GM will bring the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV back into production in the week of January 24, 2022. Production is currently paused as GM sorts out a battery recall on both models.
In August, GM recalled all Bolt EVs and EUVs responding to a battery defect that had led to fires. The blame was put on LG for this defect (costing them $2 billion), and GM halted production on the Bolt EV and EUV while waiting for defect-free batteries.
In September, GM announced that the defect had been fixed and battery production resumed, but vehicle production remained paused (minus a two-week period in which GM made loaner Bolts). This production pause has been extended multiple times, but now we seem to have a solid date for when the vehicles will go back into production – unless it gets extended further.
The auto industry is experiencing its part of the global supply chain disruption and chip shortage, causing many companies to halt production of various vehicles right now, or to remove features to try to save chips for more mission-critical items. GM likely does not feel like rushing the Bolt back into production only to be affected by further supply shortages alongside its recall woes.
The production pause extension means that GM – which says it’s “all in on electrification” – does not currently sell any EVs in the US, despite promising to have 20 EV models on the road by 2023. But we might not have to wait for the Bolt to come back into production for this dry spell to end, as the GMC Hummer EV starts deliveries this month.
To find the latest information on GM’s Bolt recall, head to its recall website. GM previously recommended that Bolt owners not charge indoors overnight and keep the battery state of charge to middle levels (under 90% and above 70 miles remaining range), but has recently announced a software update, which should be available soon and must be installed at a dealership, which will add better diagnostic tools, limit charging and remove suggested parking restrictions. This is not the final fix, and GM will notify owners when replacement batteries are available for their vehicles. GM has already started replacing batteries in Bolts, but with about 140,000 cars in the wild, there are still a lot of batteries left to swap out.
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