GM will resume Chevy Bolt production in April

Photo by Andrew Liptak / The Verge

GM is set to resume production of its electric Chevy Bolt in April after halting production to address a battery recall, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and The Detroit News. The automaker originally predicted it wouldn’t start building Bolts until at least the end of January 2022.

“GM will resume production at its Orion Township, MI, plant the week of April 4, 2022,” GM spokesperson Dan Flores said in a statement obtained by The Detroit News. “We remain committed to Bolt EV and EUV and this decision will allow us to simultaneously replace battery modules and resume retail sales soon, which were strong before the recall.”

Recalls for the 2017-2019 Chevy Bolt started in 2020 following reports of the car catching fire, and they were recalled for a second time last July. GM later extended the recall to include all models of the Chevy Bolt in August after a 2020 model caught fire.

GM eventually traced the issue to defective LG Chem cells in the car’s battery packs and paused production altogether. LG Electronics agreed to reimburse GM for all the costs associated with the recalls, which GM estimated to be around $2 billion. The automaker has since been working to replace battery modules in the over 140,000 affected Chevy Bolts.