General Motors is asking owners of the Chevy Bolt EV or Bolt EUV to park 50 feet away from other vehicles when they are in a parking garage due to fire risks.
According to Reuters, GM has implemented this precaution to “reduce potential damage to structures and nearby vehicles in the rare event of a potential fire.” The automaker had already suggested owners park their vehicles outdoors and not leave them charging unattended due to fire risks, but issued this new guidance in response to owners who had questions regarding the safety of using parking garages/parking decks. Owners are also advised to limit charging their vehicles to under 90-percent capacity using the Target Charge Level mode, avoid frequent charging sessions and avoid depleting their battery below 70 miles of range.
GM expanded its recall of the Chevy Bolt EV in August to include the 2020 and 2021 model-year Bolt EV, along with the refreshed 2022 Bolt EV and new 2022 Bolt EUV crossover. The recall now includes more than 140,000 vehicles from the 2017 to 2022 model years. GM has yet to issue a permanent fix for the problem and says its engineers, along with experts from its battery manufacturing partner LG Energy Solution, “continue to work around the clock on the issues.”
GM has traced the battery fires back to a torn anode tab and folded separator within one or multiple battery cells. The automaker said this week it is working with LG Energy Solution to find the root cause of these battery manufacturing issues and to “clean up the manufacturing process” at two LG Energy Solution plants in Michigan and South Korea. It is also seeking reimbursement from LG for the cost of the recall, which is expected to top $1.8 billion.
Production of the Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV has been put on pause at the GM Orion Assembly plant in Michigan until further notice in light of the recall. Production will not return until the automaker is “confident LG can provide us with good battery modules,” a GM spokesperson said this week. A stop-sale order is effective on all Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models, as well.
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Comments
Really happy they’re taking this seriously and helping customers understand how to be as safe as possible as they work to crank out replacement batteries. I’d be curious to know the plans for recycling the old ones and making sure they don’t end up on the used cell market.
They announced they are dumping the old ones in the ocean once they issue the recall. That’s where they put all there garbage.
There are just not enough ICU beds for all the republicans who refuse to get vaccinated. The old ones get dumped in the ocean.
That’s strange because I thought it was mainly African American and Hispanic people in the counties Biden won who are not vaccinated yet?
Steve
ICU beds are in short supply across red state America. Even in lily white states like Idaho and Utah.
Peter it’s not looking to good for your statement buddy. I just checked the cdc website what they said and show is most northern states are above 70% full California also. But of course you are the top research doctor in the country and of course the cdc is wrong nobody knows more then you.
The anti-vaxxers should be left to die in extreme agony in the parking lots.
why should society pay for their stupidity? Darwin, get to work! There are far too many stupid chromosomes in the US population. Too much inbreeding and fornication between family members.
What would be really funny is if people have horrible long term side effects from the vaccine and die out
692,000 dead in the US going on 1 million. Do you find that funny?
China has 4342 deaths with 4 X the population.
What a complete disgrace.
Yup I do and your numbers are incorrect now go back to swallowing that bs news you believe
The world is over populated people need to go sorry it’s the truth I don’t care if you like it or not. The best we can hope is the vaccine gives people lots of long term side effects or just wipes them out here shortly it would also be nice if it mutated into something the vaccine couldn’t stop is be satisfied with a 50% decrease world wide.
Micah no hopefully it starts with the vaccinated they can go first we will just burn the bodies in a pit then see who is left.
Micah how old are you? I thought grammar nazis were extinct?
Wow Peter you are about as stupid as it gets. The vaxx does not prevent infection or spreading and infact destroys your immune system making you more likely to get infected and have problems. This also has NOTHING to do with Republicans you libturd. Do your own research and you’ll see doctors are coming out more and more about how very dangerous this vaxx is. Don’t be a MSM sheep.
TrollButter
Are you Russian?,
Troutbeater,
You’re exactly the kind of primate who’s one chromosome away from being a chimpanzee.
What’s up with you dick riding people? Are you trying to get pregnant?
I agree however when we bought our Bolt we had the level 2 charger installed in the front of the garage because the charge port side in the front and we wanted to pull the car in as opposed to backing in all the time. Our cord is not long enough to charge outside the garage. GM does not recommend using an extension cord even if it is a properly rated cord.
