Chevrolet Bolt
General Motors and Chevrolet have initiated the second official Bolt recall, indirectly confirming that the fire problem is more serious than previously thought. The recall will weigh heavily on GM accounts considering that all batteries and related components of each car will be replaced. This for almost 70,000 units distributed largely on American soil (approximately 50,000 cars).Given the cost of the entire operation, it is clear that General Motors initially wanted to "buffer" the issue with the first software update. The latter limited the charge of the batteries thus reducing the risk of fire, but not eliminating it entirely. In fact, there have been other (albeit isolated) cases of updated Bolt that have nevertheless caught fire spontaneously. For this reason, it was assumed that the origin of the problem was in the batteries themselves and not in some malfunction of the management program. Hypothesis that is confirmed in this new recall.
Since the malfunctions of Bolt have ended up regularly on the front pages, the parent company has tried to contain the media damage. GM has in fact specified that the replacement batteries are not the same as the more recent models (the defective Bolt arrive until 2019) nor will they be used in the next electric vehicles already announced. Mlagrado these clarifications, it is clear that Chevrolet is not exactly unscathed from this situation in terms of image, especially on US soil.
Furthermore, the last word has not yet been said in what is becoming an odyssey for this unfortunate car. Replacing the batteries should definitively eliminate the risk of fire but the same was thought already after the previous update. Meanwhile, the US house has released the "rules" to avoid problems while waiting for the recall.
These range from not letting the batteries completely discharge, to always recharging the car after each use. In addition, of course, not to park it indoors or leave it charging overnight. As mentioned above, if you do not follow these instructions spontaneous combustion of batteries could cause serious damage (and the photos on this page demonstrate this).
Facing another setback, General Motors recalls 2017-2019 Chevy Bolts
General Motors is recalling Chevy Bolts from model years 2017–2019, citing fire risk related to the electric car's lithium-ion batteries.
Flashback: The automaker already recalled some of the Bolts in November over concerns about battery fires.
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The software update completed after the first recall 'was not fully effective in addressing the safety risk in the vehicle,” per WSJ.
The big picture: Electric vehicles are a small part of the overall car market. But it’s the part that’s growing — and right now is a critical time in the race to establish dominance.
Context: In the race to get to market, GM's not the only one to issue EV recalls related to fires involving lithium-ion batteries — Ford, BMW and Hyundai have had to do it too.
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