The owner tried DC charging the vehicle on three brands of chargers at five different locations. Nothing worked.
Amidst the massive recall of 2017-2022 Bolt EV and 2022 Bolt EUVs to replace their batteries, a post on a Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV owners group on Facebook has gained media traction after one owner alleged their 2021 Bolt EV no longer supports DC fast charging following the battery replacement.
According to the original post, the owner returned the car to the dealer twice but was told by technicians that the chargers he was using were actually the problem. They say they tried DC charging the Bolt on three brands of chargers from five different locations, including EV Go – a charging company that General Motors partners with.
The reason a Chevrolet service department can blame the charger is that the car has an AC charger built in, whereas the charging point's hardware controls a DC charge. Making it worse, Chevrolet's social media team posted the following, however the words shouldn't be taken at face value:
“After discussing the situation, the dealership informed us that after diagnosing the vehicle, they determined that the vehicle works when using a GM Approved charger at both your home, and at a certified GM dealership. Please know, as this situation is only happening when attempting to use public chargers, GM is not responsible for charging concerns when using non-GM approved public charging stations.”
We reached out to General Motors, Chevrolet's parent company, and received the following statement:
“GM aggregates public charging locations into mobile apps for each vehicle brand. GM does not certify individual charging stations nor verify charger operations on a real-time basis, but relies on combination of industry standards, independent safety certifications obtained by charging hardware manufacturers (i.e. UL), and our ongoing interoperability testing with charge station operators to ensure a positive customer experience. The advisor misspoke in this case, and our customer care team is in contact with the customer.”
In plainer terms, GM is fully invested in its customers being able to charge their cars using publicly available chargers on the network that adhere to industry standards – which includes the chargers the Bolt owner claims to have tried using. It does not expect you to only charge its electric vehicles at home or at dealerships. That would be silly.
Our suspicion here, based on face value from the Bolt owner with the issue, is that the service department couldn't find the issue and decided to play the age-old game of blaming it on the customer using the wrong thing.
GM is now in contact with the Bolt owner directly, so whatever the issue is should be resolved. GM and Chevrolet have had enough public issues with the Bolt that we're sure they'll make things right as quickly as possible.
Keyword: Chevy Bolt Owner Unable To Use Public Fast Charger Following Recall