According to the recall announcements released by the Defective Product Administration Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, in November 2020, a total of 12 batches of recall notices were issued in China's domestic auto market, involving 12 brands and a total of 1,079,600 defective vehicles recalled. This represented a slight decrease of 0.02% year-on-year, while the total recall volume surged by 646.39% month-on-month. In October this year, 53,700 new energy vehicles (NEVs) were recalled in China, accounting for 37% of the total recalled vehicles that month. Although both the total quantity involved and the proportion of overall recalls declined in November, the number of NEVs recalled still reached 12,000 units, marking a staggering year-on-year increase of 196.04%. As learned from Battery Network, since October, multiple recall cases caused by potential battery safety hazards have occurred both domestically and internationally. In the domestic market, 110 Polestar 2 pure electric vehicles were recalled due to issues with the software related to power batteries; WM Motor recalled 1,282 electric vehicles over the risk of power battery fires, among other cases. In the international market, Hyundai Motor will recall 25,000 Kona Electric vehicles equipped with defective batteries; BMW recalled 61 imported plug-in hybrid X5 vehicles due to the risk of power battery short circuits; BMW recalled 5,000 hybrid vehicles in the United States over battery fire risks; General Motors announced a global recall of nearly 69,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles because of potential battery fire hazards, etc. The latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that in November, the production and sales of NEVs reached 198,000 units and 200,000 units respectively, up 75.1% and 104.9% year-on-year. From January to November, the production and sales of NEVs in China stood at 1,119,000 units and 1,109,000 units respectively. Among these figures, sales increased by 3.9% year-on-year, turning from negative growth to positive. Many industry experts predict that the annual sales volume will exceed 1.3 million units. Against the backdrop of the continuous expansion of the NEV market, the number of NEV recalls caused by battery safety issues keeps rising. How to ensure consumers can use NEVs safely and with peace of mind has become a focal point of the industry. To let consumers see the hope of a thorough solution to NEV safety problems, battery manufacturers have successively launched relevant power battery safety solutions based on NEV safety requirements. On March 29, BYD Company Limited (002594) officially launched its "Blade Battery" with super strength and safety. The battery nail penetration test showed that after being pierced, the Blade Battery produced no open flames or smoke, with its surface temperature only reaching around 30-60℃. An egg placed on the battery surface remained unchanged and stayed in a liquid state. Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Group, stated bluntly, "The Blade Battery demonstrates BYD's determination to completely eliminate the safety pain point of NEVs, and it is even capable of erasing the term 'spontaneous combustion' from the dictionary of NEVs once and for all." It is understood that the Blade Battery has been equipped on BYD Han and BYD Tang EV models so far. In addition, based on ternary battery materials, a number of power battery enterprises have also released their research achievements. In October, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL, 300750) announced the development of its non-combustible 811 battery. Zeng Yuqun, Chairman of CATL, once publicly told the media, "The 811 ternary battery system designed and developed by CATL can easily pass the thermal runaway test—it does not catch fire not just for 5 minutes, but forever." It is learned that the 100kWh battery pack officially launched by NIO to the market on November 6 is exactly equipped with CATL's latest Cell-to-Pack (CTP) technology, namely the "never-combustible" battery cells. Sunwoda Electronic Co., Limited (300207) recently announced its battery system solution featuring "only smoking, no combustion". In the "heating-triggered battery cell thermal runaway test", after the test module cell triggered thermal runaway, smoke was emitted on-site, but no open flame appeared. During the experiment, the temperature of the triggered cell quickly rose to about 600℃ and then gradually decreased; after about 20 minutes, the temperature of this cell dropped to around 300℃, and the temperature of the surrounding cells also decreased synchronously; after about 50 minutes, the temperature of the triggered cell fell to about 110℃, without triggering the second cell; finally, it took a total of 67 minutes for the temperature of the test cell to drop to 60℃. Recently, Farasis Energy (Ganzhou) Co., Limited (688567) announced the mass production of "never-combustible" batteries in collaboration with GAC NE. The GAC Aion V model is the first project equipped with power batteries adopting the new thermal runaway technology. This thermal runaway technology has passed strict third-party thermal runaway tests. After the battery was heated for 394 seconds, the first cell triggered thermal runaway, but the battery pack did not catch fire within the subsequent 24 hours and gradually returned to a safe room temperature state, achieving "never-combustible" performance after battery pack thermal runaway. It is understood that the power batteries equipped on this model have been mass-produced and installed at Farasis Energy's Zhenjiang factory, which meets Industry 4.0 standards, since June this year, and have been successively delivered to end users. In addition, based on innovations in cobalt-free cathode materials and electrolyte materials, emerging power battery player SVOLT Energy Technology released its "Jelly Battery" at the Battery Day held on December 2. This is a lithium battery using a new type of jelly-like electrolyte, featuring high conductivity, self-healing and flame retardancy. It can achieve both excellent electrical performance and safety performance of the battery, preventing thermal runaway while almost not reducing electrical performance. In previous tests, after the first cell was manually ignited, the battery pack began to emit smoke; 25 minutes later, the thermal runaway of the module where it was located was completed, and no accident occurred in the adjacent modules. There are also reports in the industry that automakers involved in recalls due to battery safety risks may consider replacing their battery suppliers. Recently, LG Chem and SK Innovation have been in a dispute over electric vehicle recalls, competing for the power battery market. Suppliers with the technology and mass production capacity to solve battery safety problems are expected to seize the first opportunity in the new round of competition. It is worth noting that to strengthen the safety management of electric vehicles, on May 12 this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued three mandatory standards in succession, which specially added the battery system thermal runaway test. The standards require that the battery system shall not catch fire or explode within 5 minutes after a single battery cell triggers thermal runaway, reserving safe escape time for passengers. The new standards will be officially implemented in 2021. With policy support and technological improvement, as the upcoming 2021 approaches, we look forward to more high-safety new energy vehicles entering thousands of households.