I hope Ultium isn’t the face plant the Bolt turned out to be.
@Mark
I so agree. The Ultium better be as close to Bullet Proof as possible.
GM cannot afford any mishaps on the upcoming BEV’s. They will have zero excuses going forward as they did most of the R&D on these upcoming vehicles compared to the Bolt which was pretty much put together with on-shelf parts from different Manufacturers.
Then what if someone being uninformed comes along and parks closer to your Bolt than the recommendation 😉
@Paul….Put a sign up that says unless you want to be barbqd dont park within 1 lane to me! hahaha
Let’s do some math here. The Bolt has an EPA rating of 259 miles, but GM says to charge it to only 90%. That means you lose 25.9 miles, so now you’re down to 233 miles. But wait, GM says not to deplete the battery below 70 miles, so now the range is reduced to 163.1 miles. That’s a huge decrease and doesn’t take into consideration highway driving, cold weather driving, or long term battery degradation. I love the idea of EVs, but it’s not ready for mainstream use yet.
This is false. All technologies have a development phase, and mishaps along the way. The first ICE engine wasn’t bulletproof. You really think the first Model T’s that rolled off the line didn’t just randomly blow up as well? Quality standards weren’t measured at the time as the level as they are today. I underhand your concern, but you fail to take into consideration technological advancement, progress, and mishaps along the way. Nothing is perfect. But But Human ingenuity continues to strive for as close to perfect as possible!
Nothing is perfect you got that right that’s why my sonic is a piece of trash.
Love the name. I actually have owned 3 Sonic’s. A 2014 Sonic LT Sedan 1.8L CPO @ 15,153 miles. April 4th, 2015 Kelley Chevrolet in Fort Wayne Indiana. 2nd Sonic was a 2018 Hatchback w/ 1.4L Turbo White w/ 17” Black Wheels and Sunroof. 3rd Sonic was another Hatchback but a 2020, Grey Metallic, 1.4L brand new. Sold it at 53k miles after I purchased my Model 3. I am an actual previous Sonic Owner 3x! I have all the VINS, if you’d like those too 😉
You owned 3 trash cars in that short of a time period? I thought mine had issues good grief why did you keep buying them after they would break down?
This keeps getting worse and worse and worse. GM took way too long to respond to this Bolt issue.
What a very bad look right before your big shift to BEV’s
If you are a Bolt owner what are you supposed to do with your car?
GM should offer HUUUUUUUUUGE discounts on the updated Bolt/Bolt EUV to current owners to get these cars off the street ASAP and get them fixed or scrapped while recycling all the battery materials. This is all over the news now.
I hope GM goes above and beyond for current Bolt owners, this is crazy.
I agree they need to do full battery replacements if not cars to clean up the mess otherwise its always going to be brought up. The GM image has been dented already. They better get ULTIUM right! I think I will lease my first.
owning a bolt is getting more dangerous with each day …GM should and just bite the bullet and issue an immediate buy-back program of all of these defective vehicles …every week brings something more restrictive from GM …..and our safety as owners gets more compromised ..
Gm is buying them back with no questions asked,just have to call and request it. The caveat being what are they giving the owners? most buy backs are prorated based on time of ownership/mileage of vehicle…edit: the ones I have seen bought back have all been under warranty still.
I understand they’re also considering how much owners paid for them. At one time, not long ago, there was a $12,500 rebate on Bolts so I would imagine an owner is not going to get a $40,000 check if they took advantage of the rebates and only paid $27,500.
This is a great incentive to purchase any electric. GM’s goal for 30 electric vehicles by 2025, kinda a joke isn’t it? Give me the Escalade ESV V and the ZO6 and then my 40 years of being a GM fanboy may then be over.
I thought it always was about stock hype anyways. Think this will tank hummer EV sales?
Pouch-cell batteries might be a mistake.
I remember Elon Musk in an interview said Tesla would never use Pouch Batteries because they are too prone to runoffs. But that was a couple of years ago I would assume the Tech is better now but who knows.
Ray-O-Vac 1.5V is the way to go, safer and cheaper. Replacements can be bought at any Menards!
