GM expands hearth threat recall to cowl all Chevy Bolts offered worldwide | Engadget

Back in November 2020, GM recalled over 68,000 Chevrolet Bolt EVs after 5 of the automobiles caught hearth between 2017 and 2019. Now, the automaker has expanded the recall to cowl all Bolt EVs and Bolt EUVs offered worldwide, ranging from the primary mannequin up till the most recent ones. This recall covers 73,000 extra automobiles, 60,000 of that are within the US, on prime of the primary batch of recalled Bolts. 

Upon investigating the preliminary incidents, GM discovered a producing defect within the Bolt’s batteries manufactured at an LG Chemical Solution plant in South Korea. That turned the premise for the fashions the automaker included within the first recall. AP reviews that GM began investigating the newer Bolts after a 2019 mannequin that wasn’t included within the recall final yr caught hearth in Chandler, Arizona just a few weeks in the past, bringing the overall variety of battery-related hearth incidents to 10. The firm discovered that batteries made in LG’s different websites might additionally undergo from defects, therefore the recall enlargement.

GM will substitute all 5 battery modules for fashions 2017 to 2019, whereas solely faulty modules will likely be changed in newer automobiles. All recent modules put in will include a brand new eight yr, 100,000 mile guarantee. Until house owners can get their vehicles in for module alternative, GM is advising them to restrict charging to 90 % of the battery capability and to park outdoor. (The firm beforehand decided that the automobiles that went up in flames had been nearly totally charged.) An e-mail despatched to house owners contained a hyperlink to instructions on how you can do exactly that through the use of the Target Charge Level mode. The automaker can be advising house owners to cost their car extra regularly to keep away from depleting their battery till there’s lower than 70 miles of remaining vary.

This second batch of remembers will price the corporate $1 billion along with the $800 million it is needed to spend for the primary one. Further, it stays to be seen how it could have an effect on GM’s EV push. In June, the automaker elevated its mixed EV and self-driving funding from 2020 by means of 2025 to $35 billion, in hopes that it could actually have 30 electrical automobiles available on the market by the top of 2025 and that it could actually completely promote EVs by 2035. For now, the corporate stated it’ll cease producing and promoting Bolts till it determines that there are not issues with LG’s batteries.