News about Bolt Battery Fires

[ChevyCustomerCare]

I have rarely disabled "hilltop reserve" in the past, hoping that this feature also extends battery life. After receiving word of the fire risk and recall, I of course leave this 90% limit enabled.

While waiting for a better fix than limiting charge to 90%, why bother getting Chevy's "temporary" preventive software change? Why not just leave "hilltop reserve"enabled until any actual fix becomes available?

Hi sibelman,

Based on our investigation to date and available data from verified incidents, our analysis indicates that reducing the state of charge to 90% will provide a safety margin and mitigate the risks of further incidents. Even if customers are setting their vehicle to Hilltop Reserve and limiting their charge to 90%, we recommend that customers visit a dealership to have the interim software update completed to ensure the max charge stays at 90% until the final remedy is available in 2021. Should you need any help connecting with a dealership near you, simply send us an e-mail at socialmedia@gm.com with the subject line "sibelman | Chevrolet | MyChevyBolt."

Dani C.

[charge]

Based on our investigation to date and available data from verified incidents, our analysis indicates that reducing the state of charge to 90% will provide a safety margin and mitigate the risks of further incidents. Even if customers are setting their vehicle to Hilltop Reserve and limiting their charge to 90%, we recommend that customers visit a dealership to have the interim software update completed to ensure the max charge stays at 90% until the final remedy is available in 2021. Should you need any help connecting with a dealership near you, simply send us an e-mail at socialmedia@gm.com with the subject line "sibelman | Chevrolet | MyChevyBolt."
Dani C.

Dani C., Good communication, customers are grateful for something. Usually, in the past (pre-Barra for sure), a lot of hiding happened. This is better. Promisiing a breakthrough soon is a little nuts. These problems can be tricky.

Forcing customers to go into dealerships is not good. For 3 lines of code change. Really? You're going to make 40,000 Bolt owners drive down in the winter time, leave their cars with a dealership, have to miss work, take hours away from them, ... for 3 lines of code. Not smart. If only there was an easier way for these simple code changes!?!? .. Wait, OTA to the rescue! ...... :

Over-the-air (OTA) updates have been done at Tesla for over 8 years. Why not stay within at least 5 years of industry advances? Just 5 years, its all we ask, GM brainiacs. I sent OTA updates 72 million miles thru space to a probe 20 years ago, so trust me, with old-style CRC & checksums, "we have the technology" to error check it many times over.

It should be standard practice for EV owners of any new make & model (i.e., MachE & ID.4) to only charge to 90% unless you really need all the range, for the first couple of years to prove the battery doesn't get dendritic growths or cracks or bits of something shorting out the electrolyte, whatever happens inside there.