LGES expands battery safety diagnosis amid EV fire concerns

[Courtesy of LG Energy Solution Ltd.]

LG Energy Solution (LGES) announced on Wednesday that it will officially expand its “battery safety diagnostic software” business, as concerns about battery safety due to electric vehicle (EV) fires in South Korea continue to rise.

The company plans to collaborate with and sell its safety diagnostic software to automakers by leveraging its proven accuracy in diagnostics and its extensive technical expertise. The company said it has more than 20 years of accumulated battery management system (BMS) design capabilities and empirical data, which is a competitive edge in the battery safety diagnostic software field.

[Provided by LG Energy Solution Ltd.]

A BMS is a system that monitors battery conditions to ensure they are maintained and used under optimal conditions. It detects potential issues such as voltage drops during charging or abnormal degradation and discharge by analyzing data including current, voltage, and temperature, which allows for preventive measures to be taken before significant problems occur.

One of LG Energy Solution’s key strengths is its vast accumulation of empirical data. Having dismantled and analyzed more than 130,000 battery cells and over 1,000 battery modules, the company has applied BMS to more than 100,000 EVs and has a safety diagnostic detection rate of over 90 percent.

The company has already provided its battery safety diagnostic software technology to nine global automakers, with Hyundai Motor among those using LG Energy Solution’s safety diagnostic technology. Hyundai Motor said this technology can detect early warning signs that may lead to fires and notify customers, allowing them to use their EVs with confidence over an extended period.

Another advantage of LG Energy Solution’s system is its versatility, as it can be applied to vehicles equipped with batteries from other manufacturers. The system can also accurately predict future battery capacity and degradation levels based on the vehicle’s driving patterns. LG has developed precision diagnostic and predictive technologies for battery degradation which has an error margin of just 1 percent.

For its part, Kia introduced a system that notifies vehicle owners via text message when abnormal signs in their battery are detected. The company said on Wednesday that this feature would be added to the battery management systems (BMS) of its electric vehicles from August 21st onwards.

Kia plans to implement the latest BMS monitoring technology across all its models as soon as possible. The BMS will automatically send a text message to the customer if there are any unusual signs from the battery cells, and these messages will include guidance on vehicle inspection and emergency assistance based on the severity of the detected issue.