GM Wants to Clean Up LG’s Bolt EV Mess
With Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV production temporarily stopped because of the battery recalls involving every single unit ever made, General Motors is grabbing the bull by the horns.
The stakes have become extremely high, so the automaker has sent some of its engineers to LG battery plants in South Korea and Michigan to "clean up the manufacturing process" and implement "GM quality metrics."
GM’s Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said so at a recent investor conference. Ironically, a 13th Bolt EV fire was reported in the U.S. this week.
Over 140,000 Bolt vehicles are covered in the recalls and GM expects to pay approximately $2.5 billion CAD in repairs—part of which will be reimbursed by LG Energy Solution, it said.
“Experts from GM and LG continue to work around the clock on the issues," another GM rep, Dan Flores, told journalists. "We are determined to do the right thing for our customers and resolve the problem once and for all. Once we are confident LG can provide us with good battery modules, we will begin repairs as quickly as we can.”
Earlier Bolt models (2017-2019) will receive a whole new battery pack, while newer models will have only defective modules within the pack replaced. GM refuses to comment on when those parts will be available. It could take several weeks.
Obviously, this situation is causing a lot of frustration and anger among owners. Many have contacted their Chevy dealer or the automaker directly in hope of getting a buyback. Some have succeeded, but the process is extremely complex and requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
For the others, GM advises not to leave vehicle charging indoors overnight, limit the state of charge to 90 percent (by enabling "Target Charge Level" in the infotainment centre), avoid depleting the battery below approximately 113 km of remaining range and park the vehicle outside immediately after charging out of an abundance of caution.
As for GM’s next-generation Ultium batteries, developed in a partnership with LG Energy Solution and set to power future EV models like the Cadillac LYRIQ and GMC Hummer EV, the automaker will control manufacturing and quality checks, not LG.