New Spark owner..

Chevy Spark EV Forum

Help Support Chevy Spark EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

blb760

New member
Joined
Apr 4, 2016
Messages
3
Love my new Spark and appreciate the dialogue on the forum.

Question: has anybody experienced charging issues with your Spark?
I have no charge with 120 AC or L2 charge station.

Any advice before going to Chevy dealer would be appreciated!
 
Make sure you have grounded outlet for 120V. Some older homes don't have ground connected even if the socket has 3 holes. That was my problem when I first got the car.

For L2, is that home unit or public charging? After you fix L1 issue (if it's grounding problem) try public L2 as a test. If that doesn't work, then dealertime.
 
blb760 said:
Love my new Spark and appreciate the dialogue on the forum.

Question: has anybody experienced charging issues with your Spark?
I have no charge with 120 AC or L2 charge station.

Any advice before going to Chevy dealer would be appreciated!
Make sure your car charging mode is set to IMMEDIATE. Refer to your owners manual to find out how to do this.
 
And if the 'Charge Page' shows 'immediate' drive it to the dealership while you still have the range.

Nobody likes the "Tow of Shame". ;)
 
NORTON said:
And if the 'Charge Page' shows 'immediate' drive it to the dealership while you still have the range.

Nobody likes the "Tow of Shame". ;)
If the "charge Page" shows IMMEDIATE and you still cannot get the car to charge then Norton is correct - something is wrong. One note - if you are using the L1 EVSE that came with the car, be sure to connect the EVSE directly to the wall outlet and not to an extension cord. I ran into a problem where my L1 EVSE would not work with a correctly sized extension cord but the EVSE worked fine without it. The lights on the EVSE will tell you if your connection is good or not: green is OK and RED is Not OK.
 
Everybody--

Thank you for your input.

I have come to the conclusion that my old house is not properly grounded (eh gad)!
Went to my neighbor and plugged in and voila--car is charging.

Now, I'm trying to get a 240 charger. I already have 240 outlet in my garage--just
need to get an adapter/charger unit.

Anyone have any experiences getting one?

Thanks again!!
 
Doesn't it come with Bosche EVSE? I don't know if that was just a promo, but that's what I'm using. It's big and clunky, but it's free. Clipper creek has stuff "starting at $379" in the ad I see above this post, but if you're aiming to upgrade to other EV with higher power charging, you might look into upgrading home wiring and higher power EVSE.
 
SparkevBlogspot said:
Doesn't it come with Bosche EVSE? I don't know if that was just a promo, but that's what I'm using. It's big and clunky, but it's free. Clipper creek has stuff "starting at $379" in the ad I see above this post, but if you're aiming to upgrade to other EV with higher power charging, you might look into upgrading home wiring and higher power EVSE.
In 2015 GM offered $500 towards the cost for a Bosch L2 EVSE. You can log onto http://www.pluginnow.com/residential to get more information. I could not find any update to show this offer had been extended to 2016 Spark EVs so it might be worth a call. I took advantage of this offer and bought the 3.3K EVSE and it is working great for both my 2014 and 2015 SparkEVs.
 
blb760 said:
...I have come to the conclusion that my old house is not properly grounded (eh gad)!
...
Good job on finding the problem! These cars seem to have few!

I carry an EV First Aid kit in mine:
>An outlet tester,,, that would have told you immediately there is a problem. ( You can add a jumper to the ground post at the outlet, if your old house has only '2 wire' wiring. I didn't tell you this.)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-120-VAC-GFCI-Outlet-Tester-1-Clam-5-Clams-Master-GFI-3501/202867890

>A 25 ft. 12 ga. extension cord.

>An elastic tow rope. (Red Neck recharger. "Hey Bubbah, tow me somewhere. 'Where?'. Anywhere for 10 minutes."
http://smile.amazon.com/Strap-Recovery-Hooks-11023-Capacity/dp/B0197YVB02?ie=UTF8&keywords=tow%20rope&psc=1&qid=1459907361&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1-spons

>A tire plugger kit to avoid using the goop. (but that's just me)
http://smile.amazon.com/Slime-1034--T-Handle-Tire-Plug/dp/B000ET525K/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1459907724&sr=8-8&keywords=tire+plugger
 
NORTON said:
blb760 said:
...I have come to the conclusion that my old house is not properly grounded (eh gad)!
...
Good job on finding the problem! These cars seem to have few!

I carry an EV First Aid kit in mine:
>An outlet tester,,, that would have told you immediately there is a problem. ( You can add a jumper to the ground post at the outlet, if your old house has only '2 wire' wiring. I didn't tell you this.)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-120-VAC-GFCI-Outlet-Tester-1-Clam-5-Clams-Master-GFI-3501/202867890

>A 25 ft. 12 ga. extension cord.

