Nightmare for a motorist: the battery of his Chevrolet Bolt replaced five times

A motorist had to leave his Chevrolet Bolt EV waiting in his dealership’s yard for a year while mechanics changed his electric vehicle’s battery five times.

• Also read: Unable to get his van repaired, he finds the missing part in China

Alexander Grizhanof purchased his 2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2022.

“The reason I bought it is because I save a lot on gas,” he explained on the show J.E broadcast this evening which will address the difficulties of repairing vehicles.

Mr. Grizhanof, separated, must drive several dozen kilometers per week between his home, in Hawkesbury, Ontario, and his place of work, in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, as well as to see his children, who live in Kingston.

Diagnostic difficile

For several months, the manufacturer General Motors (GM) and the dealership sought to find the causes of his misfortune.

“They tested with the computer to see where the problem is […] I told them it wasn’t worth replacing the battery every time without knowing why exactly it burned. But they have no reason,” he adds, discouraged. The dealership meanwhile provided Mr. Grizhanof with much less economical gasoline-powered vehicles.

The latter tried in vain to reach an arrangement with the dealership or the manufacturer GM so that they would take back his vehicle. But he received contradictory proposals. “One day, they offered me $21,000. Afterwards, it’s $17,000, $6000. I no longer know what the value of the vehicle is,” laments the Ontario resident. If his car could no longer run, this is not the case for the monthly payments on the $40,000 car loan that he had to continue to repay.

He ultimately received a check for $25,025 from the dealership which he used to purchase a 2020 Toyota Prius Prime.

Scandalized

This story scandalizes the automobile columnist Antoine Joubert. “These situations occurred for 2% to 4% of Bolts delivered to Quebec last year. It is obvious that General Motors is covering up the matter and does not want to tell the truth to either dealers or consumers,” he believes.

Mr. Joubert estimates that Mr. Grizhanov’s Bolt has not lost much value in two years because a two- or three-year-old model is equivalent to the price of a new one today. “General Motors should write a check there,” he exclaims.

The dealer we contacted redirected our questions to GM. The manufacturer responded to us by email that it remains “committed to providing available replacement parts to owners and minimizing inconvenience for [ses] clients” without going into detail regarding Mr. Grizhanov’s story.