Yongin City Launches Safety Inspection of Electric Vehicle Charging Facilities in Underground Parking Lots

19 Apartment Complexes with 100 or More Households

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 27th that it will conduct a safety inspection of electrical and fire safety in 19 apartment complexes with more than 100 households, where electric vehicle charging facilities are concentrated underground, until the 6th of next month.

This inspection is a measure to prevent casualties, property damage, or conflicts among residents caused by similar incidents, amid growing public anxiety due to recent consecutive electric vehicle fire accidents.

A Yongin city official is inspecting the safety condition of the electric vehicle charging facility installed in the apartment underground parking lot.
[Photo by Yongin City]

According to the city’s findings, as of the end of July, out of 10,140 charging facilities installed in Yongin, 8,130 are concentrated in multi-family housing. Among these, 1,382 are located above ground, while 6,748 are concentrated underground.

The city plans to carefully verify the fire and electrical safety management status of underground charging facilities and their surrounding environments by comparing inspection records with building completion blueprints, in cooperation with Gyeonggi Province, Yongin Western Fire Station, and the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation.

The inspection will check whether fire extinguishing equipment such as fire extinguishers and sprinklers, as well as automatic fire detection systems, are functioning properly, and whether suffocation fire extinguishing agents, which are fire suppression devices for electric vehicle fires, are in place. It will also verify if fire separation walls have been installed to limit parking to 3 to 5 vehicles in electric vehicle-only parking zones.

The exterior condition of electrical equipment and charging facilities, grounding systems, insulation resistance between conductive parts (parts that can carry current) and the earth, and the normal operation of the charging system will also be checked.

If any deficiencies are found during the inspection, the city will immediately instruct on-site corrections or take remedial actions. In October, the city also plans to conduct electric vehicle fire prevention education for multi-family housing management entities.

Separately, the city will conduct safety inspections during the same period on 15 public parking lots with electric vehicle charging facilities installed inside buildings, in cooperation with Yongin Urban Corporation and charging operators.

The city plans to enact related ordinances to promote improvements to existing charging facilities and installation of safety equipment once a comprehensive government-level countermeasure for electric vehicle fire accidents is announced.

A city official said, "Since public anxiety about electric vehicle fires is high, we will conduct thorough safety inspections to prevent recurrence of accidents in the region."

Meanwhile, last July, the city enacted the "Yongin City Ordinance on the Installation of Environmentally Friendly Vehicle-Only Parking Zones and Charging Facilities," recommending above-ground installation of electric vehicle charging facilities when granting building permits for new constructions. Additionally, according to the city’s multi-family housing planning and review standards, when installing electric vehicle charging facilities underground, they must be compartmentalized with direct staircases, separation distances, and fire-resistant walls.