South Korean battery company renews dispute in U.S. case, LG battery recall accused should be considered
According to relevant media reports, South Korean battery manufacturers LG Chem and SK Innovation have debated whether the U.S. International Trade Commission should include the recent electric vehicle recalls as trade secrets. LG Chem filed a trade with SK Innovation in the United States last year, claiming that the other party stole its own trade secrets. LG Chem, which supplies electric car batteries for Tesla and General Motors, tried to prevent SK Innovation from producing batteries in the United States and banned the other party from importing parts and components needed to make batteries. SK Innovation denied any wrongdoing. Last month, SK Innovation asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to consider that 'LG Chem batteries were involved in a series of fires and explosions, which aroused great public concern.' The company stated in the application that GM and Hyundai have recently issued recall notices for electric vehicles equipped with LG Chem batteries, and these recalls have also raised public safety issues and highlighted the urgent need for SK batteries in the US market. The company further added that the electric car fire incident is a strong reason not to prevent SK Innovation from producing batteries at its US plant. LG Chem said in its response submitted on Wednesday that this is an 'untimely and irrelevant' application and should not be included in the review of the US International Trade Commission. Because the electric vehicle recall mentioned by SK Innovation will not affect future electric models, nor will it affect the batteries produced by the company in Holland, Michigan. GM said last month that after five fires and two minor injuries, the company recalled 69,000 electric vehicles worldwide for high-voltage batteries. Hyundai also recalled nearly 77,000 Kona electric vehicles worldwide in October this year, claiming that possible battery defects have increased the risk of fire. The US International Trade Commission is expected to make a ruling on the matter next week. Volkswagen and Ford are beginning to produce new electric vehicles using SK's innovative batteries and components. If a ruling is made that is not conducive to SK's innovation, it may bring setbacks to the two companies. SK Innovation is building a $2.6 billion battery plant in Georgia to supply batteries for Ford and Volkswagen.