A Chevy Bolt EV owned by a Vermont state representative spontaneously caught fire while sitting in his driveway earlier this month.
Vermont Rep. Timothy Briglin told Automotive News his 2019 Chevy Bolt EV was charging in his driveway the night of June 30 when it suddenly caught fire. The vehicle was involved in the recall of 69,000 Chevy Bolt EV vehicles that General Motors issued earlier this year due to fire concerns, however, it already underwent repairs as part of the recall on June 9.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of this incident,” GM said in a prepared statement regarding the vehicle fire. “We have reached out to the customer and are actively investigating the incident and gathering additional information to understand the specific circumstances.”
GM recalled certain examples of the Chevy Bolt EV last year after it received numerous reports from owners of the vehicle’s battery pack overheating and catching fire – typically while the vehicle was parked or charging. The automaker issued a recall for affected vehicles in April, which instructed dealers to inspect the battery packs of affected vehicles and install an onboard diagnostic software capable of detecting major problems with the battery before they occur. Dealers were also instructed to replace the battery entirely in some vehicles. It’s not clear what kind of repairs were performed on Briglin’s vehicle.
Briglin told Automotive News that prior to the fire, he was enjoying his ownership experience with the vehicle.
“Clearly any consumer product has to be safe, and clearly the particular car that I owned had a catastrophic event,” he said. “Prior to that, I’d had a very good experience with the electric vehicle.”
GM has also bought back some Chevy Bolt EV models involved in the recalls through a buyback program, while another owner was able to trade their vehicle in for a brand new 2022 Chevy Bolt EV at no extra cost. GM is only offering the buyback program in certain states.
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Comments
At some point GM will have to concede that LG sold them some defective batteries, Hyundai has recalled all of the Kona EV’s also with LG batteries for replacement, and it might be time for GM to do the same, as the past software recall does not seem to have solved the problem. It’s only a matter of time until these fires strike the wrong car at the wrong time, and it turns into a tragedy, do the right think GM before you damage the reputation of GM EV’s beyond repair.
Yes, blame it on LG… even though gm and LG are thoroughly in bed with each other now. The fact of the matter is the gm’s leadership lacks direction. All they do is talk… take action for once. Admit that BEV tech is quite limited and not all that sustainable. Buyback defective vehicles, maybe offer credit towards a new gm purchase… so we don’t lose more customers. Lowercase can’t afford to lose more market share to Toyota, Hyundai, or Tesla.
It’s about time Mary Antionette learns how to respect the consumer and not just the shareholder. The fact that GM sales have continued to fall steadily since 2015 and the stock price is nearly double what it was then should be cause for alarm for investors… but whatever…
Indeed it is LG that ,manufactures the battery cells, and packs in the Bolt EV, and GM tried to come up with clever software to root out the defective cells before they melt down, but that does not seem to be foolproof, so it might be time to bite the bullet and replace all the battery packs, and/or trade the cars for 2020 or newer Bolt Ev’s which have packs made at LG’s plant in MI, instead of the ones imported from South Korea.
The fact of the matter is that batteries just aren’t all that energy dense… gm should really cut their losses and focus more on hydrogen, which is an abundant and green way to store energy. Converting renewables to hydrogen for energy storage should be the focus for grid storage and vehicles. Hydrogen seems to have the most potential, at least more than batteries.
Battery vehicles are just not gonna work for most consumers… and I think that the the failed Bolt experiment has certainly proved that. Tesla has pretty much cornered the niche market, but they still only sell like 230k units a year… Toyota sells nearly double that in just RAV4 sales.
Clearly, you are not watching the EV market, its growing everywhere there is good EV’s to buy. Tesla cannot catch up with demand, same for others that make good EV’s (Bolt is even selling well recently). As for energy density, its good enough now for many uses, As for Hydrogen, that is being worked on too, by GM na d others, but I do not have a Hydrogen pump in my garage to fill a car, Like I do for my EV’s. and I have a solar array on the roof, so my cars, and my air conditioning quite literally run on sunshine. We heat most of our water on the roof too, it works great.
wow, so affluent. “the bolt is selling well” I suppose selling well is a relative term, because 20k units is abysmal compared to what used to be made in the Orion factory.
Amen. I won’t go with EV’s.
I’ll consider hydrogen if several conditions are met.
Otherwise long live the internal combustion engine.
But hydrogen cars have an electric drivetrain too.
I own a 2019 Chevy Bolt myself. How many fires must we endure until GM offers all of us a buyback? Does it take the death of someone deemed “important enough”? I have asked GM to do a buyback and I was turned away. They ( GM rep ) said the software fix is all we need. Apparently, that is wrong and yet another fire has now happened. My family will not ride in my Bolt due to the known fires have happened in numerous 2019 models now. Would you or could you blame them?
