Battery safety hazards trigger a wave of electric vehicle recalls

Recalls of electric vehicles due to potential safety hazards of battery cells are still continuing. A few days ago, CRRC Times Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation in accordance with the requirements of the 'Regulations on the Administration of Recalls of Defective Automobile Products' and the 'Measures for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Recalls of Defective Automobile Products'. It was decided to recall 15 TEG6106BEV models produced during the period from June 1, 2018 to June 29, 2018 from April 30, 2021. CRRC Times stated that due to the early failure of power lithium battery cells in the recalled vehicles, the BMS control did not achieve the expected results, and there was a risk of overdischarge or short circuit of the cells, which could cause thermal runaway of the battery and pose safety hazards. In this regard, CRRC Times will replace other brands of batteries and BMS on vehicles within the scope of the recall to eliminate potential safety hazards. It is worth noting that this is not the first time CRRC has recalled its electric vehicles due to battery safety issues. On October 14, 2020, CRRC Times announced the recall of TEG6106BEV, TEG6110EV05, and TEG6110BEV01 pure electric city buses assembled from October 31, 2017 to March 19, 2018, which are equipped with Watermar power lithium batteries. , A total of 1137 vehicles. The reason for this recall is due to the early failure of power lithium battery cells and the unreasonable setting of BMS parameter warning values. There is a risk of cell leakage or short circuit, which may cause thermal runaway of the battery and pose safety hazards. The solution provided by CRRC Times is to increase the insulation resistance alarm and protection threshold of power lithium batteries through software upgrades, divide the capacity of the battery system, and replace the faulty cells. At the same time, adjust the charging strategy and change the original dual gun charging to single gun charging to reduce the risk of battery heating during the charging process. In recent years, as the sales and ownership of electric vehicles have continued to rise, the number of electric vehicles recalled due to product quality problems has also continued to rise, involving many domestic and foreign brands. On March 23, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the recall information on its website. BAIC New Energy Automobile Changzhou Co., Ltd., Beijing Automotive Co., Ltd., and BAIC (Guangzhou) Automobile Co., Ltd. intend to recall 31963 electric vehicles, involving November 2016 The EX360 and EU400 pure electric vehicles produced from 1st to December 21st, 2018 were recalled because the batteries they carried had a potential fire hazard. The above two models are equipped with ternary batteries produced by Funeng Technology. In this regard, Funeng Technology announced that it will 'take full responsibility' for this recall, and it is expected to bear the cost of the recall between 30 million and 50 million yuan. This is the first recall plan in the country that clearly announces the cost of battery recalls and the limits of rights and responsibilities. Prior to this, in the case of domestic battery car recalls, car companies and battery companies bucked each other due to the vague definition of rights and responsibilities. In February of this year, Hyundai Motor announced a global recall of 82,000 Kona electric vehicles to replace the battery system. At present, Hyundai Motor has stopped producing new Kona electric cars, but continues to sell stock vehicles. It is understood that this recall is estimated to cost up to 1.4 trillion won (approximately 8 billion yuan). Hyundai and its battery supplier LG Energy split the cost of recalling 82,000 electric vehicles for battery replacement at a ratio of 3:7. This means that LG Energy will bear an important responsibility for the recall costs of about 5.6 billion, and it further shows that the important reason for the recall is that LG Energy's power lithium battery has a safety hazard. It is worth noting that in addition to Hyundai Motors, General Motors announced in November 2020 a global recall of 69,000 Bolt electric vehicles produced in 2017-2019 due to battery safety issues. At present, this model has at least five fire accidents around the world, and the battery supplier is also LG Energy. GM said that rare manufacturing defects in some battery modules of the recalled vehicles caused electric vehicles to catch fire. In a subsequent joint investigation with LG, GM and LG Energy determined that the cause of the fire was a battery cell problem. In this regard, the general solution strategy is to use software methods to try to repair, and limit the charging SOC to 90%. However, GM BOLTEV recently experienced another spontaneous combustion accident in the United States. Unlike the previous five accidents, the vehicle occurred after GM's final remedial measures were updated. This means that the previous remedial measures may be ineffective, and the hidden safety hazard still comes from the battery, which is consistent with the previous encounters of Hyundai. Under this circumstance, once it is finally determined that the battery cell quality is a problem and the subsequent BOLTEV continues to burn, GM will have to recall all vehicles again and completely replace the battery packs. The important costs of the recall may still be borne by LG Energy. It is undoubtedly a major blow. In addition to the aforementioned OEMs, OEMs including Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, Weilai, and Weimar have also recalled their electric vehicles due to battery safety issues. A series of electric vehicle recall accidents have shown that battery safety hazards have become one of the most important reasons leading to electric vehicle recalls. This indicates that the safety problem of power lithium batteries needs to be solved urgently. The trial and error cost of power lithium battery companies has increased significantly. OEMs and battery factories All face a new round of tests and challenges.