Hyundai Kona safety recall – EV battery replacement
Hyundai Motor is about to commence a major safety recall. It will involve the first mass battery pack replacement for electric vehicles, with circa 82,000 in total globally, after a small number of confirmed electrical fires.
The recall will apply to circa 76,000 Kona EVs (electric vehicles). The cars in question were built between 2018 and 2020. We are told that 25,000 were sold in their home market of South Korea, with the rest worldwide. 50,597 Kona EVs will be recalled outside of South Korea, as will 4,402 Ioniq.
There have been at least 15 confirmed cases of fires involving the Kona EV. Eleven of those were in South Korea, two in Canada and one each in Finland and Austria.
The Hyundai Kona EV’s are built in South Korea and since March last year in the Czech Republic. Hyundai planned to produce 30,000 electric vehicles there for Europe in last year alone. It isn’t clear if these are to be included in the recall or not?
As part of this latest recall, the Kona and Ioniq owners are advised to limit battery charging to 90 per cent of capacity until the battery has been replaced, according to a Hyundai spokesperson. This will reduce the range.
Mass safety recalls such as this are new – this is the first for battery pack replacements to be carried out by a major carmaker. It will therefore be watched closely.
While South Korea’s transport ministry issued a statement that said that some defects had been found in some battery cells produced a LG Energy plant in China, the company wasn’t shouldering the blame for the recall.
The division of LG Chem, which manufactures the batteries, quickly deflected criticism. It is being reported to have said in a statement that Hyundai misapplied LG’s suggestions for fast-charging logic in the battery management system, adding the battery cell should not be seen as the direct cause of the fire risks.
Last safety recall was just last October
Last October, Hyundai and its main battery supplier (LG Chem Ltd) investigated reports of fires, and that lead to a recall of over 25,000 cars.
Again the recall mainly concerns the Kona EV, which is Hyundai’s biggest-selling electric car. It was first recalled last October for a software upgrade after a number of fires. There were 13 incidents of fire involving the Kona EV, including one each in Canada and Austria.
The safety recall involved 25,564 Kona electric vehicles (EVs) built between September 2017 and March 2020. The recall involved software updates and battery replacements after inspection.
The cause then was a suspected defective in the production of high-voltage batteries used in the vehicles, which may have contributed to the reported fires.
The new recall came after it appears that a Kona caught fire even after having its software was upgraded.
A decision was reached to replace the batteries because according to a South Korean Government official, they could not be sure of preventing fire risks by just upgrading the battery management software.
Big price to pay
Many experts claim that the battery accounts for circa 30 per cent of an electric vehicle’s price.
Therefore it is estimated that this safety recall will cost Hyundai (and LG Chem) about €740 million to replace the battery pack/systems. That appears to also include the costs of the earlier recall.
With there already being a shortage in global EV battery production, the circa 82,000 needed for this recall, may cause future production delays of new Hyundai EVs.