You mean I could take it apart and put in my own AA, AAA, C or Ds? I dont think they paid attention when I said make it like my old racing HO and AFX racing sets where we could swap out tires, magnets, new body styles, etc…hahaha.
Simply GM needs to buy them all back and go with the same manufacturer that Hyundai went with for replacement packs. Also go with a bigger pack so GM can at least say the Bolt is much improved.
What a crappy company thank god I went with a tesla. Shame on you gm stop stalling and issue a buy back and move on. Stick to making gas powered vehicles it’s the only thing you are even halfway decent at and believe me that’s a stretch saying halfway
Tesla also had a series of fires. It’s now in the smash into Emergency vehicles stage of development.
Now a word from our village idiot
The village idiot speaks today at 4. Are you going to watch it also? I have a bet going then he will get confused and speak incoherently within the first 30 seconds again.
Dude, COVID is causing EV’s to catch fire! Look they are asking the cars to socially distance! 🐵 We should mandate cars to also get vaccinated!
“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”
– Abraham Lincoln
So gm has issued this precaution to “reduce potential damage to structures and nearby vehicles in the rare event of a potential fire.”. They use the term “rare event” but a Bolt caught on fire in my community a day or so ago and it’s been widely publicized here. It stops being “rare” when it starts happening close to you.
Also, owners are not supposed to charge their Bolts unattended but it takes over eight hours for a full charge and they’re not supposed to be parked indoors either so does gm honestly expect owners to sit outside for eight hours and watch their cars charge. If they don’t, the liability is
on them for not following instructions when their house burns down? Is that how this works? No wonder Mary Barra needs $12,500 government incentives for her triple-zero future. Nobody is going to buy what she’s selling.
Might as well get used to these-type recalls as auto manufacturers—in their mad rush to shove EVs down everyone’s throats—scramble to dump relatively untested product out onto the market, all in an effort to get a leg-up on the competition. This mess certainly won’t be the last.
No more than 90% charge? Don’t deplete the battery below 70 miles??
smh………………….
What a fiasco for gm. Bad batteries, fires, reduced range, park outside. Terrible handling by gm customer service. Wondering if there will be a fix before next year? Will customers trust the new batteries? One fire in a Bolt with the new batteries and its over for gm EVs. They would have to buy back every Bolt and scrap them. If I had a Bolt I would be demanding a buyback from gm.
Buy anyone else’s EV!
Give me a small block Chevy or nothing –to hell with electric crap !
I dumped my 2020 Bolt Premier while it was still worth something. I live in an urban area, my driveway is narrow and against my house and even street parking is closer than 50 feet to my house. I am not taking the risk of my home or neighbors homes burning down or getting sued because GM cannot get it together. A vehicle is not suppose to be so much work between how much you can charge, where you are allowed to park, do not park too close to anyone or anything, do not paring in your garage, do not park in a parking garage, etc. It already took a lot to get use to figuring out charging stations on trips.
But Mary was on the Cover of Time Magazine?!
Well there handing out awards to anybody these days. Just like in school where every kid passes despite getting a low grade.
GM customer service has really tanked with this bolt recall….i really liked my 2019 bolt and in the beginning, calls and questions to the concierge line were handled quickly….now good luck trying to reach the “advisor” in charge of your application for a buy-back…. he never answers the phone (even after a 60 minute wait……thank goodness for speakerphone abilities so i don’t have to hold the phone and can do other things while i waited ) , he never returns calls left on his voicemail (i got his direct number from the concierge line ), and he doesn’t even have the courtesy to send an e-mail that they got all the documents i sent for the buy-back ….
…what a total disgrace !!!!!!!!
“[Chevrolet]” Pull the &uLL $hit idea’s from your mind and just refund those MISDIRECTED BUILT FRIED PILL’S! OR DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT LAWSUIT’S?!….
Good old GM doing what they do best. We have been down this road so many times with the next “big thing”. Vega’s, underdeveloped 5.7 diesels, 8-6-4 variable displacement V8 that was introduced years before it should have been, 200 Metric undersized transmissions, HT 4100 V8 rushed to market 3 year early, the Northstar fiasco, the botched and crazy expensive W-body launch, Saturn, intake manifold failures and the list just keeps going on and on. I don’t know why anybody in their right mind would even think of buying one of the new all electrics coming from this company, especially with this news.