The Electric: A Fear of Fire and a Hunt for Profit Trigger an Effort to Make Defect-Free Batteries

Three years ago, General Motors began receiving worrying reports about the Chevy Bolt, its flagship electric vehicle, which had made a mark by beating the Tesla Model 3 to the market in 2016. Bolts were erupting in flames in people’s driveways, in their garages and on the street for no apparent reason. Ultimately, about a dozen of the vehicles caught fire, reportedly causing minor injuries in at least two cases. By the end of 2021, GM had recalled all 141,000 Bolts it had manufactured.

GM and LG Energy Solution, the manufacturer of the Bolt’s batteries, blamed a combination of arcane battery defects for the fires. But the damage was severe: LG paid $2 billion to replace the batteries, and the Bolt became a poster child for what could go wrong in the EV age.

As automakers expand their EV fleets, the Bolt fiasco has helped spur a furious industry effort to produce more cars faster, without potentially catastrophic defects. The effort isn’t only about preventing fires—but also survival and making money: The industry’s most efficient companies are likely to be the most profitable EV makers.