Elon Musk Ridicules GM Over Electric Cars That Keep Catching Fire

"This might be part of the problem."

Flack and Fire

Tesla CEO Elon Musk ridiculed General Motors in a tweet this morning, saying the US carmaker may have trouble keeping up with Tesla's EV market share — because GM's Bolt EVs keep catching fire.

Musk was responding to a tweet about Tesla having 79 percent of the electric car market in the US according to registration data.

"This might be part of the problem," Musk replied, adding a link to an article by The Verge about GM's recent recall of all Chevy Bolt EVs for fire risk.

The veteran car manufacturer recently had to expand its recall of the Chevy Bolt EV, a popular all-electric subcompact hatchback, to include all models after several fires caused by defects in the vehicles' battery packs made by LG Chem — a troubling blow for one of the most popular EVs in the country, and electric vehicle adoption as a whole.

Total Recall

GM had to go as far as warning owners not to charge their Bolts in or near their homes overnight and park them outside. "We are working aggressively with LG to adjust production to have replacement modules available as soon as possible," a GM spokesperson told The Verge.

GM isn't the only carmaker having trouble with manufacturing. In fact, Tesla has had its own recalls. Faulty displays forced the company to recall 135,000 vehicles earlier this year. And while it has yet to recall vehicles to prevent potential fires in people's homes, plenty of Tesla vehicles have caught fire while charging.

Dominating market share isn't exactly good news, except of course to those holding Tesla shares. The Chevy Bolt EV was the only other non-Tesla EV that sold more than 10,000 vehicles in 2020, according to Electrek.

That means competition is seriously lagging behind in the electric car market sector in the US. Tesla has been leading the charge and other US carmakers are having trouble catching up, which could end up slowing electric vehicle adoption in the country on the whole.

There may be a silver lining to GM's recent troubles, at least for drivers. Owners of 2017, 2018, and 2019 Bolt EVs, all affected by the recall, will see a eight percent additional battery capacity bump, thereby improving range, according to InsideEVs.

More on the recall: GM Just Recalled Every Chevy Bolt Ever Made