Chevrolet recalls all Bolt EVs due to risk of battery fire

[Hairy-Joe]

I know things go wrong and there are recalls on cars every day but you will have some jumping up and down foaming at the mouth saying "Look, I told ya, all them electric cars are unsafe and shouldn't be on the road".

That being said, that's a major component to be replaced. It's not like a missing clip or wrong bolt now.

[kadman]

I read somewhere on the internet that Tesla flew in their own firefighting team to put out a battery fire in one of their ev's, not sure if it was true or just anti ev hype.

[CelticRambler]

Don't know about them flying in their own firefighters, but Tesla do definitely have a "how to put out a burning Tesla" instruction pack for firefighters, because the old reliable techniques don't work. The "right way" - according to Tesla - is to load the burning vehicle into a fire-resistant waterproof container and let it burn itself-out. Otherwise, you need lots (and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots) of water.

At the time of the condo collapse in Florida earlier this year, with an unquenchable fire stopping rescue efforts, I heard one fire fighter saying that burning EVs under rubble are becoming more common and they're a real problem, as the Tesla how-to manual assumes that the vehicle will be sitting cooperatively in a wide open space, easily accessible from all sides with whatever additional equipment (i.e. container transporter truck) is needed.

[Wibbs]

This occurred to me with talk of the new children's hospital and the underground car park and underground car parks in general. Petrol fires can be a bugger to deal with, but lithium battery fires are a whole new ballgame. They burn a lot hotter and for considerably longer. If a fire spread beyond one car to a few that would not be fun at all.

[CelticRambler]

The concern expressed by the guy I heard wasn't so much the risk of a "contagious" fire (we saw in Cork how easily petrol engines can set off a chain reaction in an enclosed space) but that they present an entirely new challenge when the emergency situation is not a fire, but rather a "simple" collapsed building (of which they seem to have quite a lot in the US) with people buried in the rubble who need to be pulled out as quickly as possible. If even one lithium battery fire takes hold, that effectively puts the rescue effort on hold for three days while they try to figure out where it is and pull the vehicle out instead of pulling people out. There is simply no way to douse the fire unseen - it is impossible to pour as much water onto it as would be required, short of flooding the entire district.

[dawg]

The Bolt uses battery packs from LG Chem.
Hyundai Kona also uses battery packs from LG Chem.
Hyundai have chosen to replace the packs in Konas.
The real question to me would seem to be :

What car manufacturers are using LG Chem battery packs are not doing a recall ?