[Qrper]

According to Electrek,

Hyundai reportedly set to replace Kona LG batteries in Korea - Electrek

Hyundai to announce a recall of all Kona, Ionic and Electic to replace the batteries due to fire concern after repeated fires across their lineup.

electrek.co

From Electrek:
"According to media sources in Korea, Hyundai is about to enter into an agreement with their Domestic Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to replace all of the batteries in its Kona electric vehicle fleet. The recall might also extend to its IONIQ line and busses."

If you read the entire page, it looks like LG is going to replace batteries in the Koni. Again from Electrek.

"The Kona and the Bolt use very similar battery cells; if Hyundai deems it necessary to replace all of the batteries in its cars, other manufacturers might also follow suit. This would not only drive up the cost to LG, but also the amount of time necessary to complete the replacements."

The way I read the statement, it looks like us Bolt user could very well receive new battery packs. The question is how long will it take

 

[Jim Fallston Md.]

I saw this also. So I think every Bolt owner should at the very least call GM and ask them why Hyundai is smart enough to know it is time for replacements of the same era LG battery packs but GM is not.

 

[SGW]

Not 10 minutes ago I received and email from Chevy EV service that they are vetting a software fix and will be restoring 100% capacity in April 2021. We’ll see...

“A team of GM engineers has made substantial progress in identifying the root cause and potential remedies for this issue. They are in the process of validating state-of-the-art software that can diagnose potential issues early and restore 100% charge capability. A final remedy for this recall is anticipated for April 2021.”

 

[OneEV]

Interesting.. a Tale of 2 solutions for the same issue.. Gee , I could have had a V8 Kona

 

[Dark-Fx]

Not 10 minutes ago I received and email from Chevy EV service that they are vetting a software fix and will be restoring 100% capacity in April 2021. We’ll see...

“A team of GM engineers has made substantial progress in identifying the root cause and potential remedies for this issue. They are in the process of validating state-of-the-art software that can diagnose potential issues early and restore 100% charge capability. A final remedy for this recall is anticipated for April 2021.”

I'm still not going to be comfortable parking my car in the garage after the software change if it's the same battery pack. Would rather not wake up in the middle of the night to my whole house burning down. My car had the original pack replaced at 3000 miles because it had an obviously bad cell.

 

[OneEV]

Not 10 minutes ago I received and email from Chevy EV service that they are vetting a software fix and will be restoring 100% capacity in April 2021. We’ll see...

“A team of GM engineers has made substantial progress in identifying the root cause and potential remedies for this issue. They are in the process of validating state-of-the-art software that can diagnose potential issues early and restore 100% charge capability. A final remedy for this recall is anticipated for April 2021.”

The more I think about it the more ticked off I am ..April are you freaking kidding me..5 months from when this recall started.

 

[SodePop]

The more I think about it the more ticked off I am ..April are you freaking kidding me..5 months from when this recall started.

Agree! I'm not going to be satisfied with any SW fix. This is too much of a risk. This is ridiculous.

 

[Qrper]

Not 10 minutes ago I received and email from Chevy EV service that they are vetting a software fix and will be restoring 100% capacity in April 2021. We’ll see...

“A team of GM engineers has made substantial progress in identifying the root cause and potential remedies for this issue. They are in the process of validating state-of-the-art software that can diagnose potential issues early and restore 100% charge capability. A final remedy for this recall is anticipated for April 2021.”

Sometimes I don't trust people. It's so easy to 'adjust the software' so the GOM displays 238 miles while the battery is still limited to 80-95%. I mean how would you know? Even the Pro Torque dongle could easily be lied to via software. It's GM's sand box and they have all the toys.

Some how, I don't feel a bad line of original code caused the fires—a defective battery pack did—and that's something that can't be fixed with more lines of code.

 

[PhilBo]

Sometimes I don't trust people. It's so easy to 'adjust the software' so the GOM displays 238 miles while the battery is still limited to 80-95%. I mean how would you know? Even the Pro Torque dongle could easily be lied to via software. It's GM's sand box and they have all the toys.

Some how, I don't feel a bad line of original code caused the fires—a defective battery pack did—and that's something that can't be fixed with more lines of code.

So they are developing software that will:
1. restore 100% charge capability (by removing the temporary "fix" of 95%) and
2. diagnose potential issues early.
Then the bad batteries will still be out there but they're going to be able to detect them earlier.
Is that how you read it?

 

[ARob]

So they are developing software that will:
1. restore 100% charge capability (by removing the temporary "fix" of 95%) and
2. diagnose potential issues early.
Then the bad batteries will still be out there but they're going to be able to detect them earlier.
Is that how you read it?

That seems to be the way it is headed. And, perhaps battery replacements for those that diagnose as failure-prone.

