Earlier this week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that it will introduce a next-generation Chevrolet Bolt.
The new version will have Ultium batteries.
It comes after GM said in April this year it would stop making the all-electric Bolt, which was recalled several times due to concerns over battery fires.
In August 2021, the Bolt was recalled for the third time, affecting 141,000 models. Chevrolet later confirmed that 16 cars had caught fire.
LG Energy Solutions, which made the battery packs, absorbed most of the cost. It agreed to foot $1.9 billion of the approximate $2 billion bill.
GM said that manufacturing flaws were cause of the fires, which involved a “torn anode tab and a folded separator” in a few individual cells.
During GM’s Q2 earnings conference call earlier this week, Barra said: “Our customers love today’s Bolt. It has been delivering record sales and some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry.” She added the Bolt was also “an important source of conquest sales for the company and for Chevrolet.”
GM expects to deliver 70,000 Ultium vehicles this year, split between Cadillac and Hummer models, along with Chevy Silverado, Blazer and Equinox and BrightDrop electric vans.
The new Ultium-equipped Bolt should cost 40% less than the Bolt’s current battery technology, Barra said.
“We will keep the momentum going by delivering a new Bolt…and we will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment by updating the vehicle with Ultium and Ultifi technologies and by applying our ‘winning with simplicity’ discipline,” she said.
According to GM, the Bolt has been a key in attracting new customers. It says that around 70% of buyers who trade in a vehicle for a Bolt are trading in a non-GM vehicle.
There are questions around the Ultium battery, however. Ongoing supply chains issues have reportedly impacted the production of the battery.
Barra did not disclose a launch date for the refreshed Bolt, which some saw as evidence of the problems GM is currently experiencing.
GM’s CAMI plant in Canada, which makes BrightDrop vans, has temporarily suspended production until the end of July.
Union workers cited battery shortages, but GM representatives said it was a ‘parts availability issue.’
