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With the rapid popularization of new energy vehicles, the safety of new energy vehicles has also aroused widespread concern in the society. Recently, there have been two consecutive fires of electric vehicles while charging in South Korea, both of which are owned by Hyundai Motor, raising concerns among consumers in South Korea about the safety of electric vehicles.

The car that caught fire in South Korea is Hyundai's pure electric vehicle, the KONA (domestic Onchino). In the early morning of October 4, a KONA in Daegu, South Korea, was charging in the parking lot of a residential building when it caught fire and the vehicle was severely damaged, but fortunately there were no casualties, CCTV reported.

A week ago, the same vehicle caught fire while charging on the South Korean island of Jeju. According to statistics, as the main electric vehicle under Hyundai Motor. There have been 13 fires in overseas markets since KONA went public in April 2018.

South Korea's Ministry of Land and Transport launched an investigation into the two fires and initially determined that problems with power battery components may have caused the fire. In addition, as early as last September, the Korean Automotive Safety Research Institute has begun to investigate whether there are manufacturing defects in the KONA, but so far the results of the investigation have not been released.

At present, Hyundai Motor has sent a letter of apology to South Korean car owners, saying that it will work closely with relevant departments to investigate the cause of the accident and strive to provide specific response measures within this month.

Industry insiders said that if the accident vehicle carries out a large-scale recall, the recall cost is expected to reach tens of billions of yuan. Currently, KONA electric cars made in South Korea use LG chemical batteries, which are assembled and supplied by a joint venture between LG Chemical and Hyundai Mobis. Due to the large number of suppliers involved, the accident investigation may take a long time, and the division of responsibility is also a big problem.

Hyundai KONA is one of Hyundai's best-selling electric vehicles. From its launch to the first half of this year, Hyundai KONA has sold a total of 107000 vehicles at home and abroad. It is understood that this KONA electric car is also sold in China, which is known as Onchino, which is produced by Hyundai Motor in Chongqing, but the battery supplier is different from South Korea, and the incident is still under further investigation.

Data show that Hyundai KONA is a best-selling car under Hyundai, Hyundai KONA not only has fuel models, but also provides hybrid models KONA Hybrid and pure electric KONA Electric. It is understood that Hyundai KONA is also on sale in the domestic market, and the domestic version is Beijing Hyundai's ENCINO Anxino.

In November last year, the pure electric version of Beijing Hyundai Anxino was officially launched in China, with a subsidised price range of 17.28-198800 yuan. As the pure electric version of Onchino, the new car as a whole continues the design style of the overseas prototype car KONA Electric, but the powertrain has been replaced with ternary lithium batteries from the Ningde era, that is to say, the battery suppliers of the domestic Onchino pure electric version are different from those in South Korea, so it remains to be seen whether the multiple fire accidents in Hyundai KONA in South Korea will affect the domestic Onchino pure electric version.

Hyundai Motor will voluntarily recall its Kona electric vehicle because a manufacturing defect in its high-voltage battery unit may cause a short circuit and pose a fire risk, according to the latest report from Interface News.

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