Update On The LG Battery Recall: Straight From The Horse’s Mouth

Keen SolarQuotes readers will no doubt recall the ongoing saga which began when LG Energy Solution Australia issued a recall notice for various LG Chem RESU models and battery packs back in February 2021. Since then, the recall has spread to other manufacturers containing the affected LG batteries.

This article includes an update on the situation – straight from the horse’s mouth as it were. Earlier in May, Philip Crotty, the Managing Director of LG Energy Solution Australia spoke to an anxious crowd at the Smart Energy Conference. First, I’ll give you a little background, followed by Mr Crotty’s take on the dilemma.

The Story So Far

SolarQuotes blogger Michael Bloch has followed this story closely from day one, and has written about it no less than five times. Here’s a summary:

• Late 2020: LG Energy Solution (previously LG Chem) initiates a voluntary recall in the USA due to reported fires linked to specific LG Chem RESU 10H residential energy storage systems.
• February 2021: A recall notice is issued on the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) Product Safety Australia website for various LG battery models and battery packs produced between March 2017 and September 2018 from some production lots. At this stage, the recall affects 479 units in Australia.
• Late March 2022: Another recall notice is published on the Product Safety Australia website, extending the recall to include other brands using affected LG battery packs, such as SolaX (X-cabinet, PowerStation) and Opal Storage (rebadged SolaX).
• May 2022: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raises concerns about the recall of 6,400 batteries, stating that they have not been replaced. The ACCC also expresses concern that some owners may be unaware of the recall and the associated fire risk.
• August 31, 2022: The recall notice is updated, incorporating additional models such as Redback SH5000, Red Earth Sunrise, Red Earth Drop Bear, Eguana Evolve, and VARTA Pulse Neo. It is subsequently updated to include Redback SH5000, Red Earth Sunrise, Red Earth Drop Bear, Eguana Evolve, and VARTA Pulse Neo.
• November 2022: LG launches a “Checks For Cheques” campaign in Australia. The initiative invites LG battery owners to download and use an app to scan the serial number of their unit and register their details for a chance to win money! (That’s not a typo).
• November 21, 2022: The ACCC announces its plan to contact nearly 5,000 households believed to possess LG solar batteries. LG informs the ACCC about an additional 10,000 batteries susceptible to overheating. The ACCC advises individuals to recheck their batteries. They report that 2,900 batteries have now been replaced or removed. Another 1,400 batteries have been deactivated or had their maximum charge capacity reduced to 75% as a precautionary measure against overheating while awaiting replacement or refund.

Eye-watering stuff. There’s enough in there for a B Grade Channel 7 mini-series. So, six months later, are we any further down the track? I have no idea. Maybe Mr Crotty can get us out of this mess.

Smart Energy Conference Talk

Philip Crotty is the Managing Director of LG Energy Solution Australia. He recently gave a talk at the Smart Energy Conference entitled “Home Battery Fire Safety Policy Update”. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

“I have a dream.”

Sorry, wrong speech.

Here is the correct speech:

“Thank you. Before we get into the update, I’d just like to give a bit of an overview of our company and where we’re standing in the market. We were founded in 1947 and we added lithium batteries to our portfolio… “

He then goes on, spending a third of his allotted time talking about how great his company is.

Despite starting on the wrong foot, Mr Crotty eventually steered the ship around when he finally began talking about the battery recall.

Transparency

“So first, safety will be transparent with the regulators and the public, and we have been doing that. We will strongly support our partners as part of our commitment. We’re strongly involved with the existing installer network in implementing this safety recall and with our customers. We’ll make sure they not only get a safe replacement but they’re fully confident.”

“We notified the ACCC straight away in August 2020 and continued to work on investigating the root cause. We determined the root cause and we finalised the recall range in June 2021. And we determined that we needed to replace all of our JH Three cells that we’d manufactured between 29 March 2017 and 13 September.”

Technical risk assessment

“With the replacement recall, we have now addressed 82% of affected batteries. This isn’t strictly equal to the number of batteries replaced. We have batteries with different numbers of cells in them. We have a faster remediation rate for some models than others, but that’s our overall technical risk assessment. We have plenty of replacement stocks in the country.”

Remote software update

“We issued also a diagnostic software recall to apply to cell production on either side of the recall range. We’re rolling out software that will set any preconditions that could potentially lead to a thermal failure, and that software will shut down the battery. This involves online software update remotely, and for those which are offline, we need to make a visit to the site and perform the upgrade.”

“We’ve engaged some service guys who are trusted technical partners, but for larger sales and installation companies, they want to do that work themselves. If you’re in that position, please let us know. We can provide the equipment and the training. The combined progress is 78%.”

Supply chain tracing

“The type of tracing that we’re doing – there are two main aspects to it. Firstly, supply chain tracing. Every battery has a trail to follow, from when we sold it to a distributor, then on-sold it through the industry. The challenges are closed businesses. We’ve hired investigators to really doggedly follow the trail there.”

Public outrage outreach

“The second main avenue is public outreach. This is done through geotargeted social media, particularly the areas with a lot of closed businesses. Google advertising, targeted social media, digital media banners, and so on. You may have seen these ads around and you’ll notice they’re fairly alarming. This is a deliberate strategy. We can’t afford any complacency in the market, so we maximise the perception of risk so that if they do have a battery, they will check the serial number.”

Gamified?

“Another strategy for acceleration is that we’ve now developed an app for fast checking of serial numbers online, and we’ve gamified it. You’ll find this in the app store, under “Checks For Cheques”. We’re about to change the name of that to “Is My Battery Safe?” What this does is allow you to scan a serial number.”

At the time of writing, the name of this app has indeed changed to “Is My Battery Safe?” I guess someone in the company had the courage to point out that a ‘battery recall due to risk of fire’ isn’t a game.

Mr Crotty’s Wrap

“So 78% risk elimination to date, 500,000 fault-free batteries since the recall range. 100% is that goal which we’ll keep working towards. If you have any questions, if you’re aware of any batteries, or any installers that have gone out of business, please let us know. Thanks, everybody.”

My Wrap

There’s not much more I can say. When the aforementioned SQ blogger Michael reached out to LG in September last year, he was met with deafening silence. Many of the commenters on his articles have had a similar response.

Some commenters have told us that the remote update, which Mr Crotty mentioned above, throttles the battery back to 75%. Is this a suitable fix, or a stop-gap measure? I’d say the latter. Surely there’ll be new batteries to follow for all those with a compromised battery output caused by another thought-bubble response?

Maybe you could give LG a call and ask them? 1300 677 273

Don’t forget to check this page if you are worried about your battery, and pass it on if you think someone needs to know… and make a noise if you’re getting a raw deal.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/lg-battery-recall-may-23/