2024-04-18
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List of known Chevy Bolt Fires

sgraham 5 Comments , ,

*** PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT UPDATED – CHECK THE LIST ON ELECTREK FOR THE LATEST

Based on information that is publicly available, here is a list of Chevy Bolt fires that we have found. While GM has not confirmed the causes of all them, they are all believed to be battery related. But as a disclaimer, we do not know any of this for certain. However we have provided all references and links to the supporting material.

There are two unknown years, one possible battery fire, three 2017s, one 2018, and nine 2019s including two with the final software fix. Note that this makes the 2019 model year with the Korean manufactured battery somewhere around twenty five times more like to catch fire than a 2019 gas car while parked at home. Considering that GM only confirmed 8 prior to the latest two, some of these may have been determined to not be battery related, or they may have excluded the international Bolts that were not Ampera-E’s.

There is a fire on August 25, 2020 that we do not know about. There are also 2 other fires under investigation by GM, one likely from before Nov 2020, and one in the first 3 weeks of May. No details are known about these fires. There are also 4 other fires that GM investigated and did not confirm were battery related.

Table of Contents

    Model Year 2020 & 2021

    No known battery related fires.

    Model Year 2019

     June 29, 2020 – Miami, FL

    • LT w/ DCFC – VIN 1G1FY6S07K4113757 – 20972mi – Built Nov 7, 2018
    • References:
      • BidCars
      • bidfax
      • Scott Virgin – youtube video of the early stages, smoke only
      • Auction pictures from July 1 2020 – Lot number 27990292; IAAI auction 36707410
    • Details:
      • Auction sold at auction Oct 29, 2020 – discrepancy in date, maybe GM was investigating?
      • Car was just fully charged and left unattended. Took two visits for the fire department to stop the fire.
      • “Got slammed on depreciation when insurance paid out, was a total nightmare.”
      • “When I called GM after this, they literally told me they wouldn’t do anything for me at all unless “I sued them.” I couldn’t have imagined being treated worse on my first new car purchase, Chevy corporate and the dealership treated me like garbage. For the rest of my life, I will NEVER buy a Chevy.”
    • Confirmed by GM to be battery related– via date of fire mentioned in their preliminary report

    July 4, 2020 – Vienna, VA

    August 5, 2020 – Tracy, CA

    • No specific details on trim or build date yet, other than it was a 2019 model year.
    • Massive fire of a Bolt that also caught a hydrogen car parked next to it on fire. Interestingly the hydrogen car vented its tank and avoided explosion.
    • GM did investigate but did not conclude that it was battery related. The fire was massive and completely gutted both cars, so it’s likely that it’s impossible to determine cause.

    October 6, 2020 – Port St Lucie, FL

    October 16, 2020 – Jacksonville, FL

    • Premier w/ DCFC – VIN 1G1FZ6S06K4109857 – Built Oct 12, 2018 – ~30k miles
    • NHTSA ID Number: 11364692;
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Owned for 22 months, 30k miles, never had a problem.
      • Plugged in overnight (habitual), in driveway, to 32A ChargePoint L2.
      • Finished charging around 6:30am.
      • About 1.5 hours later, started to smoke from under the car.
      • The sound of popping noises were heard and then 10 minutes later the car was engulfed in flames.
      • Took 7 months to get to a resolution – owner was asked for an update and replied week of July 10th, 2021, said cannot share details

    October 21, 2020 – Monroe, NJ

    May 1, 2021 – Ashburn, VA

    • Premier w/ DCFC – VIN 1G1FZ6S05K4**** – Built Nov 13, 2018 – ~18k miles
    • NHTSA ID Number: 11415800
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Bought Mid Dec 2018
      • In the owner’s garage, charged overnight from ~15%, unplugged in the morning not yet at full, caught fire several hours later.
    • Fix Status:
      • Temporary fix was applied
      • Final fix not yet applied
      • Habitual deep discharge cycles.

    July 1, 2021 – Thetford, VT

    • LT w/ DCFC – VIN number withheld – Built Oct 29, 2018 – ~40k miles
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Bought Nov 2018.
      • In the owner’s driveway, charged overnight from ~10%, charged to full.
      • Charge expected to have completed around 4am.
      • Around 6:30 there was a loud sucking noise.
      • He went outside to see massive amounts of smoke coming from the rear.
      • He called 911, and 10 minutes later the car burst into flame.
      • Deep discharge cycles at ~50% of the time.
    • Fix Status:
      • Temporary fix had not been applied, however the owner set charge limit to 90% himself.
      • Final fix had been applied June 9, 2021.

    July 2, 2021 – Bound Brook, NJ

    • LT w/ DCFC – VIN number withheld – Built Feb 5, 2019
    • NHTSA ID Number: 11425225
    • Details:
      • In the driveway just at the corner of the house
      • Plugged in L2 at ~30 miles remaining, charged to full (this was habitual)
      • Woke up to a bang around 6am
      • By the time the fire department arrived, car was a complete fireball
      • Car burnt down to the frame, nothing remaining
      • Wreckage was apparently stolen
      • Side of house damaged, water damage inside as well
    • Fix Status:
      • Temporary fix was applied Nov 13, 2020.
      • Final fix had been applied April 29, 2021.

