General Motors plans to revamp Chevy Volt's battery

2011 Chevrolet Volt

Last month, the gasoline-electric hybrid car, the Chevrolet Volt, caught fire during a crash test from NHTSA. The NHTSA denied that the Chevy Volt or any other electric vehicle have greater risk of fire than petrol-fed vehicles.

Scoop: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/11/chevy-volt-battery-catches-fire-in-nhtsa-lab/

Then, NHTSA conducts investigation on the Chevrolet Volt's fire investigation, figuring out how did fire catch up on the Chevy Volt and it turned out that the battery is the caused of this.

Scoop: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/26/nhtsa-releases-chevy-volt-fire-investigation-details/

Because of this, General Motors may soon plan to revamp the Volt's battery so this event won't be happened again. Those 5,000 people in North America who had a Volt would consider having a "loaner car" until the Volt problem is solved. Also, General Motors delays the launch of the Opel Ampera, the Chevrolet Volt's German cousin, in the European region.

Scoop: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/01/gm-may-redesign-chevy-volt-battery/

Verdict: If you have a Volt, better not drive it for a while because of the "battery fire" issue or consider driving the Nissan Leaf instead. Besides, there's not even a Leaf-related "battery fire" issue. The question is, are electric cars has greater fire risks that petrol-fed vehicles? We're not really sure....