General Motors is recalling its Chevrolet Bolt electric car, to make an adjustment to the battery charge, due to the risk of fires related to lithium-ion batteries, according to the American Wall Street Journal.
This measure includes about 69,000 cars manufactured between 2017-2019, including about 51,000 cars sold in the United States, and GM said it had recorded five car fires so far, which led to two suffocation cases due to smoke inhalation.
The company called on car owners not to park it in their garage until it was brought to the company to adjust the battery charge percentage to a maximum of 90%, until the problem is finally solved.
The company stated that it is conducting investigations to find out the causes behind the fires, but noted that the batteries were fully charged or close to full in all recorded fires.
Jesse Ortega, an engineer who specializes in Bolt cars, said that safety is GM's top priority, and the company is cooperating with the competent federal authorities while conducting its own investigations.
Car makers are introducing new electric models as they look to accelerate their shift from gasoline-powered vehicles to battery-powered cars.
But some production has been disrupted by the fires involving the vehicle's lithium-ion batteries, and Hyundai, Ford and BMW have recalled electric models in recent months.
Batteries are becoming increasingly important to carmakers, and companies have spent tens of billions of dollars securing high-quality batteries for the electric model industry.
Because of the rapid growth in battery manufacturing, there are 175 factories ready or under construction globally to meet demand, according to battery market research firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
General Motors said that the batteries used in the recalled Bolt models were made by the Korean company LG between 2016 and 2019, and there are models equipped with batteries from the LG factory in Michigan, which are the 2019 model that was not affected by the recall.
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