    Model Year 2018

    March 17, 2019 – Belmont, MA

    Model Year 2017

    September 20, 2019 – Kiev, Ukraine

    • Premier – VIN 1G1FX6S03H4125870 – Built Oct 31, 2016
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Originally Purchased June 2, 2017;
      • Sold at auction in California as “FLEET/LEASE” on Feb 11, 2019 with 99,155 miles.
      • Very high mileage for only 20 months. Suspect rideshare/maven?
      • Fully charged at a public station, drove home (10 minutes), waited in the car for 15 minutes, went inside.
      • “After a couple of hours” they noticed that fire trucks were putting out the fire.
      • Car was completely destroyed
      • Witnesses said white smoke was coming from the rear wheel area.

    July 25, 2020 – Maplecrest, NY (?)

    • LT – VIN 1G1FW6S09H4**** – ~25k miles
    • NHTSA ID Number: 11374956
    • Details:
      • Parked in garage charging.
      • Possibly received phone notification that charge was complete.
      • Went to garage to unplug, car was already on fire in the back seat.
      • Fire spread rapidly from there (within minutes entire car was ablaze)
      • Car and garage destroyed

    July 30, 2020 – Temecula, California

    • Premier – VIN 1G1FX6S07H4176983 – Built Sep 2017 – ~60k miles
    • NHTSA ID Number: 11365622
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Purchased in Sep 2017, for 2 years they charged every night and had 230+ miles of range
      • in Summer 2020 car was only charging to 170 miles range, they brought it in twice and told there was no problem
      • Fire occurred plugged in.
      • Lying in bed above the garage, she heard a “whoooosh” and went downstairs to the garage to see full of smoke, unplugged, evacuated, then could see fire and heard an explosion.
      • House and contents a write-off
    • Confirmed by GM to be battery related – via date of fire mentioned in their preliminary report

    November 1, 2020 – Langenfeld, Germany

    • 2017 or 2018 Ampera-E Premiere – Purchased Feb 28, 2018.
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Is likely a 2017 – owner said “First Edition” and Europe was slow to get the vehicles. It’s possible it was a 2018 but unlikely. Was ordered before Dec 2017.
      • ~52,000km ~32,000mi
      • Car was on a 22kW L2 AC charging station, note that this is common in Europe. So this is 32A L2 charging for us.
      • Plugged in around 5pm, theft message OnStar SMS message at 1:13am. 1:26am call from police.
      • Firefighters showed up at 1am, the text message was likely from them smashing the window to get access to the inside
      • They doused the under-hood of the car first (oops) – since that’s where the smoke was mostly coming out of
      • This sort of reaction may be why some fires are total losses and some are smaller
      • Fascinating fire: likely from a module in the FRONT of the pack first!
      • Bought another Ampera-E on November 18th

    Unknown Year(s)

    August 25, 2020 – Unknown Location

    • All we know about this one is that it’s mentioned in GM’s preliminary report as a date that a battery fire occurred.

    Possible Battery Fires

    Please note these are just possibilities. It’s likely that GM investigated, but it’s not clear what the cause of the fire was.

    Before November 18, 2020 – Bessemer, AL

    • 2019 Premiere w/ DCFC – 1G1FZ6S05K4108747 – Built Oct 2018
    • References:
    • Details:
      • Damage to the rear seat could be from a thermal runaway before a fire started. The hole in the seat matches where the heat would come out. If the firefighters were on scene they could have ripped out the seat.
      • The final bid amount is the same as others with a battery fire.
      • Large delay between declared a loss by insurance (Nov 18 2020) and auction sale (Apr 20 2021) could mean that GM had for investigation.
      • This is possibly the one that we knew was under investigation since November 2020, but was not confirmed as a battery fire.

    5 thoughts on “List of known Chevy Bolt Fires”

    • henk wondergem
      2021-07-19 at 16:53
      Permalink

      I have a late 2019 not part of recall, but the new software was update. That software was supposed to check battery voltages, so I asked the dealer to supply me with the battery cell data they found.
      I asked for the info when picking up car, was helped by someone else who said it was documented on the Work Order. But it only said:
      1) No codes stored (ED: I had a flat tire, so surprised that was not part of all engine codes)
      2) Sensor average 3.98V
      3) Within Spec < 0.08V difference
      4) Reprogram PCM & BCM with latest calibrations.
      ED: That does not give any diagnostic info, and does not even indicate that procedure was done?
      I would have liked to know some voltages, at least the voltage of the 5 different battery banks.
      How do I know that they even tested the voltages?

      Reply

      • They should have mentioned the average plus the lowest voltage and then the delta – is that in there?

        Reply

      • Use Bluetooth ELM for OBDII connector, use Torque Pro (with Bolt’s PID, can be found to download on Chevy forums) or CarScanner free soft for Android, to see every cell voltage any time. You can use also MyGreenVolt application, that you can buy for 1$, to see graph of battery cells. All applications work correctly with Bolt EV/Spark EV/Volt 1 and 2.

        If your car has a risk of fire, you will see it easy. 1-2 cells of battery will have much less voltage, than others. But, please, do this test on 20% or less charged battery.

        Reply

    • This is Not what we paid for. Can’t park or charge in our garage? That is why we bought our Chevy Bolt.
      Please GM, won’t you just replace our batteries, so we can have the peace of mind (like other car owners), to enjoy the full benefits of what we paid for.
      You’ve inconvenienced us for far too long.

      Reply

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