The power battery faucet fell into the quagmire of spontaneous combustion: 20 fires broke out continuously, and 1.4 million electric vehicles were recalled.

Author? |? fruit juice

Editor? |? Han Xiao

South Korea's LG Chem, one of the most powerful power battery companies in the world, is mired in spontaneous combustion.

20 18 up to now, there are 20 electric vehicles equipped with LG chemical power battery in Hyundai, GM and Porsche, which have spontaneous combustion accidents. Hyundai Kona Tram also directly blew up the garage roof in Canada, which attracted wide attention from users and the media.

Frequent spontaneous combustion accidents make car companies feel on pins and needles. Hyundai and GM announced the recall of tens of thousands of Kona and Bolt pure electric vehicles respectively, and said in the recall statement that there were quality problems in the power battery cells provided by LG Chem.

As one of the two giants of power batteries, LG Chem is naturally unwilling to take the blame at all.

Company CEO? Huck? Zhe? In an interview with Reuters, Shin said that the power battery system is very complicated, suggesting that the cause of the fire may be a problem of the automobile company or supplier.

However, users and car companies do not seem to buy it.

200 Kona car owners took Hyundai to court in a rage, and the latter passed with SK? Innovating, deepening cooperation and expressing dissatisfaction with LG Chem.

With Panasonic gradually falling behind, the global power battery market is currently in a critical period of transformation from "killing China, Japan and South Korea" to "Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG Chemical Long Hudou Co., Ltd.". In the first eight months, contemporary Amperex Technology Co, Limited and LG Chem fought fiercely for the position of power battery leader, and the champion position changed hands several times.

With the rapid development of the European electric vehicle market, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. also went abroad to set up camp here, winning a large number of orders from Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW early, which directly threatened the share of LG Chemical's core market.

At such a juncture, many models equipped with LG chemical batteries frequently exposed spontaneous combustion accidents, which undoubtedly cast a shadow over its future development.

One or three car companies ***20 cars spontaneously ignite? All equipped with LG electricity?

According to the original script, LG Chem was supposed to have unlimited scenery this year, and its installed capacity was better than that of contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. and Panasonic, and it won the championship in one fell swoop.

Who would have thought that at the end of 2020, LG Chemistry was "burned". All this comes from Hyundai Kona equipped with LG chemical power battery? EV is on fire.

Spontaneous combustion of power battery vehicles using LG Chem.

This year 165438+ 10/7, Korean media reported that a Kona? Once caught fire in Nanyang, South Korea. At that time, the vehicle was in a completely static state, but it suddenly caught fire and was completely burned.

This is not the first case of spontaneous combustion in this car. According to the statistics of Korean media, the fire frequency of this car seems to be a bit high, which is 165438+ 10/7, Hyundai Kona? EV has been on fire 14 times since it was launched on 20 18.

14 spontaneous combustion accidents, 12 occurred in South Korea, and the other two occurred overseas. One of the incidents occurred in Montreal, Canada, where the vehicle directly crashed into the garage and blew up the garage door; Another overseas accident happened in Austria.

Kona? Blow up the garage door in Montreal, Canada

This also shows that these problem models have spread all over the world, in order to minimize the impact of fire incidents on the brand. Hyundai Motor announced the recall of 77,000 Kona cars in South Korea, North America, Europe, China and other markets. Electric cars, of which 25,600 were recalled in South Korea.

However, Hyundai is not the only car company affected by LG chemical battery. Recently, foreign media reported that GM will plan to voluntarily recall 68,700 Bolt? EV, involving models produced between 20 17 and 20 19, the battery is LG? Chem company produced by Aochang factory from May 20 16 to May 20 19.

General recall statement

The reason for GM's recall is that NHTSA (American Highway Safety Administration) is investigating more than 70,000 Bolt? Five auto-ignition accidents were found after EV, all of which caught fire when standing without charging, and even caused passengers to be injured by inhaling toxic smoke.

While announcing the recall, GM also issued a statement, GM Bolt? Jesse, chief engineer of EV? Ortega believes that the cause of the fire may be related to the battery, reminding users not to fully charge the vehicle.

In addition to these two car companies, Porsche has also been influenced by LG chemical power battery. On February 16 this year, a Porsche Taycan pure electric vehicle caught fire and exploded in a residence in Florida, USA. The accident caused a Porsche Taycan to be completely destroyed and the garage was seriously damaged. Fortunately, no casualties were caused.

Porsche Taycan wreckage after the fire was put out.

The battery pack supplier of Porsche Taycan model is LG Chem, which is provided by LG Chem's factory in Wroclaw, Poland.

