2024-08-07 06:11:44
A fear of ‘Chinese batteries’ is spreading after an electric vehicle fire broke out in an underground parking lot of an apartment in Incheon. The fire vehicle was equipped with a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery from a Chinese company, but unlike lithium iron phosphate (LFP), China has a short history in the ternary (NCM·NCA) battery industry, so there have been persistent doubts about the quality of the batteries.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the industry on the 6th, it was confirmed that the Mercedes-Benz mid-size electric sedan EQE that caught fire and burned down in the basement parking lot of an apartment in Cheongna International City, Incheon on the 1st had a battery from China’s ‘Farasis Energy’. This battery is an NCM ternary type, and the exact model name is unknown.
According to SNE Research, from January to May this year, Farasis’ global battery shipments increased by 138.5% year-on-year to 2.6 GWh, ranking 8th in the world in terms of market share (2.4%).
The domestic battery industry is wary of the spread of anxiety about electric vehicle batteries in general, saying, “The priority is to determine the exact cause of the fire accident.” However, some are saying that the chronic safety controversy of Chinese batteries has been brought to light again due to this accident.
In fact, in March 2021, China’s state-owned Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) recalled 30,000 electric vehicles, citing the possibility of fire hazards with Farasis batteries.
The industry is also paying attention to the fact that the battery installed in the vehicle in this accident is not a main product of China but an NCM battery. The global electric vehicle battery market is largely divided into low-priced LFP batteries and expensive ternary batteries (NCM·NCA). China has focused on LFP batteries, while the three domestic battery companies (LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, SK On) have focused on developing ternary batteries.
Ternary batteries are secondary batteries composed of a combination of ‘nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn)’ or ‘nickel, cobalt, aluminum (Al)’, unlike LFP batteries that consist of lithium and iron phosphate as cathode materials. They are more expensive than LFP batteries and are difficult to ensure stability, but they have a long driving range, high energy density, and are relatively light, so their technological difficulty is high.
It is only relatively recently that China has begun to expand its battery portfolio to ternary batteries. Even China’s CATL, the world’s No. 1 battery manufacturer, added ternary batteries to its portfolio only in mid-2022. Although Chinese batteries are quickly dominating the market with price as their weapon, there are still questions about their technology and quality, which require large-scale investment and long-term research and development (R&D).
An industry insider said, “Chinese LFP batteries have proven (their quality) to some extent in the market, but NCM and NCA batteries are latecomers,” and “Unlike Korea, which is pouring astronomical amounts of money into improving battery yields, there are many questions even within the industry about China’s (NCM battery) technology and stability.” Another insider said, “Global OEMs (automobile manufacturers) (who receive batteries) will also have no choice but to pay attention to this fire incident.”
(Seoul = News 1)
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2024-08-07 06:11:44