Quick way to check battery when buying used Spark?

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Puregsr

Active member
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
26
Went to check out a 2015 with 14000 miles today but it was showing 1 mile on the meter, so I couldn't test drive it.
Assuming the dealer (Chrysler) charges it tonight, is there a quick way for me tell how much capacity is left of the battery?
Scenario one: fully charged, then I can check how many kWh was sent to the battery in the energy history?
Scenario two: not charged fully, does it tell me battery status in terms of percentage so I can extrapolate?

Also, what accessories should I be looking for?
 
There's no definitive way to determine battery health or capacity. The range shown on the meter is heavily influenced by recent driving behavior. It could show anywhere between 75 and 100 miles of range this time of year. Could be worse than that if it's been driven like a race car lately.

I think the 2015/16 are less prone to lose battery capacity than the 2014. So, I wouldn't worry a lot about capacity loss, especially at that mileage.

I would suggest getting one with DCFC, even if you have no immediate plans to use it. The stations are becoming more common, and it's nice to have the option to use them.
 
When you press the leaf button at the bottom right on the dash, it will show % used and kWh used.

With these two, you can extrapolate a usable capacity, but ideally you want to use these numbers after the battery has been depleted more than 50% to minimize the impact of the imprecision in these numbers.
But I would say it should give you an estimate +/- 1kWh

Example if all the 3 percentages used total 60% and it says 10.2 kWh, then the estimated total usable battery capacity would be 10.2 / 0.7 = 17 kWh

So it would have been good to write down these numbers when you got there and it was fully discharged :)
But you can drive it as much as you can and write down the numbers at the end of your test drive when the battery is as low as possible
 
Thank you for the replies.
I was under the impression that all 2015 have DC fast charge, but I guess I'll make sure then.
 
gsr,

Even if you get to take a test drive from a topped up battery to, say, 60% and do the math, that's only one data point.
These numbers just have a daily/weekly/monthly range. Find some of the plotted graphs some owners have posted here.

It's highly unlikely that you'll see anything outside the normal range of 'Capacity'. GM know's how to build an EV! :geek:

There is a safety thing GM does with their EV's where they default to 8A charging on the stock 120V EVSE (charger).
You have to do a finger tap dance on the 'Leaf' page to change that to 12A ,,, At Every Shut Down....
This turkey dealership will not know that and the Spark EV may not get a full charge over night, depending on when and if they bother to plug it in.
What turkeys have an EV for sale and don't have it charged up for a test drive? :roll:

>Don't mention the "Optional DCFC". That only shows your interest and it's ammunition for the turkeys. Just glance at the charge port for the orange cover.
>Don't believe a thing they say. Do you know how to tell if a car salesman is lying?? :lol: (old joke)
>Act indifferent, like you are buying some toy and not really into it...
>LOW BALL the turkeys.

Have patience. And you won't be sorry!!! :p
And maybe you can pick up a bargain EV and enter the future !!!!

ps.
I recently ran out the 3yr/36k bumper to bumper warranty on my used Spark EV. Never had a hiccup !! Had one free SW update.
 
My wife and I waited for about an hour actually. He went to get the car, then simply disappeared. Found out he drove it and it died up the hill with only 1 mile on the GOM. He got a tow truck but then we were impatient so told us to drive over to the lot only to find out the car was towed already, so then made another trip back to the dealership. He apologized and said will give me a good deal, but I haven't been able to make it back yet. I can't believe I forgot to check to see if it's got DCFC. Emailed him yesterday to take a picture of the charger port but he hasn't responded, so he knows I'm still interested.
We tried out both car/infant seats and they fit with decent leg room left on the front.
Judging from Carfax report, it's been on sale for 1 month.
Asking price 9850, I wonder what would be low balling, I'm horrible at bargaining.

Also, I'm not familiar with the word "turkey" used with dealership, what exactly does it mean? Just means "stupid?"
 
Calling a dealer a bunch of turkeys is a mildly derogatory saying. Just means they don't know what they're doing. True of most sales people.

Assuming it has DCFC, I'd offer them $8k and settle at $8500 max. If they won't go for it, just thank them and leave. You'll probably get a call back. If not, there is always the next deal. As long as you're not in a hurry, you'll end up winning.

I love my Spark EV, but the audience for them is very limited. It's definitely a buyers market.
 
I think there was a recent post of a guy who bought one for $7K, though that may have been 2014 and more miles.

If you're not in a rush, you can wait and wait and wait until price goes down to almost nothing. If this one doesn't work out at your price point, there will be others shortly, probably after Tesla 3 comes out, that many will hit your price point.
 
Puregsr said:
....
Asking price 9850, I wonder what would be low balling, I'm horrible at bargaining.
..
Patience, young Padawan.
You don't need the car.
You are vaguely interested in the car.
The car is very unusual and hard to find a buyer.
The seller is a gaggle of turkeys.
Use very few words. Do not get into friendly chitchat because these guys are trained in talking chit.

Make a Lowball offer and let them stew in their own juices.

They'll call you when they want to sell it.
 
NORTON said:
Patience, young Padawan.
You don't need the car.
You are vaguely interested in the car.
The car is very unusual and hard to find a buyer.
The seller is a gaggle of turkeys.
Use very few words. Do not get into friendly chitchat because these guys are trained in talking chit.

Make a Lowball offer and let them stew in their own juices.

They'll call you when they want to sell it.

Puregsr, I have to agree with NORTON. Don't act *super* interested, but mildly interested. There are LOTS of reasons why you DON'T want the car (or the salesperson should think so). No chit-chat. Be ready to walk away. You may have to walk away a couple of times.