It is not difficult to see from these incidents that there have been at least 20 cases of spontaneous combustion of vehicles equipped with LG chemical power batteries in recent years, which will have such serious consequences as explosion. Both GM and Hyundai choose to recall vehicles with spontaneous combustion risk on a large scale.

Frequent spontaneous combustion is not good news for car companies and battery companies. In the long run, the company's brand will be completely eclipsed.

Second, LG and car companies are mutually embarrassed? Modern or more valuable skis

Both modern recalls and general recalls point the finger at LG Chem.

In GM's recall statement, GM Bolt? Jesse, chief engineer of EV? Ortega directly indicated that it may be related to the battery provided by LG Chem. Users are advised to set the charging level of the battery to 90% to avoid accidents caused by overcharge. If the vehicle cannot change these settings, users are advised not to put the vehicle in the garage for the time being.

After the recall, GM will update the vehicle's software and limit the charging to below 90%. At the same time, GM will continue to investigate the cause of the fire and find a permanent solution. It is expected that this problem will be completely solved within next year.

Chevrolet bolt? electric vehicle

Hyundai Motor also believes that these fire accidents are related to the short circuit of lithium-ion batteries. They suspect that there are defects in the production of high-voltage batteries for vehicles. Some Korean media and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also speculate that it may be related to batteries.

Modern kona? The power battery used by EV comes from HLGreenPower, which is a joint venture between Hyundai Mo Bisi and LG Chem, in which LG Chem is responsible for providing the battery cells and the assembly of the battery pack is completed by the joint venture.

After the recall, Hyundai plans to update the BMS system of the vehicle to solve the fire problem in this way.

However, users do not recognize this approach. At present, 200 car owners have filed a class action lawsuit against Hyundai Motor, demanding that Hyundai Motor compensate for its electric car value loss and other economic losses. Korean media reported that a lawyer said that these car owners initially asked Hyundai Motor to compensate each car owner for 8 million won (47,000 yuan), and the amount of compensation may increase with the trial.

Modern kona? electric vehicle

South Korean media reported that analysts believe that if Hyundai and LG Chem want to replace all the affected batteries, they may face a cost of 540 million US dollars (about 3.55 billion yuan).

In this case, LG Chem insists that the battery fire has little to do with them.

The company said that after the fire accident, LG Chem and Hyundai conducted an accident replay experiment, and the experimental results did not show the fire phenomenon, so it is not easy to blame the fire accident on the battery defect.

LG chemical power battery factory

Huck, CEO of LG Chem? Zhe? In an interview with Reuters, Shin also said that the battery system is very complicated, suggesting that the fire may be caused by other components provided by modern suppliers.

Because they don't want to admit that they are related by blood, the relationship between the two sides is getting worse and worse, and the 20-year cooperative relationship may break down.

Korea science and technology news agency. Elec reported that SK? Innovation will probably become the preferred battery supplier for modern cars. From the specific actions, in September, Hyundai and SK? Innovation has announced that it will jointly develop the battery ecosystem of electric vehicles, involving battery recycling and optimizing the battery supply chain.

SK？ Innovative battery core

The media also reported that the current SK? Innovation has played an important role in the modern supply chain, and 4 1600 kona cars will be sold before July 2020. In EV, SK has installed 30%. Innovative battery

With the continuous fermentation of the incident, the cooperative relationship between Hyundai and LG Chem may break down, which will have a certain impact on the continued development of LG Chem.

Third, production accidents are frequently chased by opponents? LG is in more trouble.

With the rapid development of European electric vehicle market, LG Chem has gained more market share. This year should have been a year of rapid development of LG Chemistry, but at present, LG Chemistry is not only facing the dilemma of spontaneous combustion, but also facing more troubles.

The first is the frequent occurrence of factory accidents.

On May 7th this year, a chemical gas leakage accident occurred in a polymer factory of LG Chemical Company in Weizege, India, which killed at least 12 people, including 2 elderly people and 1 8-year-old girl. In addition, more than 5000 people developed symptoms such as dyspnea, and more than 1000 people were injured and taken to the hospital, 70 of them were unconscious.

Just two days after the accident/kloc-0, an explosion and fire accident occurred at LG Chemical Catalytic Center in Ruishan City, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea, killing 1 person and injuring two others. However, this is not the first time that LG Chemical's factory has caught fire. As early as 20 16, there was an accident in which the production equipment of lithium battery caught fire at LG Chemical Nanjing Factory. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

Accident scene of LG Chemical Catalytic Center

However, the continuous accidents have also damaged the brand of LG Chem to some extent.

Secondly, the lack of LG chemical production capacity has also slowed down the production progress of many car companies. In February of this year, Jaguar announced that it would stop production of the I-PACE model for a week because of the shortage of LG chemical power batteries.

