Gotion said the accident was caused by a problem with the battery pack's protective plate, which was sourced by its partner from another company.

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The questioning of its product quality has put Chinese power battery giant Gotion High-tech in the spotlight.

A local battery pack manufacturer, Oupeng Technology, claimed Gotion was responsible for battery explosions and spontaneous combustions in a shared electric scooter operator that used Gotion cell-based packs they supplied.

Gotion, on the other hand, said the accident was caused by a problem with the protective plate of the battery pack Oupeng procured from a third party.

China Securities Journal on Sunday cited Oupeng's former general manager Lin Feng as saying the company reached an agreement with Gotion and an unnamed shared electric scooter operator in 2019 for Oupeng to purchase 15Ah cylindrical cells from Gotion to assemble into battery packs to supply to the scooter operator.

Oupeng began supplying the shared scooter operator in April 2020, and by the time of the spontaneous combustion accidents, it had produced nearly 100,000 battery packs and procured more than 1 million cylindrical cells from Gotion.

However, within a few months of the shared scooters coming into operation, dozens of battery pack spontaneous combustion and explosions occurred, forcing Oupeng to conduct recalls, according to the China Securities Journal.

On November 2, 2020, Gotion and Oupeng confirmed problems with the cells, including leakage, corrosion and failed blast valves, and Gotion staff promised to fix them as soon as possible, the report said, citing Lin at a launch event yesterday.

On November 11, 2020, finished battery packs packed by Oupeng to shipping standards and stored in the factory shipping area spontaneously exploded, causing a fire, Lin said.

As Lin's briefing was underway, two women claiming to be from Gotion questioned why Oupeng owed Gotion more than RMB 30 million in payments and said Oupeng had disputes with four of the top 10 Chinese power battery companies.

In a statement released today, Gotion said it reached an agreement with Oupeng and an unnamed shared electric scooter operator (Company H) on October 22, 2019.

Gotion provided the cells and Oupeng was responsible for the development, production and delivery of the finished battery pack packs and after-sales service, the company said.

After several tests and verifications, Oupeng told Company H that the accident was caused by a problem with the battery pack protection plate, which was procured by Oupeng from another company. Company H repeatedly urged Oupeng to repair the battery, all to no avail, Gotion's statement said.

"Up to now, Oupeng has owed Gotion Hefei more than RMB 20 million. In response to Oupeng's default on payment and malicious defamation of our products, we have filed a lawsuit in court and the progress of the case will be disclosed to the public in due course," Gotion said.