In November GM recalled 69,000 of its “Bolt” electric cars after five reported fires and two minor injuries. Last month they issued a second recall “after at least two of the electric vehicles that were repaired for a previous problem erupted into flames,” CNBC reported.

And then Friday the company expanded that recall “due to potential fire risk.”

The recall expansion is expected to cost the automaker an additional $1 billion, bringing the total to $1.8 billion to replace potentially defective battery modules in the vehicles. GM said about 73,000 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada are being added to the recall from the 2019-2022 model years, including a recently launched larger version of the car called the Bolt EUV…

The expanded recall now includes all Bolt EV models ever produced, casting a shadow over GM’s first mainstream electric vehicle, as it attempts to transition to exclusively sell EVs by 2035…

The expansion follows the companies finding that the batteries for these vehicles may have two manufacturing defects — a torn anode tab and folded separator — present in the same battery cell, which increases the risk of fire. GM has confirmed one fire in the new population of recalled vehicles. That’s in addition to at least nine previous confirmed fires in the first round of vehicles that were recalled.

of this story at Slashdot.

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Source:: Slashdot