General Motors is investigating a fire involving a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV that combusted spontaneously while it was parked in a residential parking lot.
According to Washington, DC, area ABC affiliate WJLA, Hajime Rojas drove over to her parent’s house in her 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV last July, parking it in the lot nearby. While inside with family, Rojas noticed that smoke had begun to billow out from underneath her car, prompting her to call 911.
The fire department arrived and extinguished the small fire before it produced any significant flames, but the heat was enough to damage the back seat and interior of the vehicle severely. After digging up information on other purported Chevrolet Bolt EV fires, Rojas went to GM and demanded the automaker investigate the reason for the fire, but the automaker refused.
“My point was ‘don’t you want to know what caused this?'” Rojas told WJLA.
Rojas eventually reached out to WJLA for help publicizing her case, worried that other Chevrolet Bolt EV owners may experience the same problem. The news agency reached out to GM for comment on the matter and the automaker then agreed to investigate the cause behind the fire. In addition to GM, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it is aware of the fire and is looking into it.
WJLA spoke to Dr. Eric Wachsman for its report on this fire. Dr. Wachsman, who is an EV owner and the director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute, says that because lithium-ion batteries are flammable, there’s “just going to be some statistical variance in every little aspect of it that can cause, every once in a while, this to happen.” It was likely Rojas’ car’s battery had some sort of manufacturing defect, but we’ll only know for sure if GM releases the findings from its investigations.
Rojas told WJLA that she does not why or how her 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV overheated. She had owned the vehicle for just four months before it caught fire, though, so it wasn’t very heavily used prior to the fire.
We’ll keep a close eye on this story, so be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevrolet Bolt EV, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Yeah, Bolt EV sales are through the roof. Let’s go all electric ASAP, whether the customer wants them or not.
Nothing like being told and dictated to by the government and GM what we are going to buy instead of given that thing we used to have called choice. Hopefully the other OEM’s don’t get sucked down this rabbit hole.
Dear Joe Yoman, Currently the government is not dictating that you buy an electric car. There is a mandate in California as follows from tfltruck dot com “California Regulators Issue 2045 Mandate Transitioning To All-Electric Commercial Truck Sales”. So it will not be until 2045 in California.
Also, Mary Barra, Tesla and other manufacturers are pushing the government for more electric vehicle policies, USA Today 10/26/2018 “General Motors CEO: We call for federal electric and zero-emission vehicle policies”. Mary Barra wants GM to be 100% electric by 2030.
So, you will have a choice to buy gas or diesel vehicles for a very long time to come, at least 25 years in California.
However, I’m positive electric vehicles overall cost (including electricity) will cost much less than gas powered vehicles (including the cost of gas) well before then. And I’m telling you, once I tried the instant torque of an electric car, I never want to go back to gas power.
With my 2017 Chevy Bolt EV, I’m finally rid of those poop pipes in the rear end stinking up my garage 😉
But the power plant than charges your car might be stinking up more than a garage depending upon what type of energy they use. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve loved my two Volts and Malibu Hybrid, but people seldom think about how their charge is created.
Dear TomH, That was a valid concern 10 years ago, but not anymore. The Union of Concerned Scientists have addressed your concern in several articles. Do electric cars really produce less CO2 than gasoline cars over their entire life from manufacturing (cradle) to disposal/recycle (grave) including the CO2 from electric plants?
Here is your answer: As of 2015, “an electric car produces half as much CO2 than a gasoline car” (see source below).
Since 2015, it has most probably gotten better based on a 2012 study. Here is the article that answers your question in more depth and it comes from the most trusted source, The Union of Concerned Scientists who have studied this in depth: Go to https: / / www dot ucsusa dot org / resources / cleaner-cars-cradle-grave (remove spaces and change dot to a period.)
or search for the article “Cleaner Cars Cradle To Grave: How Electric Cars Beat Gasoline Cars on Lifetime Global Warming Emissions”
And do you guys actually believe that burning oil for over a century has been “A choice”?! But i am feeling all warm and fuzzy knowing that GM is going to be totally forthcoming with their findings.
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