Chevrolet Spark EV

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GRA said:
This moves the iMiEV's U.S. market even closer to non-existent, if that's even possible.

Mitsubishi USA itself is doing a better job of that than any of its competitors.
 
The i-MIEV is more realistic than a spark. The vast majority of the country can't order or buy a Spark.
 
Spark will also go on sale in Canada this year. News of this last year was a rumour. It's been fleet only here since day 1.

Too late though, I would have bought one over the leaf.
 
eloder said:
The i-MIEV is more realistic than a spark. The vast majority of the country can't order or buy a Spark.
The vast majority of the country can by an iMiEV, but refuses too, and the Spark sold 10x as many last month. Admittedly, iMiEVs did see a 400% sales increase last month, but that was from 2 to 10. It even makes the ELR look like a sales success by comparison. :lol: Even the Accord PHEV has sold 3 times as many this year. I've seen precisely one of those in the wild, the same number I've seen of iMiEVs here in EV Central in the past 3.5 years.
 
The Spark will end when the Bolt is released. They only need to sell a few thousand TOTAL PRODUCTION over its lifespan to meet regulatory compliance.

http://insideevs.com/2016-chevrolet-spark-ev-available-ontario-quebec-b-c-canada/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The company also has yet to announce when the 2016 Spark EV will be available in either country, as it will not be getting the new model refresh that its petrol brother will receive next year."

"Instead the ‘old’ Spark EV will be produced simultaneously with the ‘new’ standard spark; at least for a little while, as a GM spokesperson alluded to InsideEVs from the New York Auto Show this past month."

"“The Spark EV will continue on the current generation Spark platform until its already scheduled end of production. We will not provide any additional details on timing of a replacement at this time.”"
 
TonyWilliams said:
The Spark will end when the Bolt is released. They only need to sell a few thousand TOTAL PRODUCTION over its lifespan to meet regulatory compliance. <snip rest of future Spark EV plans>
No argument, but until the Bolt arrives the Spark EV is the best value among the sub-$40k BEVs as a commute car, assuming it's big enough for your other needs and you can get one - people do seem to be shipping them out of the official states (per the Soul EV website I see there are also at least three Kia Soul EVs in Arizona now, too, with owners who intend to monitor their batteries very carefully and report).
 
Spark EVs are at dealers in Maryland, and at least 3 have been reported bought from 5/7 onwards, at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4042" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .
 
Here in California I checked cars.com and autotrader.com and I found the Chevy dealer in Stockton, salesman's name is Tracy, who has a couple of Spark EV's at $19k, one of them only 218 miles on it. The dealer has to call them "used" but they are Chevy factory demos. There are a bunch of these in California dealers but you want to be sure yours comes with MSO papers to insure your tax credit and Ca rebate. Here in California, that's $19k less $7500, less $2500 gets you a Spark EV with 218 miles on it for $9,000!!!!! The Spark has liquid cooled battery and the owners on the Spark forums are reporting near zero degradation even after a couple of years use.
 
Reviewed the basic specs of the 2016 Spark verses the 2016 Leaf:

Torque (lb-Ft) HP (kW) Battery (kWh)
Spark: 327, 97, 19
Leaf: 190, 80, 30

Why the need for that much torque on the Spark, i.e. a vehicle lighter than the Leaf?
Could this be a motor that the Bolt will have, and the Spark provides a test vehicle
for an early production of that motor?
 
lorenfb said:
Reviewed the basic specs of the 2016 Spark verses the 2016 Leaf:

Torque (lb-Ft) HP (kW) Battery (kWh)
Spark: 327, 97, 19
Leaf: 190, 80, 30

Why the need for that much torque on the Spark, i.e. a vehicle lighter than the Leaf?
Could this be a motor that the Bolt will have, and the Spark provides a test vehicle
for an early production of that motor?

I could never figure out why the Spark EV had such high torque. It didn't seem to do much, despite muscle car torque numbers it could only muster mid 7's in 0 - 60 runs. Quick for an EV but nothing compared to even an ordinary ICE powered family sedan. Torque is important for low end grunt but HP may be the better measure for overall performance, and the Spark's HP isn't much more than the Leaf.

Most people think the Spark EV drivetrain will be used in the Bolt. Personally I don't think so. The Bolt will be bigger and weigh a lot more, so the puny horsepower output of Spark EV drivetrain in my opinion is too low. Rather than develop a more powerful single motor drivetrain, I think it makes more sense to use the Voltec propulsion system because it already produces adequate torque and horsepower and the two motor design is more efficient at highway speeds than the Spark's.
 
lorenfb said:
Could this be a motor that the Bolt will have, and the Spark provides a test vehicle
for an early production of that motor?
I don't think GM was even thinking about Bolt when they designed Spark EV.
 
LKK said:
Most people think the Spark EV drivetrain will be used in the Bolt. Personally I don't think so. The Bolt will be bigger and weigh a lot more, so the puny horsepower output of Spark EV drivetrain in my opinion is too low. Rather than develop a more powerful single motor drivetrain, I think it makes more sense to use the Voltec propulsion system because it already produces adequate torque and horsepower and the two motor design is more efficient at highway speeds than the Spark's.

GM could also possibly change the gearing in the Spark motor assembly thereby reducing the low-end torque
while improving its highway speeds and still maintain the simplicity of single motor design and cost. The HP
(130 - 97kW) of the Spark motor is adequate for the size and weight of the proposed Bolt.
 
evnow said:
lorenfb said:
Could this be a motor that the Bolt will have, and the Spark provides a test vehicle
for an early production of that motor?
I don't think GM was even thinking about Bolt when they designed Spark EV.

unlikely. cars are initially conceived years in advance. an EV platform is simply too expensive to justify with a simple compact. Even Nissan had several platforms in the EV pipeline at the beginning...
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
unlikely. cars are initially conceived years in advance. an EV platform is simply too expensive to justify with a simple compact. Even Nissan had several platforms in the EV pipeline at the beginning...
GM wouldn't have nailed down the details (like how many kwh & range etc). Yes, they would have wanted to use the drivetrain components for future EVs.
 
Some more Spark Battery Pack Laboratory Testing Results posted by the AVTA program in Phoenix:

https://avt.inl.gov/vehicle-button/2015-chevrolet-spark

The three 2015s averaging ~8% capacity loss after less than 12k miles driven may not seem reason for celebration, but IMO the packs look to be aging somewhat better than indicated by the previously posted AVTA reports of capacity loss for the 2013 LEAF, 2013 Ford Focus E, or 2015 Kia Soul.
 
(thread resurrection)
GM Stops Offering Battery Replacement For Chevy Spark EV
https://insideevs.com/news/581522/gm-chevrolet-spark-ev-battery-replacement-unavailable/
 
cwerdna said:
(thread resurrection)
GM Stops Offering Battery Replacement For Chevy Spark EV
https://insideevs.com/news/581522/gm-chevrolet-spark-ev-battery-replacement-unavailable/

A good case for a generic one size fits all aftermarket battery solution. GM "could" be nice and provide coding to ease the path...or not. The other thing I guess is hope the pack fails while still under warranty.

Personally, I think the former is inevitable. Whether its reach includes the Spark is...well?
 
Only the government could force standardized battery units

If you want to see Elon cry you require easily repairable and replaceable batteries
 
Now there's a change on the above news.

GM confirms Spark EV battery replacements, plans to make packs for years
Temporarily out, but never planned to stop providing packs
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/04/28/spark-ev-replacement-batteries-coming/
 
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