File photo/Li Xing (NBD)

June 28 (NBD) -- Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup NIO Inc. has decided to recall a total of 4,803 cars over fire risks starting Thursday, according to a statement by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The Chinese top market watchdog said that the recall affects the NIO ES8 crossovers with battery packs manufactured between April 2 and October 19, 2018.

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that NIO had delivered 17,550 ES8s as of this May and the affected 4,803 units take up around 27 percent of the total.

The market regulator warned that the battery packs may cause thermal runaway and fire in extreme circumstances, posing security risks. The EV maker promised to take back the affected vehicles and replace the defective battery packs, so as to eliminate the potential safety hazard.

According to NIO, the vehicles' battery packs carry the NEV-P50 modules supplied by Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL).

CATL later issued a statement, saying that the reason behind the security risk is the interference between the modules it supplied and the battery containers provided by NIO. The battery maker added that the company will collaborate with NIO's recall efforts to protect rights and interests of customers.

Yu Qingjiao, secretary general of the Zhongguancun New Battery Technology Innovation Alliance, held that frequent fire incidents happening to EVs sound the alarm and deserve great attention from the enterprises in the industry.

NBD noticed that earlier this month Chinese authorities ordered carmakers to check their EVs for potential safety hazards and submit their findings by the end of October.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn