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Businesses Transportation

GM Temporarily Stops Making the Chevy Bolt After Latest Recall (theverge.com) 68

Posted by msmash from the tough-luck dept.
General Motors is halting production of the Chevy Bolt EV after a number of battery fires prompted a massive recall that has already cost the company nearly $2 billion. From a report: The automaker won't resume making the 2022 Bolt and Bolt EUV until at least mid-September. It had initially stopped production last week because of the global chip shortage. The recall repair process is also on hold, as GM is still waiting to get new battery modules from its supplier, South Korean conglomerate LG, that it is confident are free of defects. "We will not resume repairs or restart production until we are confident LG is producing defect free products for us," GM spokesman Daniel Flores said in a statement to The Verge.
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GM Temporarily Stops Making the Chevy Bolt After Latest Recall More

GM Temporarily Stops Making the Chevy Bolt After Latest Recall

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  • They probably ran out of chips anyhow.

    • They probably ran out of chips anyhow.

      Or the entire plant spontaneously combusted.

    • GM should have stuck to making the Volt. No battery problems there and as a driver you don't "have" to find a charger or die, you can run it to zero gas / zero battery and get unstuck with just a gallon of gas.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by smap77 ( 1022907 )

        And keep adding the cost of the internal combustion system? That strategy seemed like expensive insurance for the irrationally range anxious.

        • not a problem, ICE engines are dirt cheap in bulk. Volt was much cheaper than Bolt, too.

          • GM shuttered the Volt project because it cost them too much. (Lots of R&D and not large margins like for Bolt.) As a consumer, this should light up people's "wow that was a good freakin deal" lights.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by madbrain ( 11432 )

            It may be dirt cheap, but it weighs. Our Bolt gets about 25% better miles/kWh than our Volt.
            The Volt was much cheaper, though. But the Bolt is more spacious. True 5 seater, whereas Volt is just 4 seater.
            I wish I had a PHEV that had 80-100 miles of EV range, and was a 5-seater.

        • More like the cost of just the engine not the powertrain. Basically a gas generator. Thats not too expensive when its only job is to power a big alternator.

          • That's not how the Volt used the ICE. Any combination of the ICE and both electric motors could drive the wheels, through a complicated planetary gear system and a CVT.

            • That's not how the Volt used the ICE. Any combination of the ICE and both electric motors could drive the wheels, through a complicated planetary gear system and a CVT.

              Whatever the reasons, GM has a track record of being the company to not buy any vehicle that uses electric propulsion or hybrid.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

              That's not how the Volt used the ICE. Any combination of the ICE and both electric motors could drive the wheels, through a complicated planetary gear system and a CVT.

              In other words, the Volt is just a fancy plug-in hybrid. All the complexity of an ICE vehicle plus EV bits to make sure you're going to be paying to service your vehicle. Still have to do oil changes, still have to buy gas, still have all the problems of an ICE.

              And honestly, if you think about it, other than a road trip, you don't need fast c

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by amorsen ( 7485 )

                In other words, the Volt is just a fancy plug-in hybrid.

                Yes of course. It was the first, and until approximately last year only, useful plug-in hybrid. It was introduced before Tesla proved that it is possible to have a large enough battery to do cross-country without an ICE.

                Saying that the Volt is just a fancy plug-in hybrid is a bit like saying that an iPhone is just a fancy smartphone. Yes, sure, but they defined the category.

                Alas, plug-in hybrids are now obsolete, but people unfortunately keep buying them from new and certain governments subsidize them.

          • The Volt was a strange design where the internal combustion engine would occasionally spin the electric motors, which would then spin the wheels. So the ICE motor had to be sturdy enough to move the vehicle, it wasn't a generator motor used only for charging the batteries. Looks like GM designers didn't know whether they wanted to make a plug-in hybrid or a range-extended EV.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by madbrain ( 11432 )

          Hardly irrational. I live in the hills and that affects the range quite a bit. In the winter, turning on the heat drops the range about 20-30%. I'm immunocompromised so I will not turn it off.

          On my 2015 Volt, the summer range is about 33-37 miles, pretty close to what's rated. In winter, it can drop to 25.
          My daily commute used to be 26-30 round trip at previous jobs. Been 0 during the pandemic. You can see how that size battery would be cutting it close. If you have to to any additional errand, say, go to t

      • I love the fully hybrid system. I just wish the Volt wasn't so fugly and one could get a smaller battery that didn't weigh 500 pounds. I'd be cool with a battery half that size.

        • Why did they stop making the Volt?

          I just wish the Volt wasn't so fugly

          I actually thought it was cool looking, but esthetics are subjective. (My tastes tend to be either 25 years behind or 25 ahead, but I don't know which is which, so I can't make a buck off predictions.)

        • Better looking than Prius Prime. (Volt's direct competitor from Toyota.)

        • Re: Combo of problems? (Score:5, Informative)

          by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Monday August 30, 2021 @03:51PM (#61746279)

          I have a Volt. I do not recommend them.

          It took 4 tows to the dealer, and waiting for their 'hybrid guy' each time, to figure out what was broken that kept causing the car to die while driving. It took 5 trips to the dealer for them to fix a check engine light that turned out to be bad spark plugs and an ignition coil.

          It's the worst of both worlds due to all the extra complexity. Not worth the trade-off for a real-world 40 mile-ish battery range.

          • Well hard to argue with your experience. That sounds fucked up.

          • That's a bummer. I've never looked up problems for the Volt statistically. My anecdote is exactly the opposite. Bought a used 2016 at CarMax for a good price 3 years ago.

            It's been a kind of boring but super reliable car mechanically. The engine only runs occasionally but never a problem and the car can cruise 75-80 on freeway drives. (I usually run in engine hold mode if on a freeway for more than a few miles as the batteries burn up fast.)

            It has been in twice for recalls. (It is a GM after all.) And the en

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            That's the experience of a lot of BMW i3 Range Extender hybrid owners too. It's just not worth having a combustion engine and all the complexity that goes with it.

      • Or time to roll this out..
        https://news.harvard.edu/gazet... [harvard.edu]

      • So a car with duel drive train adding to the complication, risking your gasoline fuel to catch you car on fire (which is more common and battery fire) and the risk of the smaller battery to catch on fire as well.

        So you have a find a gas station or die, compared to every day you charge up from home, and you leave for work with a full charge. You can charge your Volt at home, but you have a very short EV Range with it, so you will still need to keep your tank filled. Most people will do that once a week or

      • I have a Volt. Do not buy one.

        It requires lots of trips to the dealer, including getting stuck on the side of the road while it has plenty of gas. It took 4 times for them to figure out what was wrong.

        The extra complexity to have both an ICE and EV is not worth it at all. Just plug in an EV every night instead. Or if you can't wrap your head around that, stick to ICE.

        • The extra complexity to have both an ICE and EV is not worth it at all. Just plug in an EV every night instead. Or if you can't wrap your head around that, stick to ICE.

          The market seems to disagree as hybrid sales are increasing in North America much faster than BEVs.

          https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]

          Seems most people are still sticking to ICE though.

          • "The market" is an aggregate of humans, not known for their rationality or long term planning in general. The best thing about plugins is that they let people try electric driving without going all-in.

          • There are not a lot of BEV options until next year, or perhaps the next. If you don't like Tesla's shitty build quality, your choice is a Bolt or underperformers like the Leaf or i3.

            Also, "the market" isn't exactly a fixed entity. Not like fidget spinners are flying off the shelves anymore.

      • How often have you run your car down to zero gas and had to go walking for a gallon? I know I never have in my entire life. And it's not that it's impossible that it could happen, but the fact that it's really important not to with an electric just makes it even less likely because I'm not willing to flirt with the edge.

        Like... optimizing for a situation so rare it's literally never happened in my life doesn't seem as important for optimizing for common experiences (I never have to go to a loud, smelly ga

      • The problem with vehicles like this is that you have two powertrains to take care of (and carry around). This means you have to care about things like engine oil and sparkplug maintenance, and you must drain the gasoline every year so it doesn't go stale (the Volt will do it for you by putting the engine in maintenance mode). It looked like a good idea ten years ago, but now we have long-range EVs and fast-charging.
  • Call it the Corvair II

  • This entire time people kept saying Teslas were tinderbox death traps? This can't be! People also need to read the definition of autopilot. Because engaging autopilot in an airplane will happy fly you into mountains or other aircraft.

  • If you "temporarily" stop making a POS shit nobody wants can you still count it toward your fleet efficiency numbers? - asking for a friend at GM.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eepok ( 545733 )

      Nearly 80,000 have been sold since they launched in 2017. That's not exactly "nobody".

      • When Tesla sold its 80,000th car that number was definitely something to sneer at.

