GM Recalls Nearly 70,000 Chevy Bolt EVs

General Motors  (GM) - Get Report is recalling nearly 70,000 Chevy Bolt electric vehicles made between 2017 and 2019 over potential fire risks.

Five fires have been reported from among the 68,667 vehicles that have been on the road in the past 3 1/2 years. 

GM said that it recommends that drivers not park their vehicles in a garage at full state of charge and that 2017-2018 Bolt owners set "Hilltop" state of charge to be safe. 

Bolt model year 2019 owners should manually set to 90% when charging. Some 2019 Bolts were made from LG Cells manufactured in Holland, Mich., and those vehicles are not affected by this recall. 

The company said that it is introducing a temporary fix by locking the 10% capacity in battery packs. 

 

GM's announcement comes about a month after Hyundai recalled 77,000 Kona electric vehicles over the risk of battery fires.

About a dozen Kona EV fires were reported over the past 18 months, leading to Hyundai's decision to recall the vehicles. 

In a call with the media, GM reportedly appeared to attribute the fires to issues at its battery cell partner, LG Chem, according to Electrek. 

Hyundai also blamed LG Chem for its own battery issues, with its investigation finding that “the separator in the battery cell was damaged due to errors in the manufacturing process, Electrek reported.

GM shares at last check were 5% higher at $41.29.