There will be LOTS of 2015 Sparks on the market very soon now (3-year-lease returns signed in late 2014), just at the time when several 160+ mile-range EVs are hitting the market or 'just about to hit' the market (Tesla model3, new LEAF, new Ioniq, ...), driving down the price of 80-mile-range cars.

Where are you located (approx)? What is the mileage on the vehicle in question?

In and around the San Francisco bay area, there are quite a few 2014 SparkEVs for sale (over 30) - and a lot are under $9500 (quite a few are under $9000, a handful are under $8000). Most have mileage over 25,000
 
SparkE said:
NORTON said:
Patience, young Padawan.
You don't need the car.
You are vaguely interested in the car.
The car is very unusual and hard to find a buyer.
The seller is a gaggle of turkeys.
Use very few words. Do not get into friendly chitchat because these guys are trained in talking chit.

Make a Lowball offer and let them stew in their own juices.

They'll call you when they want to sell it.

Puregsr, I have to agree with NORTON. Don't act *super* interested, but mildly interested. There are LOTS of reasons why you DON'T want the car (or the salesperson should think so). No chit-chat. Be ready to walk away. You may have to walk away a couple of times.

There will be LOTS of 2015 Sparks on the market very soon now (3-year-lease returns signed in late 2014), just at the time when several 160+ mile-range EVs are hitting the market or 'just about to hit' the market (Tesla model3, new LEAF, new Ioniq, ...), driving down the price of 80-mile-range cars.

Where are you located (approx)? What is the mileage on the vehicle in question?

In and around the San Francisco bay area, there are quite a few 2014 SparkEVs for sale (over 30) - and a lot are under $9500 (quite a few are under $9000, a handful are under $8000). Most have mileage over 25,000

Western Washington, Puget Sound area
About 14000 miles on the car
 
Prices appear to be higher up there (for the moment, at least). The prices around SF crashed down about 4-5 months ago, when the Bolt became available. I expect the same thing to happen when the new, longer-ranged LEAFs are available.
 
Puregsr said:
I'm assuming I should get 2 keys, an EVSE, and an air compressor?
That is correct.
The Owner's Manual also.

Anything missing is at least $500-1000 off the agreed upon price.

Practice your 'getting up and walking out the door'. And then use it.

Again, you won't be sorry!!! Driving this EV and having patience during this horrible buying experience....
 
NORTON said:
Puregsr said:
I'm assuming I should get 2 keys, an EVSE, and an air compressor?
That is correct.
The Owner's Manual also.

Anything missing is at least $500-1000 off the agreed upon price.

Practice your 'getting up and walking out the door'. And then use it.

Again, you won't be sorry!!! Driving this EV and having patience during this horrible buying experience....

Well, it wasn't that bad of an experience, but we were at 8600 but I wanted 8500, wouldn''t budge so I left, they didn't stop me though. Wife said $8500 and not a cent more.
I have mixed feelings right now. :?
 
Puregsr said:
Well, it wasn't that bad of an experience, but we were at 8600 but I wanted 8500, wouldn't budge so I left, they didn't stop me though. Wife said $8500 and not a cent more.
I have mixed feelings right now. :?

So you go back in a week (you aren't in a hurry, are you?). If it's still unsold, offer $8000. When you go back the week after that, you'll get a good price. (Make sure to see the same guy every time.)

PS : HWHL. happy wife, happy life.
 
I probably should have offered lower say 8000, because I just said I don't want to play the game, 8500 or call me. Came back 3 times, I said "nah, nah, nah, thanks, I'll think about it." But they haven't called yet.

The car is in great condition though, nothing missing, few stains here and there on the plastic trims, The center console does make a squeaky sound when you turn. and one of the keys is pretty beat up. The previous owner must have had a pocket made out of sandpaper or carry a bunch of hamsters on his key chain. Wife really did not like the non-matching light blue interior trims. Too bad GM couldn't just put a cushion bench seat in the back instead of that hideous cup holder just like the rest of the global market (Daewoo Matiz Creative).

It says 66 mile range with 1 or 2 ticks away from full on the battery icon. Says 4.4 mi/kwh. It wasn't fully charged and I wasn't familiar with the system to come up with meaningful way to estimate capacity at the time.

My question is ... once dealer offers you a price and you walk away, you can always go back and take the offer, or they'll be like, knew you would come back, now we want more.

So oddly enough, now I'm thinking about getting a car I've always wanted instead, an E30 BMW from the late 80's. ;)
I used to look for twisty roads and drive endlessly in my youth, but now I'm older, I don't really enjoy driving around suburban America much. Sign of aging, I guess. :oops:
 
If you decide you are OK with the lowest price they offered, you can always go back and accept that, assuming the car is still available.

If a dealer was OK with a price, they will normally honor their last offer. They want the car off their lot.

In the unlikely event they would actually try to raise it back, I would walk away and never go back :)
 
SparkE said:
...PS : HWHL. happy wife, happy life.
^This comes first.^

So you have a price limit.
Cars.com
There should be many out there.
You live on the west coast, correct?
You might be able drive this little sucker home if you bought it in a distant west coast state.

I bought both my Volt and Spark EV from dealers several states away.
I flew in and drove the Volt home.
I had to drive a borrowed SUV and rent a dolly to tow the Spark EV home.

You may find a better bargain and the color combination she likes!

Wait until you silently power around the burbs in this EV Hot Rod! I suspect you'll enjoy it !!

The Spark EV is actually a Hybrid. It burns electrons and rubber !!! :lol:
 
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