Volvo recall: ‘scary’ alert for Volvo drivers as 10,000 electric cars are recalled
A ‘scary’ warning has been issued for Volvo electric cars as thousands are recalled over fears their batteries may catch fire.
The recall is for around 10,500 EVs in the EX30 SUV range. It is part of a wider global recall, which affects 40,000 of the cars worldwide.
Volvo UK managing director Nicole Melillo Shaw said a “tiny percentage” have caught fire globally.
Owners are being advised not to charge their batteries beyond 70%.Ms Melillo Shaw told the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast: “I completely empathise with anyone who’s experienced this.
“We have a proportion of our EX30 cars that have had risk of catching fire when they’ve been charged beyond 70%.
“So as a safety brand and safety being our top priority, we have advised customers not to charge beyond 70% until we find a fix. I appreciate it’s quite scary to hear that message.”
Ms Melillo Shaw acknowledged it is “very inconvenient” to only charge up to 70%. She went on: “We’ve been working really hard and quickly to get to a solution, which we now have.
“We found the root cause, and I expect next week to be able to get those cars in and start to fix them.
“We are going to contact the customers who’ve had that issue to then look at how we fix the battery modules.”
She was unable to provide a timeline on when the cars will be fixed. Ms Melillo Shaw noted there have been “no fatalities” from the fires, and stated there are “significantly fewer electric cars that catch fire than petrol”.