I was all smitten with my Bolt until I started to hear about the fire issues. I sacrificed a lot of things I could have done ( vacations, weekend trips, fun of any kind ) to put together the money needed to but this EV. Now, GM is asking Bolt owners to risk their lives by continuing the ownership of a vehicle that has known fire issues. That is just asking too much in my opinion.
I want GM to step up and make it right with me ( and other 2019 Chevy Bolt owners ) and offer us the same buyback offer others have already received. You are fully committed to going all electric, but at what cost? As an “early adapter”, I paid a premium price for this tech. I do not wish to pay with my life though…. I just want an honest buyback offer so I can buy something less likely to kill me as it charges up in my carport as I sleep.
Fair comment… as a GM shareholder I agree with you, GM should put this behind them like Hyundai is doing, replace the battery packs, or trade the cars out for 2020 or newer models which have battery packs made in the USA, before this becomes a tragic story. Right now it’s just property damage, so $$$, but eventually it could be worse. If I owned a 2017-2019 Bolt right now, I would not charge to 100% under any circumstance until this is resolved.
I’m just waiting for the huge lawsuit when the dozens and dozens of Chevy Bolt buyers lay into Mary and her cronies. I hope they win and I hope the go on to buy nicer vehicles. The fact that lowercase gm is still trying to sell the Bolt, riding on a decade old Sonic platform, is embarrassing.
I would point out that buying another BEV is still sort of a risk… The technology is still new and certainly has limits… But I genuinely hope you get out of that deathtrap without losing too much cash.
Dear h4cksaw, You are incorrect, the Bolt EV does not ride on Sonic’s Gamma 2 platform. Here is a quote from another article from this website titled “GM BEV2 Vehicle Platform”:
“GM initially started out developing the Bolt EV on the Gamma 2 platform, but as development progressed, engineers created a new platform now known as BEV2, which doesn’t share components with Gamma.
“There are no Bolt EV parts tied to the G2 architecture,” lead product engineer Josh Tavel was quoted as saying. In another interview, Tavel stated that the Bolt EV shares the liquid sound deadener with other Gamma platform vehicles.
Interestingly, the Bolt is assigned the G2UC-E internal program code, which decrypts as:
G2 – Gamma 2 platform (underpins the Chevrolet Spark, Sonic/Aveo, Trax/Tracker and Buick Encore
U – utility body style
C – Chevrolet brand
E – Electric Vehicle
Though the program code indicates that the Bolt uses the G2 platform, the discrepancy is explained by the fact that the Bolt EV program originated on the Gamma architecture, but then evolved to create its own platform, even as the vehicle program maintained the G2UC-E code.”
The full article can be found at gmauthority dot com/blog/gm/gm-platforms/gm-bev-2-platform/
I agree with everything mentioned afore my comment. GM should do the right thing. Not even gasoline engines spontaneously catch fire while turned off. Gasoline doesn’t ignite spontaneously like the batteries in the Bolt have. I’m all for EV’s, but strongly against not taking responsibility and accountability when it’s needed and is the correct thing to do.
GM, YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS. Don’t ask owners questions. No investigations. BUY BACK EVERY CONCERNED VEHICLE OWNER’s BOLT. Ask questions later.
Just as I predicted!
Meanwhile tens of gas cars catch fire everyday around the country and globe and those incidents seen as business as usual. It’s called selective perception, people see patterns when they keep a watchful eye on something.
That comparison is dead, and wrong. This is clearly a manufacturing problem specific to LG cells from South Korea, Hyundai recalled all of theirs and is replacing them, GM should do the same. Most of the cost will be on LG, since they made the defective parts.
Gas cars don’t spontaneously combust and when they do catch on fire, their fires are not as dangerous.
Oh yes they do… I have seen 2 Ford’s have ignition short out and catch fire in the steering column and burn to the ground… Back then Ford told customers to park those car types outside at night.
OK, let me rephrase. Very few gasoline cars spontaneously combust as a result of peripheral defects. It’s not a fundamental problem in the design of gasoline cars whereas battery electric vehicles such as the Bolt and Kona EV are seeing the battery itself heat up and melt. It’s far more serious than gasoline car fires due to the toxic elements and the strength of the fires.
Richard, they don’t want to hear the truth from the overwhelming majority… They just want to keep pushing for their vested interest… useless to try and talk sense. Just let the lowercase gm crowd find out all on their own.
Its clear ICE cars catch fire far more often than EV’s statistically, and many catch fire while parked., The 2017-2019 Bolt however seems to have a manufacturing defect, which GM has already recalled twice, but GM’s fix does not seen to be working. A battery fire can be more intense, and harder to extinguish, I agree with you on that.
lol… nah the Bolt really is a fire hazard… nothing to do with selective perception.
h4cksaw, you must really dislike new technology. I’m a retired mechanical engineer, and I loved my 2012 Volt and now my 2020 Bolt. Have been driving 69 years, owned 29 cars and 15 motorcycles. The Bolt is the most interesting and fun of any of them. Internal combustion engines have by now been squeezed to the last drop of efficiency and pollution. Time for a change, made even more necessary by the prospect of runaway global warming.
