Expanding a previous recall of 69,000 older Bolts, General Motors is now recalling all Chevrolet Bolt EV’s sold worldwide due to a battery problem that could cause fires, raising questions about lithium ion batteries which are now used in nearly all electric vehicles, CNBC News reports.
Friday’s recall concerns about 73,000 Bolts from the 2019 through 2022 model years and will cost GM about $1 billion, bringing the total cost of the Bolt battery recalls to $1.8 billion, which prompted its shares to go down about 2% in extended trading.
The Detroit-based automaker said plans replacing battery modules in all the vehicles believing they have two manufacturing defects that can cause fires, while in older versions, all five modules will be replaced.
Owners of 2017-2019 model year Bolts were old last month to park outdoors and were advised against charging them overnight and to limit charging to 90% of battery capacity after two vehicles repaired in the earlier recall caught fire, two people suffered smoke inhalation and a house was set ablaze.
Though the blame for the original recall was initially placed with a manufacturing defect at the factory LG Chemical Solution, GM’s battery supplier, runs in South Korea, investigation showed defects are also present in batteries made at other sites like the LG plant in Holland, Michigan, where most newer Bolt batteries are made.
The company said the production and sales of the Bolts will be halted until problems are solved in LG batteries whose new modules will come with an eight year, 100,000 mile warranty.
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