GM warns bolt owners to avoid charging or parking their electric vehicles unattended indoors

The reliability of the Chevrolet Bolt EV may have just taken another hit following a recent warning from GM asking Bolt owners to refrain from charging their cars unattended or parking their EVs indoors. .

the a warning has been issued earlier this week “out of caution” after two Bolt vehicles caught fire following repairs that (a little ironically) were intended to respond to a 2020 recall regarding a battery fault that posed a fire hazard in Chevy’s Bolt electric vehicles.

GM says the warning is for 2017-2019 Bolt electric vehicles that were subject to the original reminder in which some batteries produced by LG Chem have the potential to catch fire when charged to near capacity. One of GM’s original fixes for the Bolt’s fire risk was to develop new software that capped the load at 90%, which GM says completely mitigates the fire risk.

As part of the ongoing recall, GM has well as servicing the Bolt EVs by checking and replacing “battery module assemblies if necessary”, as well as installing new on-board diagnostic software. Unfortunately, it looks like these repairs haven’t fully fixed the issue now that two recently serviced cars have caught fire.

GM says all Bolt EV owners who haven’t already brought their vehicles in for service should still visit a local Trader while GM continues its investigation.

TThe bigger problem is that even though Bolt EV’s recent battery fires are only limited to a handful of cases, warning people not to charge their cars unattended or to park them indoors eliminates a lot. of the convenience you get from owning an EV. Depending on the type of charger you are using, it may take up to 9.5 hours or more to fully recharge a Bolt.

Meanwhile, for anyone with a garage, GM’s request to park Bolts EVs outside suddenly makes an important part of their home much less useful.

Iif youre a Bolt owner and haven’t contacted GM / Chevy or your local dealership yet, GM says you should visit Chevrolet recall site here for more information.