Unit upgrade to be offered at no charge to owners
We had started to see articles about this on the web lately, but as of yet have found nothing directly from GM. So we thought that we would check with a pretty reliable source – Chevrolet Volt owners.
This thread from the GM-Volt.com forum seems to confirm this information. As of last week, when Volt owners take their car in for service they are being notified that the supplied 120-volt electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) would be replaced by Chevrolet. It seems that initial supply may be limited, and EVSE units are being ordered as customers bring their cars in for service. This would even out the demand on these new charging devices, although currently they don’t need to worry about providing them for new vehicle production.
The EVSE supplied by Chevrolet initially led to concerns of reliability and safety due to overheating issues to the type of plugs used to plug into the wall, the size of the wiring used in the cords and the design of the unit itself. Yahoo Autos, one of the first on the story of melting Volt EVSE units, was also one of the first to get this news.
The new GM EVSE will provide a pigtail plug (the part that plugs into the wall) with a thicker gauge wire along with other changes to improve the performance of the unit.