.” A major domestic electric vehicle charging industry official also said, “There is an increasing number of requests asking whether electric vehicle charging stations can be installed above ground.”
Some argue that the electric vehicle fires could spread due to excessive regulations without a clear identification of the cause, which could lead to a decline in the entire electric vehicle industry.
● “Electric cars on the ground”… ‘Phobia’ spreads
A Apartment in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, held a residents’ meeting last month and decided to install electric vehicle charging facilities within the complex. This is because according to the Eco-Friendly Vehicle Act (Act on the Promotion of Development and Distribution of Eco-Friendly Vehicles) that went into effect in January 2022, 2/100 of the total space in the apartment complex must be secured as charging and parking space by January 27 next year. This apartment complex was only required to have 6 spaces according to the standard, but they decided to install 14 more spaces above and below ground. The idea was to ‘keep up with the trend of spreading electric vehicles.’
However, the atmosphere changed drastically in less than two weeks after the electric vehicle fire incident at the Cheongna Apartment in Incheon earlier this month. Residents demanded the withdrawal of the existing decision, saying that safety should be considered. One resident said, “We are already anxious about the electric vehicle fire, so I don’t understand why they are trying to increase it more aggressively than other places at this time.”
Electric vehicle owners are also confused. In Internet communities where electric vehicle users gather, there are stories that each apartment complex is blocking electric vehicles from entering underground parking lots or recommending the use of above-ground parking lots. An apartment complex in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, posted a notice that said, “There is serious conflict in many apartment complexes over the use of underground parking lots for electric vehicles. We ask electric vehicle owners to charge and park above ground.” A 50-year-old electric vehicle owner living in the apartment complex criticized, “If people don’t allow underground parking due to prejudice against electric vehicles, it is a violation of property rights,” and “If the apartment complex’s recommendation turns into a mandatory act, I will consider filing an administrative lawsuit.”
● “Ground parking is difficult in densely populated city centers”
Large department stores, shopping malls, and office buildings that have already installed electric vehicle charging facilities underground are also paying keen attention to government policies and public opinion. According to the Eco-friendly Vehicle Act and its enforcement decree, facilities owned and managed by the state and local governments were required to install electric vehicle charging facilities by January of last year, and public facilities such as shopping malls were required to install them by January of this year. The 123-story Lotte World Tower parking lot has electric vehicle charging facilities up to the 4th underground level, and The Hyundai Seoul has them up to the 6th underground level. An official from a domestic industrial policy advisory agency said, “In densely populated city centers, ground-level parking is realistically difficult. Banning underground parking is essentially the same as telling people not to drive electric vehicles.”
There are also concerns that if the policy changes from the existing ‘eco-friendly car promotion’ keynote of mandating the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities by law and increasing subsidies to one-sided regulations including a ban on underground parking, it could discourage the electric vehicle and battery industries that are at a turning point between stagnation and growth. Professor Lee Young-joo of the Department of Fire and Disaster Prevention at Kyungil University said, “A large part of the cause of the fire in the Cheongna underground parking lot was that the sprinklers did not work in time.” He added, “If we go beyond strengthening safety, such as installing firefighting equipment, and turn to excessive regulations, there is concern that this will undermine the consistency and reliability of the policy.”
Reporter Jeon Hye-jin [email protected]
Daejeon = Reporter Kim Tae-young [email protected]
Gwangju = Reporter Lee Hyeong-ju [email protected]
Reporter Jeon Nam-hyeok [email protected]
Reporter Park Hyeon-ik [email protected]
Reporter Kim Eun-ji [email protected]
2024-08-14 06:20:59