This summer, Dirk Spiers, a tall, rumpled Dutchman-turned-Oklahoman, got a heads-up from General Motors about more problems with the Chevrolet Bolt. The car model once hailed as GM's triumph over Tesla has become more of a slow-motion disaster. Due to a series rare, but devastating fires that were sparked by drivers leaving their cars charging overnight, bolts were being recall. GM found the fault in South Korea's LG Chem lithium-ion batteries, which were responsible for the problem.
The automaker expanded the recall to include all 141,000 Bolts sold globally since 2017. It would take a lot of work to fix them. The Bolt's lithium-ion battery pack weighs in at 960 pounds and runs on the entire car's wheelbase, unlike the small lead-acid batteries found in most gas-powered cars. There are hundreds of batteries inside, which can be delicate and finicky. They can be dangerous to take apart for repairs and improper handling can cause noxious fumes or fires.
Spiers was an easy person to reach out to for assistance. Spiers' relationship with GM began 11 years ago, when he questioned the head of development at GM about GMs plans for replacing the batteries if they failed or died. It turned out that GM didn't actually have one. Spiers transformed that opening into a business that handles logistics for dead and dying EV battery packs from all major US carmakers, except Tesla. Spiers New Technologies takes flawed batteries and transports, tests, andwhen possibledisassembles, fixes, and refurbishes them. We get our hands dirty, Spiers says.
The company recycles batteries at its facility onsite when they are not repairable or can be reused. The company also keeps batteries. There are many of them. SNT's Oklahoma City warehouse houses hundreds of batteries for electric cars, which are stacked on shelves reaching 30 feet in the air. GM will be sending many more SNT batteries as a result of the Bolt recall.
The world's electrified future will be challenged by those batteries and the millions of others like them. With the promise that their new generation of cars will be cleaner and more efficient than their gas-powered predecessors, automakers are investing billions in electrification. The International Energy Agency predicts that there will be between 150 million and 230million battery-powered cars on the roads by the end of this decade. This accounts for approximately 12 percent of global automobile fleet.
It is not what anyone wants to see batteries go to waste. Like other electronic devices, lithium-ion batteries can be toxic and cause fires that spread quickly. This danger is especially acute when they are kept together. According to an EPA report, lithium-ion batteries were responsible for at least 65 fires in municipal waste facilities last fiscal year. However, most of these fires were started by smaller batteries like those used in cell phones and laptops. As a precaution against disaster, the SNTs warehouse has bright red emergency water lines that run across the ceilings.
