[ad_1]
(Bloomberg) —
Most Learn from Bloomberg
A significant blaze in South Korea that knocked out a variety of key digital providers for days — snarling banking, ride-sharing and on-line deliveries — is reigniting security considerations in a nation that’s a key international provider of lithium-ion cells utilized in electrical automobiles.
The times-long outage adopted a hearth Oct. 15 at a knowledge heart in Pangyo which engulfed batteries utilized in backup energy techniques, impacting key native tech corporations together with Kakao Corp., South Korea’s virtually ubiquitous social media large and supplier of the nation’s hottest prompt messaging service.
Kakao customers have been left unable to hail a taxi, pay for groceries or chat with members of the family, disruptions which prompted the corporate’s co-chief government officer to resign and led lawmakers to query the dangers of concentrating an excessive amount of digital energy in a single entity.
Even with SK C&C, the operator of the information heart, nonetheless investigating the reason for the fireplace, the incident has stoked a brand new bout of considerations over battery security. That’s essential for the electrical automobile sector, given three South Korea-based corporations — LG Vitality Answer Ltd., SK On Co. and Samsung SDI Co. — rank among the many high tier of worldwide battery suppliers.
“Security considerations are re-emerging over lithium-ion batteries, and the federal government must step in to forestall comparable accidents from occurring as a result of as soon as issues go incorrect with batteries, the affect is usually unbearably important,” mentioned Lee Hoguen, a professor of automotive engineering at Daeduk College.
The most recent hearth could possibly be a particular adverse for SK On, a provider to Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG, which supplied batteries on the knowledge heart that have been meant to ship backup energy and stop outages, in accordance with Yoon Joonwon, a fund supervisor at DS Asset Administration, which invests within the tech sector. SK C&C mentioned it didn’t obtain any alerts on its battery administration system — which might point out any issues, together with modifications in voltage or present — till the fireplace began at 3:19 p.m. native time.
South Korea has been deeply concerned in debate over the security of batteries utilized in automobiles and large energy storage facilities. Producers LG Vitality Answer and LG Electronics Inc. final yr booked greater than $900 million in costs over Common Motors Co.’s recall of Chevrolet Bolt electrical automobiles.
A spate of fires at power storage websites between 2017 and 2019 prompted intervention from the nation’s authorities and producers to spice up requirements, and is cited as amongst key elements which have hampered South Korea’s efforts to spice up the share of unpolluted power in its energy grid.
(Corrects attribution of firm assertion in sixth paragraph.)
Most Learn from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
[ad_2]
Source link
