今年8月，在首尔西部仁川一所公寓的地下停车场，一辆梅赛德斯-奔驰EQE车型发生火灾，导致100多辆汽车受损。此后，电动汽车电池供应商的话题成为汽车业界关注的焦点。Legal representatives of some South Korean Mercedes-Benz electric car owners said on Thursday that they have sued the German carmaker, accusing the company of providing misleading information about its car battery supplier.
Ha Jong-sun, a lawyer at Seoul Naru Law Firm, held a press conference at the Seoul Jung-gu Court on the same day and said that 24 Mercedes-Benz EQE EV owners filed joint claims for compensation against Mercedes-Benz headquarters, Korean sales companies, and 7 Korean dealers in the Seoul Central District Court.
The plaintiff initially sought compensation of 10 million won (approximately US$7,408) and planned to increase the amount of compensation after the Korea Fair Trade Commission published the results of an investigation into the false advertising of Mercedes-Benz.
In August of this year, a Mercedes-Benz EQE car caught fire in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Incheon in western Seoul, causing damage to more than 100 cars. Since then, the topic of electric vehicle battery suppliers has become the focus of attention in the automotive industry.
To the surprise of many people, the battery used in this electric car actually came from China's Funeng Technology Company, which is ranked 10th in the world.
The plaintiff claimed that although most EQE models were equipped with batteries from Funeng Technology, Mercedes-Benz deceived consumers and implied that these vehicles were equipped with batteries from the Ningde era, a global leader in electric vehicle battery sales.
They also pointed out that Christoph Starzynski (Christoph Starzynski), the former vice president of automotive engineering at Mercedes-Benz, said in an interview with Korean media in April 2022 that batteries for EQE cars will be supplied by the Ningde Era.
Furthermore, the plaintiff claimed that Mercedes-Benz deliberately concealed the defects of Funeng Technology's batteries and demanded punitive damages.
They claim that although the high energy density of Funeng Technology batteries increases the risk of heat loss control, Mercedes-Benz has failed to implement proper design or safety mechanisms.
The plaintiff's attorney said, “Mercedes-Benz was aware of these issues after the Incheon parking lot fire, but did not carry out a recall, thus concealing the problems.”
“Mercedes-Benz should bear a punitive liability of 0.35 billion won, which is 5 times the cost of replacing the battery pack,” the lawyer said.
