Yi (62), who owns a supermarket in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, was surprised after hearing an explosion in front of his store last September. The battery of the electric scooter he had purchased two years before had exploded while it was being charged. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the flames spread to the store and Yi was out of business for two months. The forensics report from the National Forensic Service stated that the fire could have started because of damage to the insulation in the battery pack.

Yi requested compensation from A, the manufacturer of the scooter, but A claimed that the liability was with the battery company. On November 30, the CEO of A said to the reporter over the phone, “The fire did not start with the battery installed in the scooter, but when it was being charged separately. So according to the Product Liability Act, we are not the manufacturer.” He also said, “The civil claim for compensation should be filed against the battery company, but since we also have a moral responsibility, we are willing to provide support.”

Some manufacturers have been accused of evading responsibility for exploding batteries on electric scooters. The current Product Liability Act stipulates that the entity that sells the product after assembling and labeling it is accountable for any defects in the product. Yi said, “When we buy a TV from Samsung and something inside explodes, we ask Samsung for compensation, we don’t go to the company that supplied the parts to Samsung and demand compensation from them.” Attorney Kim Jeong-min, an expert on battery accidents said, “The consumer purchased the product after considering the brand of the motorcycle, and such external awareness becomes the standard for making a judgment (on who is accountable).” He further explained, “In some precedents, the consumer was able to hold a company responsible, even when it only oversaw the final sales of the product.”

Electric scooters became popular because of cheaper prices and cost of charging batteries, which is cheaper than gas, after the central and local governments began providing subsidies in 2017. As of October 2020, 26,503 electric scooters had been sold in the nation. But experts point out that the government was too busy expanding the distribution of electric scooters and neglected safety management.

In January 2020, the battery on an electric scooter, parked on the ground floor of a multiplex house in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi exploded, and the fire ended up seriously injuring a family of four. Kim Pil-soo, a professor of automotive engineering at Daelim University said, “The problem of fires and safety accidents is already emerging, despite that the number of units distributed is not that big,” and argued, “New industries are important, but the government needs to concentrate improvements on safety to protect consumers.”

An official from the Ministry of Environment said, “We are pondering ways to handle the problem of after-sales service and constantly communicating with businesses,” and added, “We are listening to the trends at relevant ministries managing two-wheeled vehicles and looking for a solution.”