GM Warns Some Bolt EV Owners To Park Vehicles Outside Due to Spontaneous Combustion Risk

General Motors GM has asked the owners of 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs to park their vehicles outside and away from homes due to a risk of unexpectedly catching fire. The auto manufacturer has also warned vehicle owners not to leave their Bolt EV charging unattended overnight.

What Happened: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a statement that explained the Bolt EVs’ cell packs “have the potential to smoke and ignite internally, which could spread to the rest of the vehicle and cause a structure fire if parked inside a garage or near a house.”

The NHTSA added the vehicles in question were originally recalled last November due to the potential of unattended fires sparking from the high-voltage battery pack underneath the backseat’s bottom cushion. Approximately 50,000 Bolt vehicles are impacted by this warning.

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What Else Happened: CNBC reported that GM said it has bought back some of the recalled vehicles, although it did not state the quantity involved.

“At GM, safety is our highest priority, and we are moving as quickly as we can to investigate this issue,” said the company in a statement.

The new warning follows a pair of spontaneous combustion blazes created earlier this month by the Bolt, including one at the home of Vermont state Rep. Timothy Briglin, who is the chairman of the state House Committee on Energy and Technology and a vocal EV advocate.

The new warning comes one month after General Motors Chairwoman and CEO Mary Barra announced that the company was “targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio.”

(Photo: The remains of Timothy Briglin's Bolt; photo courtesy Vermont State Police.