Grand Rapids, Michigan – General Motors recalls all Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles sold worldwide to fix a battery problem that could cause fires, extending a previous withdrawal. Last month, the company told vehicle owners in 2017-2019 to do so park outdoors and do not charge them overnight after two vehicles repaired in the previous retreat were set on fire.
Withdrawal and others raise questions about lithium-ion batteries, which are now used in almost all electric vehicles. Ford, BMW and Hyundai have recently recalled the batteries. President Joe Biden will need it electric vehicles achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by mid-2030 as part of a broader effort to combat climate change.
GM’s withdrawal announced on Friday adds approximately 73,000 bolts of the 2019-2022 model to the previous withdrawal of 69,000 older bolts. GM said that in rare cases, batteries have two manufacturing defects that can cause fires.
The Detroit-based automaker said it will replace the battery modules of all vehicles. In previous versions, all five modules will be replaced.
The latest withdrawal will cost the company about $ 1 billion, bringing the total cost of recovering the Bolt battery to $ 1.8 billion.
GM said owners should limit charging to 90% of battery capacity. The fenders, including a new SUV, should also be parked outdoors until the modules are replaced.
The original withdrawal was blamed for a manufacturing defect at a South Korean factory run by LG Chemical Solution, GM’s battery supplier. But the company said an investigation showed defects are possible in batteries manufactured elsewhere. Most newer Bolt batteries are manufactured at an LG plant in Holland, Michigan.
GM released Bolt’s first withdrawal in November after receiving reports of five of them catching fire. Two people suffered smoke inhalation and a house caught fire.
At first, the company did not know what was causing the problem, but determined that the batteries that caught fire were about to be fully charged. He traced the fires to what he called a rare manufacturing defect in the battery modules. It can cause a short in a cell, which can cause a fire.
GM said it began investigating the new bolts after a 2019 model that was not included in the previous recall caught fire a few weeks ago in Chandler, Arizona. This raised concerns about the new bolts.
That fire raised Bolt’s total number of flames to ten, company spokesman Dan Flores said.
GM says it is working with LG to increase battery production. The company claims that owners will be notified to take their cars to dealerships as soon as the spare parts are ready.
Flores said he’s not sure when that will be.
The company said it will not produce or sell any other screws until it is satisfied that problems with LG batteries have been resolved, Flores said.
“Our focus on safety and doing the right thing for our customers guides all the decisions we make at GM,” Doug Parks, GM’s head of product development, said in a statement.
The batteries with the new modules will have an eight-year, 160-kilometer (100,000-mile) warranty, the company said. GM will replace the five battery modules the screws from 2017 to 2019. Defective modules will be replaced in the newer models.
GM said it will pursue LG’s refund.
Bolts are only a small fraction of GM’s overall sales in the U.S., which run about 3 million vehicles in a normal year. But they are the first of an ambitious launch of electric models, as GM tries to achieve the goal of selling only electric passenger vehicles by 2035.
Other car manufacturers they also announce additional electric models around the world to reduce pollution and comply with the government’s strict fuel economy standards.
The shares of General Motors Co. they fell by about 2% in extended trading after the withdrawal announcement.