Chevrolet is reviewing in excess of 68,000 electric vehicles, in the wake of finding that a few variants of the Bolt EV might burst into flames. The review covers select 2017-2019 model year Bolt EV every single electric hatchback, the high voltage batteries of which could post a fire hazard – a circumstance which has just incited a NHTSA examination in the US.
General Motors is accusing high voltage batteries delivered by provider LG Chem at its Ochang, Korea office. Each of the 2017 and 2018 model year Bolt EV vehicles utilized batteries from that office; just around 2019 model year vehicles did. The 2020 Bolt EV “utilizes an alternate cell plan than the vehicles influenced by this review,” Chevrolet says.
It’s indistinct what, precisely, the battery issue is. Chevrolet says that the issue – which has evidently brought about a few confirmed episodes – happens when the battery is either completely energized or charged to a significant level.
Accordingly, for the occasion, Chevrolet’s workaround is to restrict the most extreme charge that the Bolt EV will reach. That includes covering the vehicle to 90-percent all out charge limit, which the automaker says ought to diminish the danger of fire.
In the event that you have a 2017 or 2018 model year Bolt EV, you ought to go into the vehicle charge settings and change the vehicle to Hill Top Reserve mode. That consequently stops the charging at under 90% of the all out limit.
Those with a 2019 model year Bolt EV should utilize the vehicle charge settings to change the Target Charge Level sum. That can be set to 90-percent explicitly.
GM has likewise built up another product bundle for the EV, which will restrict charge ability to 90-percent without requiring those settings being empowered. That is something businesses should introduce, and from the sound of it they’ll have the new battery programming from November 17.
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“Our designers are working nonstop to distinguish a lasting fix and we plan to send a last solution for eliminate the 90% constraint as fast as conceivable after the first of the year, 2021,” Chevrolet says. The individuals who can’t roll out the improvements are prompted not to stop their Bolt EV in a carport or parking space.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened its examination a month ago, having gotten a few reports of flames from proprietors. GM is helping out the organization, the automaker says, and had just been examining the reports itself before the NHTSA declared its conventional procedures.
