Electric Mercedes-Benz EQE burned 140 cars in an underground parking lot in Korea (2 photos + 1 video)

The scale of the damage was so great that the country's government held an unscheduled meeting to discuss the safety issues of electric vehicles.





South Korea's Environment Ministry will hold an emergency meeting to discuss a series of fires involving electric vehicles. The immediate impetus was an emergency a week ago, when a Mercedes-Benz EQE electric car caught fire in the underground garage of a multi-story residential complex in Incheon.

During the eight-hour battle with the fire, rescuers evacuated more than 700 people, of whom 23 were hospitalized with smoke inhalation, the Japan Times writes. 140 cars burned or were damaged. According to preliminary data, the source of the fire was a battery produced by the Chinese company Farasis Energy.

The highly publicized incident has led to many residential condominiums in the country again banning the parking of electric cars inside their buildings. Also, according to Reuters, the South Korean government is going to require automakers to disclose information about the suppliers of batteries for their electric cars.