SPARK EV my dream car

J

jim

Active Member
We have a Tesla S and 3 . They are both super cars with ranger and features and price tags other electrics can't match. That is why my dream car I own and drive is a 2015 Chevy SPARK EV. It has very strong REGEN braking that I feel can save your life. It can go twice as far on a kWh of electricity. I get 6-8 miles per kWh every day. Even with the Air Cond on in our HOT Phoenix-Chandler area. I can go 80-100 miles on a charge, it has a CCS Fast Charge Port that never slows down all the way to 100% . It can also charge on the 120 or 240 volt J-1772 port.
Best of all it has liquid cooled battery pack for 20-30 year life with little to no degrading.
 
jim said:
We have a Tesla S and 3 . They are both super cars with ranger and features and price tags other electrics can't match. That is why my dream car I own and drive is a 2015 Chevy SPARK EV. It has very strong REGEN braking that I feel can save your life. It can go twice as far on a kWh of electricity. I get 6-8 miles per kWh every day. Even with the Air Cond on in our HOT Phoenix-Chandler area. I can go 80-100 miles on a charge, it has a CCS Fast Charge Port that never slows down all the way to 100% . It can also charge on the 120 or 240 volt J-1772 port.
Best of all it has liquid cooled battery pack for 20-30 year life with little to no degrading.
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They're more or less built like a rock. Loved my Spark EV. Working towards my 4th year of Chevy EV ownership now and I've still yet to have an issue with any of my cars!

I wish my Bolt would charge at the same speed as the Spark, though... but if the purpose is to maintain the battery life then I will live. :)
 
Love my 2014 Spark EV.

Only complaint is how much range loss I get in the winter. Wish it had a more efficient heater.
 
Cypress said:
Love my 2014 Spark EV.

Only complaint is how much range loss I get in the winter. Wish it had a more efficient heater.
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Yeah, I would only keep my heater set to "defrost" and the temperature set to 61. That + the seat warmers kept me warm. I usually would still get in the mid-70s for range. But winters in Dallas are at worst in the high teens or 20s. Most winter days here are in the 30s and 40s.

At the start of this winter I was doing the same thing in my Bolt without even realizing it... even though I had no practical reason to maximize my range, it stuck with me lol.

silversod said:
I wish we had the Spark EV this side of the pond, We only got the ICE version. they look like a great runabout town car.
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It was literally the perfect combo with a Volt. The Volt for longer trips, the spark for a hyper efficient local commuter vehicle and for around town errands. Especially when I worked and lived in a very urban area.

I could fit that little car into any parallel parking spot I wanted to! I imagine that for folks in Europe the Smart For Four or Zoe are pretty good options in place of a Spark?
 
We've had two Spark EVs and agree with all the positive comments. They are very solid, rugged, cars. The nice thing for fans of them is that there will be a whole lot of lease returns up for sale for the next year or two. They are a great value at $7500 to $12,500 or so.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Inside EVs mobile app
 
OK, so my question is.... those of you who love(d) your Spark EV, why did you move on? Understand, we still drive our 2003 Prius, so if I bought a used Spark, I would be wanting to keep it for ten years. Our 'main' car now is '17 Prime, but we want to replace the '03 eventually.
 
Since we started driving green we've leased our cars. So they go back at the end. And we've found that the technology is improving so rapidly that we can lease a better car to replace it. We're likely to lease a Bolt or a Volt next.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Inside EVs mobile app
 
Maybe an ex Spark driver can answer my question.
Does the liquid cooling of the battery manage the battery temperature during charging? As in, if I'm parked in the sun on a summer day, and charging with DC fast charge - will the car automatically start circulating the coolant and run a fan to cool down the battery?
 
VADIM said:
Maybe an ex Spark driver can answer my question.
Does the liquid cooling of the battery manage the battery temperature during charging? As in, if I'm parked in the sun on a summer day, and charging with DC fast charge - will the car automatically start circulating the coolant and run a fan to cool down the battery?
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I'm a currant 2016 Spark EV driver. The cooling system circulates and works great for battery life. Mine charges on DC Fast Chargers at 45 kW and never seems to slow down until I see 96% or more. It keeps the rate of charge up better than my wifes Tesla 3. EVen in HOT Phoenix. We even Fast charged 3 times in 1 day with no slow down at all.

I have the TORQUE PRO APP and it shows the rpm of the cooling pump and temp of the battery. It works great. I shure wish they still made them. My 2016 is 3 years old with 24K miles and stil goes 120 miles on a charge. It has 17.4 of the 18.4 kWh still in the battery.
 
Good to know thanks!

What about turning on the AC or heater remotely in the parked car ? Is this possible on any of the Sparks?
 
VADIM said:
Good to know thanks!

What about turning on the AC or heater remotely in the parked car ? Is this possible on any of the Sparks?
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With the free basic APP on my Phone I can locl unlock doors, precondition start and stop and sound the Horn and Lights (to find it in a parking lot)
show trip details, /
What you can't do is see the charging miles, status of charging or where the vehicle is at any given time.
 
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