A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV owned by Vermont Rep. Timothy Briglin, a supporter of EVs in the state legislature, recently caught fire while charging in his driveway.
The vehicle is a part of a November recall of more than 50,000 2017-2019 model year Bolts in the U.S. due to fire concerns. GM confirmed five instances of fire at the time of the recall. There were nearly 69,000 vehicles recalled globally.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of this incident. We have reached out to the customer and are actively investigating the incident and gathering additional information to understand the specific circumstances,” GM said in a statement.
GM later announced a remedy to owners of the recalled EV, which was able to identify potential battery anomalies. The remedy calls for replacing battery module assemblies in the vehicles as well as installing advanced onboard diagnostic software to detect potential issues in the battery.
Owners of 2019 models were able to bring in their vehicles as early as April 29.
Briglin told authorities the vehicle had been serviced for the recall in recent weeks, according to CNBC, which reported the incident earlier this week.
Briglin served as the chair of the state House Committee on Energy and Technology and has supported EVs.
He told Automotive News that his car was plugged in the night of June 30. Fire occurred July 1. The recall fix was done at a local dealership June 9.
“Clearly any consumer product has to be safe, and clearly the particular car that I owned had a catastrophic event. Prior to that, I’d had a very good experience with the electric vehicle,” he said.
“And I’m a big supporter of people driving electric vehicles. I think they’re cheaper to drive. The performance on them, at least prior to the catastrophic fire, had been terrific. And I think this is the path we’re headed down, but they’ve got to be safe.”