The Chevy Bolt, General Motors’ EV with potentially fire-y batteries, hasn’t been in production since last year as GM worked to solve the problem of the bad batteries. On Tuesday, GM said the Bolt would go finally back into production in April.
The recall has been a disaster for GM, which recalled every Bolt ever made to fix the battery issue, or over 140,000 cars. There was even some question over whether the Bolt might be done for good. But it’s not, which is good news for GM, a company desperate to turn the page on the whole matter. Bolts are made at GM’s plant in Orion Township, Michigan, which hasn’t been mass-producing Bolts since August.
From Automotive News:
“We appreciate the patience customers have shown throughout the recall,” GM spokesman Dan Flores said in a statement. “We remain committed to Bolt EV and EUV and this decision will allow us to simultaneously replace battery modules and resume retail sales soon, which were strong before the recall.”
LG Energy Solution plans to cover the vast majority of the recall cost, which could be up to $2 billion depending on the number of module replacements needed. GM on Tuesday would not disclose the number of completed module replacements or the number of Bolts repurchased by the automaker.
Dealers can sell new Bolt EV or EUVs built on or after April 4 when they receive them, GM said. But the dealers are still under a stop-sale order for recalled Bolts that haven’t yet received module replacements or gone through diagnostic testing.
Auto News also calls this the “longest-known safety-related assembly halt in company history,” which is impressive. Anyway, GM will hope that by 2024, when electric Silverado sales should be in full swing, this will all be a distant memory. By then, too, it’s expected that the Bolt may also be a distant memory, too.
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