South Korea held emergency state meeting on the safety of electric vehicles
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South Korea's environment ministry has held an emergency meeting to address recent incidents of fires involving electric vehicles (EVs). This decision follows a notable fire that caused significant damage, raising concerns about the safety of EVs.
The meeting, held last Monday, included key stakeholders such as the land and industry ministries, the National Fire Agency, and other relevant state bodies, according to Reuters.
The government aims to develop and announce comprehensive measures to prevent future EV fires, reflecting the growing need for safety protocols as EV adoption increases across the country.
The urgent meeting was prompted by a serious fire on August 1, where a Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle (EV) spontaneously ignited while parked in an underground garage, according to WioNews.com.
The fire caused extensive damage to an entire apartment complex.
As CTIF.org wrote in the beginning of August firefighters struggled for eight hours to extinguish the blaze, which ultimately destroyed or damaged around 140 vehicles.
This incident has heightened concerns about the safety of EVs, particularly in confined spaces like underground garages, leading the South Korean government to prioritize developing preventive measures.
As CTIF.org also wrote on June 27, 2024, 22 people died in a lithium battery explosion in a factory fire earlier this summer, also in South Korea.
Officials stated that the victims likely succumbed to extremely toxic gas within seconds of the fire getting out of control. The cause of the explosions remains unclear, and the fire was largely extinguished in about six hours.