After Bolts catch fire, park them outdoors, GM says

DETROIT — General Motors is telling owners of some older Chevrolet Bolts to park them outdoors and not to charge them overnight because two of the electric cars caught fire after recall repairs were made.

The company said Wednesday that the request covers 2017 through 2019 Bolts that were part of a group that was recalled earlier due to fires in the batteries.

The latest request comes after two Bolts that had gotten recall repairs caught fire, one in Vermont and the other in New Jersey, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said.

Owners should take the steps “out of an abundance of caution,” he said.

The cars should be parked outdoors after charging is complete, GM said in a statement.

Vermont State Rep. Tim Briglin, whose 2019 Bolt caught fire, said he drove it to work and back home in Thetford, Vermont, on June 30, depleting the battery to around 10 percent of its range. He plugged it into a 240-volt outdoor charger around 8 p.m. and left the Bolt in his driveway.

Around 6:30 a.m. the next day, he saw smoke coming from the rear of the car. Volunteer firefighters extinguished the blaze with a lot of water but stayed for another three hours, using an infrared camera to make sure the battery temperature didn’t increase and the fire didn’t restart, he said.

Briglin said he had the recall repairs done on June 9, and charged his Bolt to 100 percent of its battery capacity the morning of the fire.

In April, GM announced that it had developed diagnostic software to look for anomalies in the batteries of 69,000 Bolts worldwide. If problems are found, the company will replace faulty parts of the battery.

Kelly said owners who haven’t had the recall repairs done should still take their cars to dealers to get the fixes.