According to the report from Electrek, General Motors (GM) has contacted some owners of 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs. Starting from August 23, they can make an appointment to replace all the modules in the battery pack and receive an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
This is the third recall of Bolt EVs since the reported fires. In November last year, GM issued the first recall, instructing owners to limit the state of charge to 90% and later updated the vehicle software. After a few quiet months, GM released the final version of the Bolt EV battery repair program in April this year, then another fire occurred. After two fires in early July, GM admitted that the software repair was ineffective, and began the second recall instructing owners not to charge their vehicles unattended indoors. However, the good news did not last long, as two more fires broke out on July 25.
GM suffered heavy losses due to the fires, spending $800 million on the Bolt EV battery warranty replacement in the second quarter alone, and the incident caused its stock price to drop nearly 8%. However, according to GM’s investigation, the fires were caused by two “rare manufacturing defects” in the battery pack produced by their supplier LG.
This has also been a difficult year for LG Chem, the battery supplier for the Bolt EV. Earlier this year, Hyundai Motor had to recall 82,000 Kona EVs, Ioniqs and Elec City buses to replace their LG batteries. LG also recorded a $200 million impairment in the second quarter of this year with a 21% decline in profit prospects.
After a long nine months, GM’s solution has finally arrived. Fortunately, GM has finally started to solve the problem fundamentally. Hopefully, this recall can really put an end to this “farce”. According to GM’s decision to replace the battery pack, it appears that the root cause of the fires was the “defective” battery pack produced by LG.However, regardless of the case, both GM and LG should give an explanation to the consumers who trusted them from the beginning. The brand new battery modules and warranty policy can give old Bolt EVs the same range and extended warranty period as the 2020 model, which may bring a bit of comfort to those who have been driving high-risk vehicles for almost a year.
🔗 Source: electrek
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.