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According to a screenshot of a chat posted by Weibo user Xiaoyu Lithium, several car owners in the GAC Aion S car exchange group said they had received a call from a dealer saying there was something wrong with the GAC Aion S battery pack, and the manufacturer would replace the whole car battery pack for the car owner free of charge. It is worth mentioning that the 4S store in the chat screenshot did not specify which batches of the problem vehicles involved.

GAC NE's move to replace the car's battery pack for free is expected to be related to a number of previous Aion S fires, a move aimed at improving vehicle safety and avoiding more fires.

The Aion S fire dates back to May 18, when a Guangzhou Automobile Aion S caught fire in a parking lot in Guangzhou carambola Park, resulting in a large amount of smoke and a small degree of explosion. After the fire was extinguished, the Aion S had only a "skeleton". In response to the incident, GAC NE officially responded that "the situation of spontaneous combustion is true, because the scene environment is more complex, and the specific cause of spontaneous combustion is under investigation." Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC NE, also responded, saying that the preliminary judgment of the incident may have something to do with the 'disinfectant' in the trunk.

On Aug. 13, an Aion S caught fire at the intersection of Pingshan Avenue in Shenzhen, and the whole car was covered with fire and smoke billowed from the scene. A week later, another Guangzhou Automotive Aion S caught fire at an intersection in Qiongshan District, Haikou, Hainan. The fire "flooded" the whole car, and eventually the Aion S was burned down to a "skeleton."

So far, GAC NE has not issued a related explanation for the latter two accidents, which has caused car owners' concerns about the safety of Aion S to a certain extent.

According to the screenshot of the chat circulated on the Internet, the reason why the manufacturer replaced the battery pack for Aion S owners free of charge is because there are problems with the battery pack, and the industry has to think of the above three fire accidents. It is understood that GAC NE Aion S went on the market in April 2019, carrying ternary lithium batteries with a capacity of 49.4 and 58.8kW ·h, with a range of 410 and 510km respectively. At present, the guidance price after the subsidy for selling models is 13.98-205800 yuan.

Data show that GAC NE's sales rose 46.59 per cent to 4993 vehicles in July, of which Aion S rose 8.19 per cent to 3683; cumulative sales rose 75.47 per cent to 25155 from January to July, of which Aion S rose 258.72 per cent to 21846. The Aion S is GAC NE's best-selling car, but it is a bit of a surprise that there are frequent fires.

According to a notice previously issued by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, if an automobile manufacturer produces, sells or imports new energy vehicles that smoke or catch fire in the Chinese market, basic information on the accident should be reported to the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration within 12 hours after the accident.

In addition, after the accident, the automobile manufacturer also needs to take the initiative to check whether there is a fire safety hazard for vehicles of the same model, the same batch or using the same parts, and should take the initiative to recall if there is a fire safety hazard.

At present, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration has not issued an announcement on the recall of GAC NE's Aion S model, and GAC NE manufacturers have not issued relevant instructions for the last two fire accidents. We will also continue to pay attention to whether GAC NE will formally recall Aion S after a number of fire accidents.

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