[Steverino]

lthough there are different reasons why EV batteries catch fire, I just read this article and posted the link above which gives the most likely reason.

The summation in the linked story is "Improper manufacturing, external damage or inefficient or malfunctioning software can cause a lithium-ion battery to catch fire. "

The Bolt's issue was determined by GM and LG to be improper manufacturing by LG that resulted in two defects in some batteries. This has been addressed. So now we have two admitted non-experts apparently speculating that there may be a different reason and the problem therefore remains unaddressed despite the recall. This is idle speculation.

I suspect my Bolt never had the defects. Given it's age and how I charged, if it had had the defects I think it would have manifested in those 5 years. The handful of Bolt's that burned were all late model years as I recall.

 

[phattyduck]

my response to that, if that was the case, then you would think, you would have failures right from the get go, not 2 or 3 years after the manufacture or 50k miles down the road.

Ah, so you don't work in electronics manufacturing, eh?

It is a very likely situation that the solder profile for the BECM boards created weak or incomplete soldering that would manifest at a later date. This is especially true with "modern" (now 20 year old) lead-free solder processes. The solder moves and shifts through time and use, which can cause problems to crop up months or years later.

It could also be a marginal design or any number of other issues, of course... I'm just here crossing my fingers, since I have a '17 with ~65k miles on it.

-Charlie

 

[desertwinddust]

Your Bolt is probably fine now that it is fixed and you are probably right that it didn't have an issue in the first place. I am very glad you are happy with your Bolt.

I have a broken Volt. It has a parasitic drain on the 12 volt battery of approximately 7 amps. It has not caught fire because I disconnected the 12 volt battery negative cable. Based on the symptoms that my car had and the printouts from the vehicle's computer, it does have a bad battery energy control module. However this may or may not be the cause of the parasitic drain. I am waiting for the dealer to get parts to have my car repaired.

There should be a recall on the Volts for the BECM at least since so many have broken.

 

[desertwinddust]

Reply to Charlie, my Volt BECM failed at about 105k - no warranty.

 

[noyoudont]

Ah, assuming the above is not a joke, you will have determined the true cause of the Bolt battery problem. The premise is the issues GM and LG identified had nothing to do with the true cause and they wasted a billions by not addressing the true cause. And by not telling anyone what the true cause of the fires is, you are helping Bolt owners, and GM. You are simply waiting for the new Bolt batteries to destroy some more cars or perhaps injure someone before letting the world in on your secret? Seems like a weird position to take. On the other hand, I'm assuming that GM and LG engineers are not complete idiots and they actually did find and fix the battery issue.

haha,your post is the exact reason i did a disclaimer. your absolutely right, gm may have gotten it right and fixed the bolt batteries, i said what if. but having a closed mind about it, isnt helpfull either.
(GM and LG engineers are not complete idiots.)
did not mean to imply that
but they are human, can make mistakes, just like the rest of us
i have had many, a professional screw up a job for me

 

[noyoudont]

cold solder joints

pretty sure that statement would have come from r&d department
not from some volt teck

 

[noyoudont]

Ah, so you don't work in electronics manufacturing, eh?

It is a very likely situation that the solder profile for the BECM boards created weak or incomplete soldering that would manifest at a later date. This is especially true with "modern" (now 20 year old) lead-free solder processes. The solder moves and shifts through time and use, which can cause problems to crop up months or years later.

It could also be a marginal design or any number of other issues, of course... I'm just here crossing my fingers, since I have a '17 with ~65k miles on it.

-Charlie

not discounting any of this, as could be the reason
but I try to look at the facts, if that was the main reason then all the modules in the cars would be failing, doesnt seem to be the case. 2017 cars, took (50k) 2years before their was a rash of failures. granted, there may have been a few failures before that time. the number one reason that i have found for failed solder connections at the ic over time is high current ,high hearing frequency that makes the ic buzz to the point of solder connection at the pin on the ic cold flows and breaks the connection
it was really bad on pulse wipers when the snow wouldnt let the blades move
but i could be wrong

 

[phattyduck]

but I try to look at the facts, if that was the main reason then all the modules in the cars would be failing, doesnt seem to be the case. 2017 cars, took (50k) 2years before their was a rash of failures.

The rash of failures could still be just 1% of Volts (though, I'd suspect it is higher). Those with failures are MUCH more likely to come to and post on forums instead of reading silently or never searching for answers on the web.

Initial problems with the modules would be weeded out during testing. At that point, only 'later' failures would be left - which is what we are seeing now.

But - I bet we can agree on at least 1 thing: We don't have the real answer as to why these are failing.

-Charlie

 

[noyoudont]

The rash of failures could still be just 1% of Volts (though, I'd suspect it is higher). Those with failures are MUCH more likely to come to and post on forums instead of reading silently or never searching for answers on the web.

Initial problems with the modules would be weeded out during testing. At that point, only 'later' failures would be left - which is what we are seeing now.

But - I bet we can agree on at least 1 thing: We don't have the real answer as to why these are failing.

-Charlie

ya- u r right
it could be as simple as the 12 v system not providing a stable enough power suppy when the 12v battery get weak that makes the data starts changing from 1 to 0 causing the modules to try and talk over each other causing a high strain on the data line making it fail over time
or not