Chevrolet Bolt EV Misses Battery Recall, Spontaneously Combusts
Apparently it took firefighter 41,600 litres of water to put out this Bolt EV fire
Well, it appears it happened again, yet another electric vehicle (EV) has caught fire and this time it was a Chevrolet Bolt. The reason? Apparently it is because the brand had announced a battery recall for the model which the owner missed. Who knew that this would lead to the battery spontaneously combusting, right?
News about EV fires are common these days, and while this latest tale example taking place in Massachusetts is nowhere near as devastating as the ship fire in Europe thought to be caused by a burning EV, it could have ended even more tragically because of its proximity to the owner’s house and still should never have happened.
Moreover, the blaze might not have happened at all if the Chevy Bolt EV had been repaired as part of a recall announced by GM in 2021 when it discovered that some EVs were catching fire due to faulty batteries. If ever there was a reason to take recalls seriously, this would be it, so please take all recalls seriously, people.
The owner of the Chevy Bolt EV in this case told reporters that the car had not been updated. “They had no batteries to give us, so we were waiting,” she said in an interview with WCVB Channel 5 Boston.
For context, General motors (GM), the conglomerate that owns Chevrolet, originally announced it would replace the entire battery pack of every Bolt EV built between 2017 and 2022, but changed its stance this year, saying dealers would now only install software to monitor the battery’s condition.
On top of that, the EV being parked outside gave emergency services good access to it when they were called out around 04.15 am to the house in Great Hill Estates, Wareham and also kept the owner safe as the blaze did not reach the inside of the house but being an EV battery fire, it still took a long time to put out.
Just as one would expect, fire crews managed to put out the initial fire and continued to drown the EV in water, but the lithium ion battery ignited again 30 minutes later. In total, the Wareham Fire Department spent three hours on the scene and used 11,000 gallons (41,600 litres) of water to ensure the Bolt was no longer a fire risk.
The team used a special hose attachment that slides along the ground under an EV’s floor and cools the battery from below. The car had apparently already been charged and the owner confirmed that the 2021 Bolt was not plugged in at the time, so the fire seems to have started spontaneously and thankfully there were no injuries.
We got all this from Carscoops and their full article is linked here. Thank you Carscoops for the information and images.
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