General Motors to make alterations to Volt plug in based on cause of fire

Ms. Mary Barra, Senior Vice President of Global Product Development at General Motors said that in all probability the company may take a decision to make some changes to the Chevrolet Volt plug in hybrid lithium ion battery.  Reports of three fires that occurred following a spate of tests have got National Highway Traffic Safety Administration out conducting investigations into its causes.  The company is working closely with NHTSA to identify exact reasons for these fires, and if it is identified as a problem, GM will be changing battery packs of all Volt cars sold.

General Motors have also announced that they would offer users two options of either using loan cars till the problem is fixed or selling back Volts to the company if they are in doubt of its safety. A Volt caught fire while on test in May 12 while three more test on Volt caused two more fires as mentioned by NHTSA on November 25th.

Volt has the capacity to traverse 40 miles on electric recharge before automatically switching over to its gas engine which is powered by a generator that automatically recharges the battery. Volt can average 60 miles per gallon and that would make it four times more efficient than Nissan Leaf.