EV3 and Casper gain grade 2 in EV battery safety

The Kia EV3 and Hyundai Casper Electric have earned better scores than Tesla’s Model Y in terms of their Battery Management System (BMS) safety features, which are dubbed the brains of electric vehicle batteries.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute (KATRI) under the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS) on Wednesday released the evaluation results of the 2024 Korea New Car Assessment Program (KNCAP) and BMS safety features. Following a fire accident on an electric vehicle in Cheongna, Incheon, the ministry added these safety features as part of the KNCAP to ensure EV fire prevention.

This year's first BMS test rated the EV3 and Casper Electric grade 2 with 72.7 out of 100 points. Model Y scored 59.1 points, receiving a grade of 4. The BMS in the EV3 and Casper Electric detects battery issues and delivers automatic warning messages to their manufacturers and car drivers. In contrast, Tesla staff gives a warning message to owners of the Model Y in case of battery errors, causing the model to gain a relatively low score.


Ho-Kyeong Kim kimhk@donga.com