The story sounds like a bad movie. A very bad one! A family man, whose electric car burned down in the USA, should now pay 10,000 euros. The absurd reason: The eight-year guarantee on the battery that started the fire was extinguished with the fire!
What sounds like sheer madness, Scott is currently doing in those. With his Chevrolet Bolt EV, which is currently only available in the United States, he said he had already driven around 34,000 kilometers. And always fully satisfied! For a year and a half he had been the proud owner of the car he was so enthusiastic about. Until this day. On the portal Electrek tells Scott about the devastating fire that GM confirmed was battery-related. A review:
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He cleaned up his car on the morning of June 29, 2020. He had to take it to a local workshop for minor repairs to the roof paint. He cleared out personal belongings. Only the baby seat of his few month old son remained in the back seat.
E-car catches fire, child seat merges with back seat
“I remember having the best feeling in the world when I put my son in his car seat for the first time. It was a stable, safe, and clean car for my family, ”recalls Scott, looking back. He was an advocate of e-cars and would never have had any doubts about their safety, even if there were many critics around him.
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A few hours after returning his car to the workshop, he notices a missed call and a text message that read: “Emergency to your car – call immediately”. Before the workshop even had a chance to look at the car, employees had noticed a terrible, pungent smell and it was smoking from the vehicle. In fact, the battery that was installed directly under the child seat caught fire. For no apparent reason.
When Scott got to the workshop, he was presented with a horror. “The car was a mess from the chemical spray. And what I still remember today is the picture of my son’s car seat merged with the back seat. I kept thinking what if my son had been in there? “
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The battery in the electric car was actually still under warranty
But that’s not all. Anyone who thinks now that he was lucky in misfortune is mistaken! After all, of course, nobody was harmed. But the financial loss is also really painful. Because although there is an eight-year guarantee on the battery from the manufacturer (and this period had not expired), it was extinguished with the fire! I beg your pardon?!
–And the insurance? It only paid a time value. But Scott’s 18-month-old car was worth about half what he’d paid for it. While he still owed the dealership $ 33,000, the fully comprehensive insurance only reimbursed him $ 21,000. The rest – after all, 12,000 dollars or 10,000 euros – he is still sitting today. He now has to pay for it. A new car? Nothing! And all because of damage for which he can not do anything.
The problem with the battery in the Chevrolet Bolt EV, model year 2019, is by the way not an isolated case. 68,000 Bolt electric vehicles were recalled last November. While Hyundai had a similar problem and eventually decided to replace all of the Kona EV batteries with newer ones, GM decided that software could fix their problems. Would that have prevented Scott’s e-car nightmare?
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