>An elastic tow rope. (Red Neck recharger. "Hey Bubbah, tow me somewhere. 'Where?'. Anywhere for 10 minutes."
http://smile.amazon.com/Strap-Recovery-Hooks-11023-Capacity/dp/B0197YVB02?ie=UTF8&keywords=tow%20rope&psc=1&qid=1459907361&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1-spons
Plug kit? Not a bad idea if you can fix the flat on the car. The one-use canister of sealant in the car costs $40.00 from GM and you have to be also careful using it or you will plug up the expensive tire pressure sensor too.
>A tire plugger kit to avoid using the goop. (but that's just me)
http://smile.amazon.com/Slime-1034--T-Handle-Tire-Plug/dp/B000ET525K/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1459907724&sr=8-8&keywords=tire+plugger
 
MrDRMorgan said:
SparkevBlogspot said:
Doesn't it come with Bosche EVSE? I don't know if that was just a promo, but that's what I'm using. It's big and clunky, but it's free. Clipper creek has stuff "starting at $379" in the ad I see above this post, but if you're aiming to upgrade to other EV with higher power charging, you might look into upgrading home wiring and higher power EVSE.
In 2015 GM offered $500 towards the cost for a Bosch L2 EVSE. You can log onto http://www.pluginnow.com/residential to get more information. I could not find any update to show this offer had been extended to 2016 Spark EVs so it might be worth a call. I took advantage of this offer and bought the 3.3K EVSE and it is working great for both my 2014 and 2015 SparkEVs.

The $500 Bosch rebate offer is still going. We're pricing out the installation before we order the unit. So far, we've been okay with just 120V in the garage. But, there might come a time where 240V will come in handy.
 
Woochifer said:
MrDRMorgan said:
SparkevBlogspot said:
Doesn't it come with Bosche EVSE? I don't know if that was just a promo, but that's what I'm using. It's big and clunky, but it's free. Clipper creek has stuff "starting at $379" in the ad I see above this post, but if you're aiming to upgrade to other EV with higher power charging, you might look into upgrading home wiring and higher power EVSE.
In 2015 GM offered $500 towards the cost for a Bosch L2 EVSE. You can log onto http://www.pluginnow.com/residential to get more information. I could not find any update to show this offer had been extended to 2016 Spark EVs so it might be worth a call. I took advantage of this offer and bought the 3.3K EVSE and it is working great for both my 2014 and 2015 SparkEVs.

The $500 Bosch rebate offer is still going. We're pricing out the installation before we order the unit. So far, we've been okay with just 120V in the garage. But, there might come a time where 240V will come in handy.
I was able to locate my Bosch EVSE such that I could punch a hole in the wall between the laundry room and my garage and run a 6 ft electric dryer cord to my Bosch. We have a gas dryer so the 240 VAC single-phase electric dryer socket was not being used. I just connected the cord to the Bosch L2 EVSE and then plugged the cord in. I like the faster charging rate since I usually burn off 10+ kWh before recharging. A friend of mine has two Spark EVs and he just uses the L1 EVSE supplied with the car.
 
Is the $500 Bosch deal still valid on 2016 cars bought in October 2016?

If still valid, do you need any special coupon from the dealer or just your vehicle registration?
Is it good no matter where you live?
 
I bought in early July. The Bosch deal had ended at that time.
The good news is that EVSEs are less costly than they used to be. Lots of choices on Amazon.
 
Thursday, October 6, 2016, from the horse's mouth (and amazingly enough, from 40miles west of where I'm sitting, is that where they ship from?:

The incentive is still available. I hope this information is helpful. Have a great day!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Adrienne
EVSE Support Team
Bosch Automotive Aftermarket
Automotive Service Solutions
6400 Technology Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
USA
 
Either it ended and came back, or I was misinformed at that time. Oh well, the Oregon and Federal tax incentives paid for mine anyway.
Oregon and Federal tax incentives for EVs: http://driveoregon.org/discover/incentives/
 
My utility, Consumers Energy, used to have a rather large (four digits IIRC) EVSE rebate when the Leaf came out, but nothing now.

EDIT: Wow, that was a huge incentive, $2500 each for the first 2500 customers.
Too bad I wasn't in the market five years ago, I'd have one heck of a luxury level 2 charge station. Or maybe I'd have a $3000 level 3 unit.

Consumers Energy’s PEV incentive program includes a $2,500 reimbursement to help cover the purchase, installation and required home wiring of a 240-volt in-home charging station for faster charging.
 
Back
Top