A 2019 Chevy Bolt electric vehicle caught fire at a home in Cherokee County, Georgia, on Sept. 13. Source: Cherokee County Fire Department. Click to enlarge.

General Motors GM: (%) has stopped dealers from selling additional Chevy Dolt’s Bolts and has warned Dolt Bolt owners only to charge the vehicles to 90% of capacity and park them outside because of fire risk.

That’s from The Philadelphia Inquirer, not some evil reich-wing source. From Bloomberg:

GM Tells Bolt Owners to Park 50 Feet Away From Other Cars

By David Welch and Dana Hull | September 15, 2021 | 3:58 PM EDT | Updated: 6:40 PM EDT

General Motors Co. urged some owners of Chevrolet Bolt electric cars to park and store the vehicles at least 50 feet away from other cars to reduce the risk that a spontaneous fire could spread.

The Detroit automaker has recalled all of the roughly 142,000 Bolts sold since 2016 because the battery can catch on fire. GM has taken a $1.8 billion charge so far for the cost of the recall and has been buying cars back from some disgruntled owners. The company expects to recoup much of the cost from battery supplier LG Corp.

The new advice is likely to rankle owners who are already limiting their use of the Bolt to avoid overheating the battery and risking a fire. The parking guidance — recommending a distance of 50 feet from other parked cars — is especially difficult for owners in urban areas. GM has confirmed 10 fires. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the agency has found 13 fires in Bolts, but the company hasn’t confirmed the additional three are part of the current recall issue.

The Bolt normally can go 259 miles on a charge, but that has been limited by GM’s guidance to avoid a fire. The automaker told Bolt owners to limit the charge to 90%, plug in more frequently and avoid depleting the battery to below about 70 miles of remaining range. They’re also advised to park their vehicles outside immediately after charging and not leave them charging indoors overnight.

There’s more at the original.

So, if owners have to charge their electric vehicles to 90%, not 100%, of capacity, they’re automatically losing 10% of the stated range on the vehicles. If they’ve spent the money to install an in-garage charger, to charge up overnight, now they have to charge outside, possibly having to leave their garage doors open, and leave their vehicles outside in the weather. Kind of defeats the purpose in having a garage in the first place!

President Biden wants to force us all into plug-in electric cars, but the technology isn’t up to the goal. Will it get better and safer? Maybe, but remember: storage of sparktricity in a battery isn’t an engineering issue, but one of developing the chemicals which can store a charge. Who knows? There may be no other chemicals, or at least none safer, which can do that!