Photo: Public domain
When I first heard about the Chinese brand WM (Weltmeister), I was impressed by the design of its cars and amused by the company’s name. Calling yourself "master of the world" is presumptuous even in a foreign language. Worse still, it makes you have to prove that. Despite the good designs, fire cases are not helping the company.
The latest one happened on December 20 with a WM EX5, a compact crossover presented in May 2018. With two battery pack options (52.5 kWh and 69kWh), it offers 400 kilometers (249 miles) and 520 km (323 mi) of range in the Chinese test cycle. However, things started getting ugly for the EX5 by the end of September 2020.
In only one month, four units of the electric crossover caught fire. WM then made a recall to replace the battery packs of 1,282 EVs. The company said that the battery supplier made cells with impurities that led to unusual lithium precipitation in the batteries, dendrite formation, and thermal runaways.
The EX5 that burst into flames on December 20 was bought about eight months ago, around April. According to Hexun Auto Channel, the fire started at 4:30 AM, while the owner was charging the vehicle. Theoretically, this unit did not go through the recall and was already produced with updated cells. If that is really the case, the first diagnosis for the problem may have missed something.
Far from being something to demote people from buying electric cars, this is a warning for them to keep track of the brands and battery suppliers with the best records. For automakers, it demands more care, transparency, and proactivity in solving any issues they find, especially if they are related to the battery packs.
Although the shift to electric cars is a given, they have to be highly reliable to help people build confidence in them. Fire episodes with EVs may be more difficult to happen, but these blazes are harder to extinguish and, consequently, more damaging. Either car manufacturers reinforce battery production quality controls, or the efforts to adopt EVs will get increasingly more complicated.
In only one month, four units of the electric crossover caught fire. WM then made a recall to replace the battery packs of 1,282 EVs. The company said that the battery supplier made cells with impurities that led to unusual lithium precipitation in the batteries, dendrite formation, and thermal runaways.
The EX5 that burst into flames on December 20 was bought about eight months ago, around April. According to Hexun Auto Channel, the fire started at 4:30 AM, while the owner was charging the vehicle. Theoretically, this unit did not go through the recall and was already produced with updated cells. If that is really the case, the first diagnosis for the problem may have missed something.
Far from being something to demote people from buying electric cars, this is a warning for them to keep track of the brands and battery suppliers with the best records. For automakers, it demands more care, transparency, and proactivity in solving any issues they find, especially if they are related to the battery packs.
Although the shift to electric cars is a given, they have to be highly reliable to help people build confidence in them. Fire episodes with EVs may be more difficult to happen, but these blazes are harder to extinguish and, consequently, more damaging. Either car manufacturers reinforce battery production quality controls, or the efforts to adopt EVs will get increasingly more complicated.
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