‘Cheongna underground car park fire’ Where is the battery manufacturer for electric vehicles?

▲ An electric vehicle that caught fire while in motion [연합뉴스]
The Mercedes-Benz electric car that recently caught fire in the underground car park of a large apartment building in Incheon has been confirmed to have been fitted with a product from Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturer Farasis Energy.

According to the Ministry of Lands, Infrastructure and Transport and the battery industry, the battery cell of the Mercedes-Benz EQE sedan caught fire in the first parking lot of an apartment building in Cheongna International Town, Seo -to, Incheon, received on the morning of the 1st due to China’s Parasys.

The Mercedes EQE was also equipped with products from CATL China, the world’s No. 1 battery manufacturer, but it was confirmed that the vehicle involved in this accident was equipped with products from Parasys.

This battery is a nickel, cobalt, manganese (NCM) type, and the exact model name is unknown.

Founded in 2009, Parasys recorded sales of $2.32 billion (approximately KRW 3.18 trillion, market share of 1.8%) and shipments of 15GWh (gigawatt hours) last year, ranking 10th in the world in terms of both sales and shipments.

In 2018, it signed a 10-year battery order contract with Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, and in 2020, Mercedes-Benz spent 900 million yuan to acquire about 3% of Parasys shares and began co- development of batteries.

However, Parasys battery products have been recalled in China due to fire hazards.

In March 2021, China’s state-owned Beijing Automobile Group (BAIC) recalled 31,963 electric vehicles with Parasys batteries, citing the battery’s ‘fire potential in certain environments.’

At that time, Parasys acknowledged the defect and covered all recall costs.