I enjoy technology when it benefits me, just like anyone. BEVs are not a practical vehicle for me living in a northern climate. Also, I like not having to worry about my car spontaneously combusting.
If you like BEVs that’s fine… There a plenty of options out there. Just don’t pretend like you do it to be “green.” It’s done for personal preference.
There are many many studies the prove the modern economical small displacement ICE vehicles aren’t all that more polluting than BEVs… and in the long run, taking battery disposal into account, who knows how good BEVs will be. Renewable to Hydrogen infrastructure is far more practical for long term sustainability.
I want a New Bolt, but glad I saw this. My 14 year old HHR is running great and I can keep it longer.
Let me preface: I have a Chevy Bolt and of course this news concerns me. Having said that, there are signs that suggest the software “fix” did not fix the issue with battery fires. However, the cause of this fire has not yet been definitively determined. For example, the vehicle could have been damaged by an accident or road hazard which caused a short circuit. I would recommend against prematurely jumping to a conclusion.
My BEV was charging fine and running great before the 2nd recall. It’d be sitting happily charging at 6kw at any level 2 station, including the one at home. After the recall I’m getting 8kw at times and the charger handle would get quite warm. Often I’d leave it and come back after a half hour to find it not charging. My guess is the protection circuit on my charger cut it short. A bit concerning, given the history. Have an appointment with the dealer who did the recall. We’ll see what happens and if they do anything.
Please keep us updated on this. My 2017 Bolt does not seem to be cooling itself as much while charging level 1 (at 12 amps) as it did last year during the heat before any of the battery related recall updates were applied. When the Bolt cools the battery while charging it sounds like the air conditioner is running, that is how I know it’s cooling itself. About 2 days after the final battery update the Bolt did not work anymore and the dealer said I had to have the battery replaced. Now it works fine with the replaced battery, but it still is not cooling itself while charging like it used to do before any of the recall updates. So, in my case the new software update did catch a problem with the battery before a catastrophe happened, but I’m still worried that the battery is not cooling itself enough in this heat.
Hey Jeff,
I don’t think you’ll get much help from the dealers or GM either on that issue. When I brought mine in to address the level 2 charging shutting off after 10 minutes or so. They said that there was nothing wrong with the car itself and that the update did change some of the vehicle parameters. Which you yourself can’t touch, as far as I know. So now I can charge at 8Kw but have to buy a new charger if I want level 2 charging because my old one won’t work with the new update. Sounds a lot like the same kind of trouble most electronics have with obsolescence. And you’re out of luck because there’s no going back.
My batteries are fine though through a stress test and health check. So there’s a silver lining that came out of me bringing it in. Hope you get your cooling issue worked out but I have a feeling you won’t. I’m off to look at new chargers now.
OMG!! GM once again is taking the path of self destruction! If GM goes bankrupt again, the government shouldn’t not bail them out no more. Let GM die of natural causes that are self inflicted. Let’s all vote in the future for DNR GM, Do Not Resuscitate GM. They are still going the cheapest route on their product quality issues. Why can’t GM learn from the Japanese automakers? Why can’t they learn from it’s smarter cross rival Ford? I used to be a GM product fan, but not anymore to many crappy products. Look how nice the Mustang Mach E looks and drives. It makes the Chevy Bolt look like a puny peep squeak econobox. If I were to look at purchasing and electric car I will definitely leave my Chevy loyalty and vote for the Ford Mustang Mach E as my first electric car. From me a Chevy ex-fan to Ford, Good job Ford. Chevy you suck!!
Now GM wants all us Bolt owners ( 2017-2019) to once again not park in our garages or carports while charging. They also want us not to charge overnight unsupervised. GOOD GOD!!!! What a crock. I am asking GM to buyback my Bolt so I can buy another brand of EV ( FORD MACH E ) that looks good and will less likely BURN ME TO DEATH!!! I did not buy the Chevy Bolt to later require me to do a bunch of crap no other EV manufacturer would ask of their owners.
GM, step up and buy my now dangerous and value plummeting EV at what I paid, so I can get a safe, good looking EV ( mustang mach e ) and move on with my life. Sadly, I will be left without any GM people contacting me to make this right by me ( and all the others who happen to own a Bolt of manufactured between the 2017-2019 years ). They will just sit back and tell us to trade them in for a new problem EV they are trying their best to sell….
I own a 2017 Bolt and live in the mountains of Colorado. My driveway is full of overhanging Pine trees. If my Bolt catches on fire it would take 30 minutes for the fire department to respond. By then it will like cause a Forest Fire and take out hundreds of not thousands of nearby homes. That’s a lot of liability.