Chinese electric car maker NIO has recalled more than a quarter of all its ES8 all-electric SUVs sold thus far due to a risk of overheating and spontaneous combustion in battery packs of the vehicles.
The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation made the announcement, which recalls 4,803 ES8 electric vehicles that were manufactured between April 2-October 19, 2018.
That represents more than a quarter of the 17,550 ES8 vehicles sold as of the end of last month, KrASIA reports.
The affected vehicles have an issue with defective modules in their battery packs that could lead to overheating and spontaneous combustion of the battery “in the most extreme cases,” KrASIA notes. NIO is replacing the battery packs for free.
Three NIO fires have been reported in China during the past few months. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology just issued a new notice last week that requires EV makers to quickly issue reports about vehicle-related fires — carmakers who don’t do so could face sanctions.
It’s another bump in the road for NIO, which scrapped plans for its own Shanghai manufacturing plant earlier this year after reporting a $1.4 billion net loss in 2018.
NIO also closed a US office in May, while laying off 70 US employees across two offices in the process.
In addition to the ES8, NIO introduced the smaller ES6 SUV last year. It started deliveries of the ES6 last week:
Today, we officially began delivery of the ES6, our high-performance, long-range electric SUV. Premier Edition vehicles were delivered to users in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou: https://t.co/TyTaHifVw5 #blueskycoming #NIOES6 pic.twitter.com/tQbWlGlDXp
— NIO (@NIOGlobal) June 18, 2019
The company also introduced an electric sedan concept and new fast-charging station at the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year.
Earlier this month, Audi issued a battery-related recall for its e-tron, though no fires were reported.
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