 

[MikeyBolt]

Agree! I'm not going to be satisfied with any SW fix. This is too much of a risk. This is ridiculous.

Why? It's possible that a software fix could guarantee a fix to the fire problem by closely monitoring cell groups to ensure it is not possible to overcharge them and/or detect the issue before it can cause a fire. And yes, the way I read it is that it should eliminate the identified fire issue but if your battery has a problem, it may disable the car and require service. That may be enough, particularly if it has been found that only a very small percentage of the cars will ever experience the identified problem in the first place.

It sounds reasonable to me. If it is a rare problem, your car won't catch fire and if your car isn't prone to the problem, you'll never notice anything nor experience any issues. But if your car is one that is affected, it'll detect it and then you'll get a new battery/modules to fix it. Either way, you have a 100% working car that isn't prone to a fire and in all likelihood you won't have to have your car at the dealer for days while they fix something that isn't really necessary.

Mike

 

[boltage]

So they are developing software that will:
1. restore 100% charge capability (by removing the temporary "fix" of 95%) and
2. diagnose potential issues early.
Then the bad batteries will still be out there but they're going to be able to detect them earlier.
Is that how you read it?

Yes, the intent is to detect a battery that is bad or going bad before it catches fire (and limit charging and inform the owner to get it fixed).

Obviously, some here do not trust that the new version of the software can do that.

 

[OneEV]

Obviously, some here do not trust that the new version of the software can do that.

lol... Ummm Yeah !



Not surprising GM is going to take this route though because the decision has been made in the Boardroom ...and the boardroom is going to do what is right by corporate investors not Bolt owners.. the less expensive path.

 

[PhilBo]

Whether or not the new software will detect a potential fire, the fact remains that I have a car that may be defective. Not very comforting. Kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Yes, the intent is to detect a battery that is bad or going bad before it catches fire (and limit charging and inform the owner to get it fixed).

Obviously, some here do not trust that the new version of the software can do that.

Okay, so they say they figured out how to detect the bad cells that might cause a fire. Will there be information about what the action is if that happens? Will I still be able to drive it for a few more days or is the risk of fire so near when it's detected that they just completely disable the car? The Kona's recall stopped you from being able to charge, period, if they suspected you had a bad pack. That would be a really annoying situation to have to deal with suddenly, especially if it happened while I was far away from home.

When they replaced my first pack, the answer was to keep the car charged up because if the bad cell gets too low in voltage it'll suddenly cut all power from the HV battery. I drove around for two weeks without any obvious problems before taking the car in for the new battery.

A software solution to stop the car from self-immolating is great, but there's a lot of "what if" that's going to affect the resale value of the car.

 

[SodePop]

Why? It's possible that a software fix could guarantee a fix to the fire problem by closely monitoring cell groups to ensure it is not possible to overcharge them and/or detect the issue before it can cause a fire. And yes, the way I read it is that it should eliminate the identified fire issue but if your battery has a problem, it may disable the car and require service. That may be enough, particularly if it has been found that only a very small percentage of the cars will ever experience the identified problem in the first place.

It sounds reasonable to me. If it is a rare problem, your car won't catch fire and if your car isn't prone to the problem, you'll never notice anything nor experience any issues. But if your car is one that is affected, it'll detect it and then you'll get a new battery/modules to fix it. Either way, you have a 100% working car that isn't prone to a fire and in all likelihood you won't have to have your car at the dealer for days while they fix something that isn't really necessary.

Mike

Well, I did not realize that this fix would "detect" a potentially prone bad battery. If this is the case, then I'm fine with that. I thought this was some magical SW/FW fix to correct the issue itself. I just want a 100% and 100% trustworthy car man. I'm not an EV engineer.

 

[dougwmtn58]

I will wait to see if Generous Motors provides a detailed description of the problem and the solution.
No, I am not holding my breath.
Personally, I am assuming there were 5 bad pouches out of (68,000 cars x 96 cells x 3 pouches/cell) 19,584,000 total pouches. So far.

 

[desiv]

The more I think about it the more ticked off I am ..April are you freaking kidding me..5 months from when this recall started.

Yeah, 5 months is pretty impressive turn around for this very complicated troubleshooting and fix deployment...
er.. oh wait...
You weren't impressed by that...

Never mind.
;-)

 

[sundog]

They are in the process of validating state-of-the-art software

This software detects if the car is off, and the battery coolant loop temp rises by 200F in under 10 minutes. In that case, the software automatically credits an amount equal to the MSRP of your year's bolt, to your OnStar subscription account (balance not refundable).

 

[SGW]

If they can reliably do this, that’s great, and I’ll accept the fix. But if they implement the fix, and there’s another fire on a “fixed” Bolt, I think GM will be stuck replacing batteries or buying back pretty quick.