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Kona EV on fire again … Is it a variable in Hyundai Motor’s electrification strategy?
Check-in: 2021.01.24 20:29
Hyundai Motor Company Kona EV, 11 cases in Korea and 4 cases overseas after launch in 2018 … Consumer complaints after global recall ↑
When a fire broke out again in Hyundai Motor’s Kona electric vehicle (EV), which had recently been recalled due to a series of fires, the anxiety of electric car owners has not disappeared.
There are also concerns that if such quality and safety issues are raised repeatedly, it will do a considerable amount of damage to the Hyundai Motor Group, which has made this year the “first year of a leap forward for electric vehicles.”
Photo. Kona’s electric car burned down while charging (Source: Yonhap News)
According to the industry on the 24th, at 4:11 pm the previous day, a fire of unknown cause broke out in the Kona EV, which was charging in a public electric vehicle charger installed in a taxi company in Yucheon-dong. , Dalseo. -gu, Daegu.
Hyundai Motor Company said: “We are investigating the cause of the fire with related agencies.” Consequently, the cause of the first fire will be announced on the 25th.
Including the fire on that day, a total of 15 fires, including 11 domestic and 4 foreign cases, are known to have occurred since its launch in 2018.
Hyundai Motor recalled 77,000 Kona electric vehicles manufactured from September 2017 to March last year worldwide as the safety controversy spread over previous Kona electric vehicle fires. Hyundai Motor Company first updated the battery management system (BMS) of the vehicle to be withdrawn from the market reporting the manufacturing defect of the high voltage battery cell as the cause of the fire.
However, after updating the BMS, consumer complaints did not end Hyundai Motor’s recall policy to replace the battery if there is a problem.
Naver Café ‘Electric Vehicles Club’ published a so-called ‘brick car’ controversy with articles stating that the vehicle was not working, such as not starting the car after recall.
The 279 Kona EV owners also filed a class action lawsuit against the Hyundai Motor Company seeking compensation for damages for reasons such as a decrease in the value of the vehicle. Rumors about the Kona EV outage flowed and complaints increased.
In particular, when a fire breaks out in a vehicle that has been recalled this time, consumer anxiety is expected to rise for some time. There are already posts in cafes like “Hyundai Motor’s answer is not easy”, “If the temperature rises, it will get more troublesome” and “I feel anxious every time I drive.”
The Kona EV sold 84,735 units worldwide last year, the most among Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles.
This year, the government’s electric vehicle subsidy system changed and the largest government subsidy (8 million won) was established in conjunction with Niro EV. If you include local subsidies of up to 11 million won, you will receive a subsidy of up to 19 million won at the time of purchase.
In the event of repeated quality and safety problems, such as fires, the Hyundai Motor Group’s strategy, which it established this year as the first year of the electric vehicle’s leap forward and accelerated to dominate the electrification market, could also be disrupted.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to introduce three next-generation electric vehicles one after another, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is based on E-GMP, an exclusive electric vehicle platform this year, Kia CV (project name) and Genesis JW (project name). draft). ).
Hyundai Motor Company plans to launch a total of 12 electric vehicles by 2025 and sell 560,000 units per year, increasing the share of electric vehicle sales in the global market by 10%. The goal is to achieve 8-10% of the world’s electric vehicle market share by 2040.
