Asia Tech Wire (Aug 15) -- Hyundai, Kia, BMW and Mercedes-Benz recently disclosed a list of battery suppliers for electric vehicles in South Korea.

The South Korean government held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the safety of electric vehicles and whether to require car companies to disclose battery brands.

The meeting invited executives from major automakers including Volkswagen Korea, Hyundai Motors, Kia and Mercedes-Benz Korea.

During the meeting, the government suggested that all automakers voluntarily disclose details of the batteries installed in their electric vehicles, which were previously usually considered confidential.

The meeting was prompted by an electric car explosion and fire in Incheon, South Korea, earlier this month.

Two weeks ago, a fire broke out at an underground parking lot of an apartment complex in Incheon, when an electric car spontaneously combusted.

Surveillance at the scene showed a white Mercedes-Benz electric car suddenly emitting smoke before exploding and subsequently starting a fire.

According to a follow-up investigation, the fire involved a Mercedes-Benz EQE 350, which was not charging at the time.

While the accident did not result in any fatalities, it took a full eight hours for the fire to be extinguished.

Automakers Reveal Electric Vehicle Battery Suppliers in South Korea

South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Co. disclosed ahead of the meeting the manufacturers of the batteries used in 13 of its electric models and three models of its luxury brand, Genesis.

With the exception of the Kona Electric, which uses batteries from China's CATL, all of Hyundai's other EV models are equipped with batteries from South Korean manufacturers LG Energy Solution and SK On.

Korean automobile manufacturer KG Mobility disclosed on its website that its electric cars Torres EVX and Korando EV use batteries from China's BYD.

Kia has launched seven EVs, including the EV3, EV6 and EV9, with products from LG Energy Solution and SK On, but the latest Ray EV and some compact crossovers, including the Niro EV, are equipped with batteries from CATL.

The Korean subsidiaries of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, both multinational automakers, also disclosed the list of battery suppliers for their EVs.

Mercedes-Benz said the company sources battery cells from a number of manufacturers, but all EV batteries are produced by its wholly-owned subsidiary, which gets its cells mainly from South Korea's SK On, as well as CATL and Farasis, with older models having LG cells.

BMW has announced the power cells used in 13 of its EV models, three of which use CATL cells and the remaining 10 use Samsung SDI cells.