GM to Compensate Chevy Bolt EV Owners with $150 Million for Battery Recall
General Motors, the American car manufacturing corporation, has overcome challenges in the electric vehicle market arising from the recall of its Chevrolet Bolt EV manufactured between 2017 and 2020. The recall was due to potentially faulty traction batteries, which led to the corporation initially spending $1 billion. Now, GM has pledged to spend an additional $150 million in compensation for the emotional distress suffered by the affected customers.
Reuters reports that General Motors, working together with LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics, has created a collective fund to compensate Chevrolet Bolt EV customers. This is due to the joint responsibility borne by these three companies towards owners of the Chevrolet Bolt EV model. This compensation fund was created following the recall of thousands of these cars in 2021 for battery replacements. The batteries, produced by LG Electronics, were potentially defective and posed a fire risk. The companies had earlier allocated $1 billion for this exercise. GM had also ceased production of the Bolt EV and EUV models to make way for newer models while promising to relaunch the Bolt EV on the new Ultium platform.
GM attempted to mitigate the traction battery fire risk in Chevrolet Bolt EVs in April 2021 by installing software updates. However, problems continued to persist as evidenced by two subsequent incidents of battery fires. The compensation awarded to the Chevy Bolt EV owners in the United States was agreed upon following a court ruling. To this end, the companies jointly contributed an additional sum of $150 million. Additional compensation is due to those GM customers who had successfully installed the onboard software update by December 31, 2021, within the US, with each being entitled to compensation of $1,400.
Meanwhile, the former and current owners who managed to replace the traction battery of their Chevrolet Bolt EV or EUV as part of the recall program, or sold their vehicles before the software was fixed in April 2021, are eligible for compensation of $700 from the special fund. Despite these challenges and the vehicle’s limited driving range, the Bolt EV series gained considerable popularity due to its affordability. Nevertheless, GM and LG continue to bear the financial brunt for the defects of a model whose production has already ended.
