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Why Americans aren’t buying more EVs
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
They expanded the initial recall. It affects models from 2017 to 2022. If you read the linked article I previously provided, then you missed the key point that vehicles were still bursting into flames even after the recall.
Expanded recall: https://gmauthority.com/blog/2021/09/gm-asking-chevy-bolt-ev-owners-to-park-50-feet-away-from-other-vehicles/
GM stopped replacing the batteries of the newer models and instead offered a software solution that would monitor the batteries for any issues and allow the vehicle to charge beyond the 80% limit that they had set because of these issues. https://electrek.co/2023/06/14/bolt-battery-recall-diagnostics/
But it's worth noting that this software update has failed to prevent some fires, so the problem isn't really "fixed" even with this: https://electrek.co/2021/07/08/chevy-bolt-ev-catches-on-fire-after-receiving-both-of-gm-software-fixes/
Ah, interesting. Thanks for the clarification. There's been a lot of white-washing by people arguing that the problem wasn't as bad as it was (it's still a small percentage of vehicles), and I was considering getting a 2020 to avoid the issues in the earlier models.
That said, I may still get one. From the last link:
I will rarely be below 50% charge, much less 20%. My commute is 25 miles each way, 2x/week, so if I assume 50% range in winter, I'll still need <50% battery capacity. The rest of the driving would be around-town, so maybe 10-15 miles/day. So I could set a cap of 80% and charge whenever it gets <40% and probably be totally fine.
But I also plan to park in a garage with flammable stuff nearby (bare drywall, dry leaves, cardboard boxes, etc), so maybe I won't even take that small risk. Idk, I'll need to read more about it. I could park outside if needed though, I have a brick house with external outlets that I could use, it's just kind of inconvenient.