Fire During Charging at Parking Lot of Yongin Country House
"The Ioniq Vehicle Equipped with Domestic Battery"
Fires Occurred in Ioniq 5 in May and October
A fire broke out while an Ioniq 6 electric car was charging in the parking lot of a house in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters
A fire broke out in an electric vehicle that was charging in an above-ground parking lot of a country house.
According to Yonhap News on the 14th, around 7:40 a.m. that day, an electric vehicle fire occurred at a country house located in Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi Province. It is reported that a sudden fire broke out in an older model Hyundai Ioniq electric vehicle that was charging in an above-ground parking lot separated from the house. Two vehicles, including the Ioniq and a Carnival, were completely burned in the incident. There were no people inside the vehicles, and the residents of the house safely evacuated, resulting in no casualties.
The fire department quickly extinguished the large flames around 8:10 a.m., about 30 minutes after the fire started. As a result, the fire did not spread to nearby houses. Currently, recovery efforts such as towing the burned vehicles from the scene are underway. It is known that the Ioniq vehicle involved in the fire was equipped with a domestically produced battery. The police and fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire and the details of the accident.
This is not the first fire incident involving an Ioniq electric vehicle. On May 6th, an Ioniq 5 caught fire while driving on a road in Hajem-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. At that time, the driver reported, "I suddenly saw sparks coming from the car," and the fire department arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire within an hour. The driver evacuated urgently, so there were no casualties, but the vehicle was completely destroyed, and property damage worth approximately 56 million KRW occurred, including damage to the barrier of a nearby checkpoint vehicle. A fire department official stated, "Even after the flames subsided, the vehicle continued to emit heat, which delayed the towing process."
Later, on the 2nd of last month, another Ioniq 5 electric vehicle fire occurred in Omokcheon-dong, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province. The driver reported, "Smoke is coming from the battery under the vehicle," and the fire department dispatched 16 pieces of equipment, including pump trucks, and 45 personnel to extinguish the fire. The large flames were brought under control about an hour and a half after the report, and the driver evacuated the vehicle early, resulting in no casualties.
On the 15th of last month, a business agreement ceremony was held at the Eco-friendly Vehicle and Parts Certification Center of the Automobile Safety Research Institute located in Gwangju Metropolitan City to conduct a pilot project for the 'Battery Safety Certification System.' Photo by Yonhap News
As electric vehicle fire incidents continue, on the 15th of last month, five companies including Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, and LG Energy Solution signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to pilot a battery safety certification system. The battery safety certification system is a government initiative to directly test and certify the safety of batteries installed in vehicles in advance. At that time, Baek Won-guk, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Recent consecutive electric vehicle fires have raised public concerns," and urged, "Please speed up the tasks announced by the government and other self-help efforts to quickly restore trust in electric vehicle safety."
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