Several General Motors electric cars caught fire due to defective batteries.
As long as the component has not been replaced, precautionary measures are recommended.
Rüsselsheim / Detroit - According to ADAC, the risk of fire is no greater with electric cars than with combustion engines.
It is a different matter when, like General Motors, you struggle with quality problems.
The battery of the Chevrolet Bolt, which is largely identical to the Opel Ampera-e sold in Europe, has already caught fire several times.
The US traffic safety authority NHTSA speaks of a total of at least thirteen incidents.
The years of construction from 2017 to 2019 are therefore affected.
General Motors and Opel have therefore already started a recall campaign and informed the owners concerned, including the Hamburg police *.
In the vehicles, the defective battery modules identified as the cause of the fire are to be replaced.
The action is said to cost around a billion dollars.
Warning: The remaining range should not be less than 110 kilometers
As long as the exchange has not taken place, General Motors and Opel give the Bolt and Ampera-e owners concerned the following advice.
You should bring the vehicle to the state of charge limit value 90 percent with the mode “Hill descent reserve” (model years 2017-2018) or the mode “Target charge level” (model year 2019).
If necessary, the dealer can carry out the adjustment.
In addition, the aim is to avoid discharging the battery if the remaining range is less than 110 kilometers.
This means that the vehicle should be charged more often.
The vehicle should also be parked outdoors for charging and not left unattended overnight.
Due to defective batteries at Chevy Bolt and Opel Ampera-e: parking space of 35 meters necessary
If this advice is already inconvenient for the owner, it becomes even more problematic in everyday life.
When parking outdoors, keep a distance of 15 meters to the next vehicle.
All in all, a Chevy Bolt or an Opel Ampera-e therefore needs a parking space of 35 meters in total.
How drivers should manage this in a city with limited parking space is not known.
The owners can only hope that the exchange will take place quickly.
* 24hamburg.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.