Jaguar I-PACE

Jaguar is not the only car company affected by LG's chemical production capacity. Due to the battery supply problem of LG Chem, Audi and Mercedes-Benz also cut the production targets of e-teon and EQC.

Finally, the crazy pursuit of contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. is also something that LG Chemical has to consider.

In the first quarter of this year, SNE? The research data shows that LG Chem beat the powerful Panasonic and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. with a market share of 27. 1%, and its installed capacity also surged 120% to 5.5GWh, making it the first power battery enterprise in the world. Three months later, SNE? The half-year data of the survey showed that LG Chem ranked first in the world again with a market share of 24.6%, and its installed capacity increased from 5.7GWh to 10.5GWh.

After surpassing Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. for two consecutive quarters, LG Chem has almost held the position of the world's leading power battery, but at this moment, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. has caught up again.

SNE？ Research recently released the installed capacity data of power batteries in August. Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd.' s installed capacity of 2.8GWh accounted for 25.9% of the global market, and returned to the first place after August. The installed capacity of LG Chem in August was 2.4GWh, accounting for 22.2% of the global installed capacity.

In the first eight months of this year, the top three companies in the world installed power batteries.

Moreover, with the gradual reduction of the epidemic in China, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. may continue to catch up with LG Chem in the next few months, and by the end of this year, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. may win the first place in the world again.

In addition, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. has set up camp in Europe, the base camp of LG Chem. Old customers of LG Chem, such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, have placed orders with Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., which is touching the core market of LG Chem.

Judging from this information, LG Chem is currently at home and abroad, and the continuous quality problems and the continuous catch-up of contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. make LG Chem particularly annoyed.

Fourth, is the industry structure in transition? Where will LG go?

So, has LG Chemistry reached a critical moment? The answer is no, at least from the current market structure, LG Chem will remain the top two in the world in the next five to 10 years.

In the past five years, the installed capacity of Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG has been increasing. Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. surpassed Panasonic to become the first in the world with 20 17. In the first eight months of this year, LG also completed the catch-up with Panasonic, rewriting the industry structure again.

In the past five years, Panasonic's market position has been declining, while contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG Chemical are on the rise.

The decline of Panasonic is still getting worse. Panasonic has only established cooperation with Tesla, Toyota, Ford and other car companies, but Panasonic's production capacity is even difficult to meet Tesla (Musk once said that Panasonic's production capacity limits Tesla's development), which also means that it is difficult for Panasonic to provide services for more users.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. has established cooperative relations with domestic manufacturers such as SAIC, Dongfeng, BAIC, Geely, Guangzhou Automobile, Weilai and Tucki, occupying about 50% of the domestic market, and its position is almost unshakable, and gradually winning orders from BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo; LG Chem has partners in China, Korea, Europe and America.

In order to better supply customers, the planned production capacity of LG Chem and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. both exceeds 65,438+000 GWh, with obvious advantages. From this point of view, LG Chem is still one of the top players.

Moreover, LG Chem also plans to spin off the power battery business in June 5438+February this year. Prior to this, LG Chem also had production lines in the chemical industry. After the spin-off, it means that the new company can focus more on the power battery business, avoid the situation of large companies and small departments, and promote the further development of the power battery business.

LG chemical power electricity?

The new company can also invest more R&D experience in the research and development of power batteries, which is of great help to improve product quality and innovate battery technology, and can also restrain accidents such as spontaneous combustion to some extent.

LG Chem is also very optimistic about the future of the battery business. What is the expected sales of the new company this year? 13? Trillion won (about 77 billion yuan), in contrast, the annual sales of Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. in 20 19 was 45.8 billion yuan. According to the previous announcement, LG Chem expects the sales of battery business to reach 30 trillion won (about RMB 65.438+077 billion) by 2024.

Generally speaking, LG Chem has indeed encountered a series of troubles at present, but the market structure that has been formed will not change in a short time. The future power battery market will still be dominated by Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG Chem.

Conclusion: Safety is the lifeline of battery enterprises.

Power battery is the most important component in electric vehicles, but there are technical barriers. For a long time, car companies have chosen to buy batteries or battery packs directly from battery companies, which has also spawned several powerful power battery companies, such as Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG Chem.

Because the power battery provides power for the vehicle, it may be heated or damaged during use, resulting in vehicle safety accidents, spontaneous combustion and explosion from time to time.

Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and LG Chem. both suffered certain public pressure because of vehicle spontaneous combustion, which also sounded the alarm for battery enterprises. While pursuing energy density and expansion, we should pay more attention to the safety of batteries, and it is most important to do a safe battery.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.