        And was, by many. ("Volkswagen makes 10,000,000 cars a year!")

    • Does GM get green offsets when Bolts are sold, when they're manufactured, or when they're projected to be manufactured? Logically I'd think it would be after a green mile has been driven, but I'm sure GM probably pushes this back at least to "when they're manufactured". Wheee, lobbying!

    • Weird definition of "nobody".

      As someone else said, 80,000 have been sold, and the sales numbers for this year are on track to be almost twice last year. https://gmauthority.com/blog/g... [gmauthority.com] I can say for myself it's the best car I've ever owned --- lots of cargo room for a small car, fits in the city, has never broken down, and incredibly fun to drive.

      I hate that this recall thing is happening. The one upside I'm hoping for is a brand new battery, significantly extending the life of my four year old Bolt.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by marcle ( 1575627 )

        It's definitely a model I've got my eye on, for when they become plentiful (and more affordable) on the used market.
        This battery issue, while disappointing for GM, might mean that there will be some good deals on them in the future.

        • Just be sure you get one that has had the battery replaced under the recall. Don't buy one that hasn't on speculation that the battery will be replaced. I'm getting a strong scent of the batteries never being good enough to do the job, and eventually they may just buy them all back in lemon law states for some pittance. Which will be worth taking, and using as a down payment on a Prius Prime or RAV4 hybrid (or even Corolla hybrid).

          Since LG is their partner for the "Ultium" batteries as well, I wouldn't be s

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It will be interesting to see what happens if they replace batteries on all these vehicles. The rest of the vehicle will still have miles on it but the battery will be brand new, so used prices will probably be all over the place.

  • Who woulda thunk?

    And yeah, I know the car is for carbon credits or whatever. Know what I'm going to remember? They recalled 100% of a car line because it could burn down my house when parked in the garage. Forget Government Motors and the other tags they got back in '08/'09 during the bailouts. I'm gonna remember this company recalled 100% of an entire line because it might burn down my house.

    I won't be buying a GM car for the next umpty ump years until I die. I'm guessing I've got 1 more new car

    • This was the first GM car I've bought since the '86 Nova, which was really a Toyota and worked fine, or the '71 Opel, which lasted about 55K miles. The Opel was a nice car when it was working. The Bolt is a nice car, period, but since it's now a potential incendiary device sitting in my driveway being "nice to drive" isn't enough any more.

    • GM is a pack of fuckups in general, which is why they keep needing bailouts. Ford (which didn't need bailout money but was told to take it anyway to avoid making GM look like a pack of fuckheads) does stuff weird just to be Ford but GM does stuff weird for no reason anyone can discern. And then there's the stuff they do just to fuck you. Like for example, they wouldn't sell me a door handle for an Astro, they wanted me to buy the whole mechanism. I got the door handle on eBay for like ten bucks, GM wanted $

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by RobinH ( 124750 )
      That's still only 80,000 vehicles. The big 3 regularly recall many hundreds of thousands of vehicles from a single line. This is a minor count by comparison. It's a big deal because it'll shake confidence in electric cars.

  • Well that's too bad. I never had any real problems with my 2013 Volt which ended up going to my parents and I'm on a 2019 Volt now. It's really too bad GM dumped their Volt. Probably the better car.

  • We are yet to see anyone make battery cars in any significant numbers. Instead theyâ(TM)re trying to get NHTSA to hold Tesla back etc. how about just innovate guys? Tesla self driving is so far ahead itâ(TM)s not even in the same universe as well.
  • A vehicle worth batteries from LG? I wouldnâ(TM)t even buy a laptop from LG, they are garbage, especially the batteries.

  • "We will not resume repairs or restart production until we are confident LG is producing defect free products for us," GM spokesman Daniel Flores said in a statement to The Verge.

    I have never, ever owned anything made by LG which didn't disappoint me eventually. Optical drives that stopped working at all. Nexus 4 digitizer stopped working and would have cost more than buying a new phone to replace. Lots of other bullshit over the years, most acquired used since if I'm spending real money I don't buy LG, I'm not that stupid.

    When will people wake up and realize LG is generally incompetent?

  • I knew going in there was a risk. Price + operation cost is good. Recall is providing a free battery replacement. Nothing to complain about, my Bolt is exactly what I expected. Fully charged daily with 240 mile range or better in city driving. Great for my 60 mile commute and deliveries / rideshare after work.

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