Hyundai To Recall 82,000 Vehicles Globally For Battery Replacement

Hyundai will replace battery systems in 82,000 electric vehicles globally due to fire risks, making the world's most expensive electric vehicle recall worth a staggering $900 million.

The recall is one of the first mass battery pack replacements conducted by a major automaker. Most of the latest recall applies to its best-selling electric car, the Kona EV, which was first recalled in October for a software upgrade after a series of fires. Roughly 76,000 Kona EVs, as well as some Ioniq EV and Elec City models, are being recalled.

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“Our priority is to dispel potential risks against customer safety despite the low possibility of fires and high financial burden,” Hyundai said in a statement on Wednesday.

About 16 cases of Kona EVs catching fire have been reported globally, including in Canada and Australia in 2019, according to Yonhap News. One of the incidents took place in the South Korean city of Daegu, where a Kona vehicle parked in an underground lot imploded and South Korean authorities launched a probe into whether the first recall had been adequate.

“It will be the most expensive recall in the EV industry so far because other EV makers have just upgraded their software for battery management systems, which is a relatively small cost,” said Lee Hang-Koo, an adviser at Korea Automotive Technology Institute.

Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, LG Chem’s wholly-owned battery division, are in talks about how to divide the cost of the battery replacement. LG Energy will work closely with Hyundai Motor on the recall, it said in a statement. LG also said that the issues the transport ministry mentioned regarding its batteries were problems caused when the plant initially went into production and have since been improved. LG will also step up safety protocols around its manufacturing and quality-check processes.