Chevy Bolt EV Gets Fried By Electrify America Fast Charger In Florida
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Making it quick and easy to recharge a drained battery is paramount in the switch to all-electric vehicles. Unfortunately for one Chevy Bolt EV driver, their car was totaled after attempting to charge back up at an Electrify America station in Florida.
In a recent post to Chevy Bolt EV forum chevybolt.org, user Tippit83 states that they plugged their recently purchased 2017 Chevy Bolt EV into an Electrify America station in Chipley, Florida on January 22nd, 2023. The user states that, at the time, their vehicle was at a 28-percent charge level. However, about 15 minutes later, the charger “went completely black,” while the car read 4-percent battery charge and wouldn’t shift out of park.
Apparently, the charging station itself was sparking and smoking while the Chevy Bolt EV was plugged in. After attempting to plug into another nearby charger, the Chevy Bolt EV owner says their vehicle would not take a charge and was “completely bricked.” After talking to Electrify America, the Chevy Bolt EV owner was told to tow their vehicle to a Chevy dealer and send them an email on what the technicians had to say.
Later, in a follow-up post to Twitter, user Malicious Compliance (@Burn_This_App), who appears to be the same individual as Tippit83, states that the dealer came back with the news that the “car is completely fried” as a result of excess electricity from the Electrify America charger. The damages amount to $20,000, and the owner’s insurance has elected to total the vehicle.
BREAKING 🚨Dealer just said car is completely fried. @ElectrifyAm Charger sent so much power through car that it fried ever wire in my @chevrolet bolt battery and rendering over $20,000 in damages. https://t.co/AYjTlQcWHD
— Malicious Compliance (@Burn_This_App) January 31, 2023
For now, GM says it won’t cover the damages as the car is out of warranty, while Electrify America appears to be investigating the situation. At this point, it’s still unclear exactly what happened and who’s at fault, not to mention who will end up paying for the damages.
Nevertheless, the situation is similar to what happened to a Ford F-150 Lightning owner who recently had his vehicle bricked after plugging into an Electrify America station in Oregon, per coverage from our sister publication, Ford Authority.
We’ll keep an eye on this and provide an update with any new information as we get it. In the meantime, subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy Bolt EV news, Chevy news, GM electric vehicle news, GM technology news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
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Very similar to purchasing water-contaminated gasoline.
I have been aware of the problems with EA with plenty of nightmares posted online, and avoided buying a car that was not a Tesla. I did not want to get stuck having to use a unrelyabel brand x charging station. It is simple that VW has not done us any favors after dieselgate and their punishment of building out the EA network.
The same gasoline nozzle that fills my 2022 Silverado High Country will also fill my 1973 VW Bug safely and reliably.
EV’S 25.1 fires per 100,000 sales. That’s compared to 3,474 hybrid fires and 1,529 ICE fires per 100,000 sales respectively.
You might want to consider these figures the next time you stick that nozzle you know where. It also might be reason to reconsider your purchasing habits. Since my statement below is a new recall, I wonder how much that might increase the totals for ICE?
FORD CRACKED FUEL INJECTOR RECALL ISSUED AFTER FIRES
Ford recalls 634,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes following 20 fires and four injuries.
Who’s giving up on Ford’s!
Waiting to see electricity rates in the West when the Glen Canyon and Lake Mead dams no longer produce electricity because of low water. They will go up but how high?
Are there people in the tRump cult that would stoop to sabotage these public chargers?