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Tim

Member
Joined
May 3, 2018
Messages
10
Just saying hello. We bought a Honda Clarity at the beginning of the year which my wife and I both drive depending on its level of charge (I can charge at work). We are each a bit disappointed when we have to drive the old ICE car. We've been looking mostly at old Leafs for a second car when we stumbled on the fact that although discontinued we could still buy a used Spark EV. We should have a 2015 green one at the end of the month. From what we have seen online, folks seem to love the Spark ev and the 2015 Spark only has 2 fewer EPA estimated miles than the Leaf. Our Clarity online forum has been very friendly and very helpful. I am expecting this will be the same. Any advice for before it arrives and once we have it? Thanks all.
 
Tim said:
.... folks seem to love the Spark ev and the 2015 Spark only has 2 fewer EPA estimated miles than the Leaf. ....

Keep in mind the Leaf is famous for its battery degradation.
All BEV's have it,, but none like the Leaf because they went cheap and left off the Thermal Management System for the battery pack.

You will love the Spark EV !!

Have both hands on the wheel when you punch it for the first time !!! :D
 
The Spark EV has strong 'Torque steer' - when accelerating hard, the vehicle will pull to one side.

The Spark EV accelerates like a bat out of hell, but do NOT punch the accelerator when going around a corner (by 'punch' I mean push to the floor).

In terms of battery degradation, the Spark EV seems to have very good history. To increase the lifetime (range) of your battery, I would suggest :

- only charge to 100% when you need it. I charge to 'about' 80% and then unplug. Li-Ion batteries just don't like being either fully charged or fully discharged. Yes, the S/W in the car doesn't allow you to REALLY fully charge or discharge, but keeping the charge (generally) between 20-80% should help battery longevity. When I know that I will need a full charge, I prefer to charge to 85-90% the night before, then plug the car in again when I get up in the morning, before I shower, eat, etc. That ways the battery is at 100% for only a short time, and not sitting there for days at 100%.
- You *should* charge to 100% every now and then. (Once a month?) The batteries will "balance" the charge across all cells when fully charged. The way I look at it, if I only fully charge (say) once every 2-4 weeks, I have reduced the battery damage by a factor of 14-30 - good enough for me!
- use fast charging (DCFC) when you NEED it - try to 'regular' charge at other times. Do not charge over 70-75% on DCFC - unless of course you need it.
- charging when the battery is hot is BAD for the battery. Yes, the Spark has a thermal management ... still. Plug in in the A.M. when you arrive at work, and unplug before it gets too hot (80 degrees?) and also plug in after things have cooled down at night (at home).
- The Spark EV has a rather slow on-board charger (bolted into the car) : 3.3 kW. It will charge more slowly than most other EVs (this is probably good for battery life)
 
SparkE said:
The Spark EV has strong 'Torque steer' - when accelerating hard, the vehicle will pull to one side.

The Spark EV accelerates like a bat out of hell, but do NOT punch the accelerator when going around a corner (by 'punch' I mean push to the floor).

In terms of battery degradation, the Spark EV seems to have very good history. To increase the lifetime (range) of your battery, I would suggest :

- only charge to 100% when you need it. I charge to 'about' 80% and then unplug. Li-Ion batteries just don't like being either fully charged or fully discharged. Yes, the S/W in the car doesn't allow you to REALLY fully charge or discharge, but keeping the charge (generally) between 20-80% should help battery longevity. When I know that I will need a full charge, I prefer to charge to 85-90% the night before, then plug the car in again when I get up in the morning, before I shower, eat, etc. That ways the battery is at 100% for only a short time, and not sitting there for days at 100%.
- You *should* charge to 100% every now and then. (Once a month?) The batteries will "balance" the charge across all cells when fully charged. The way I look at it, if I only fully charge (say) once every 2-4 weeks, I have reduced the battery damage by a factor of 14-30 - good enough for me!
- use fast charging (DCFC) when you NEED it - try to 'regular' charge at other times. Do not charge over 70-75% on DCFC - unless of course you need it.
- charging when the battery is hot is BAD for the battery. Yes, the Spark has a thermal management ... still. Plug in in the A.M. when you arrive at work, and unplug before it gets too hot (80 degrees?) and also plug in after things have cooled down at night (at home).
- The Spark EV has a rather slow on-board charger (bolted into the car) : 3.3 kW. It will charge more slowly than most other EVs (this is probably good for battery life)

Thanks. Is there a quick way to evaluate the state of the battery pack? Our Spark will arrive at the end of the month and we have 7 days to decide if we will keep it. Are there any other item you'd suggest checking out in those first 7 days?
 
Tim said:
SparkE said:
The Spark EV has strong 'Torque steer' - when accelerating hard, the vehicle will pull to one side.

The Spark EV accelerates like a bat out of hell, but do NOT punch the accelerator when going around a corner (by 'punch' I mean push to the floor).

In terms of battery degradation, the Spark EV seems to have very good history. To increase the lifetime (range) of your battery, I would suggest :

- only charge to 100% when you need it. I charge to 'about' 80% and then unplug. Li-Ion batteries just don't like being either fully charged or fully discharged. Yes, the S/W in the car doesn't allow you to REALLY fully charge or discharge, but keeping the charge (generally) between 20-80% should help battery longevity. When I know that I will need a full charge, I prefer to charge to 85-90% the night before, then plug the car in again when I get up in the morning, before I shower, eat, etc. That ways the battery is at 100% for only a short time, and not sitting there for days at 100%.
- You *should* charge to 100% every now and then. (Once a month?) The batteries will "balance" the charge across all cells when fully charged. The way I look at it, if I only fully charge (say) once every 2-4 weeks, I have reduced the battery damage by a factor of 14-30 - good enough for me!
- use fast charging (DCFC) when you NEED it - try to 'regular' charge at other times. Do not charge over 70-75% on DCFC - unless of course you need it.
- charging when the battery is hot is BAD for the battery. Yes, the Spark has a thermal management ... still. Plug in in the A.M. when you arrive at work, and unplug before it gets too hot (80 degrees?) and also plug in after things have cooled down at night (at home).
- The Spark EV has a rather slow on-board charger (bolted into the car) : 3.3 kW. It will charge more slowly than most other EVs (this is probably good for battery life)

Thanks. Is there a quick way to evaluate the state of the battery pack? Our Spark will arrive at the end of the month and we have 7 days to decide if we will keep it. Are there any other item you'd suggest checking out in those first 7 days?

The best way I have found to estimate the Spark EV's battery capacity is as follows: 1. Fully charge the battery overnight so the Energy Information screen [LEAF BUTTON] shows all values have been reset to zero. Drive normally for 50 miles or more. At the end of the trip, reread the Energy Information screen. Total up the percent values for DRIVING, CLIMATE and BATTERY and convert the total to a decimal value. Divide the ENERGY USED value by the decimal value of the total of the percent values. This will give you a good estimate of the battery's current capacity.
 
Tim said:
..... and we have 7 days to decide if we will keep it. Are there any other item you'd suggest checking out in those first 7 days?
Free alignment check at a tire store, just to make sure all is well in that department.
Especially if it has brand new tires. That would hide the fact that it got dinged and knocked out of alignment.
 
Tim said:
What kind of battery capacity should I expect for a 2015 with 20k miles?
For my 2015 Spark EV with the DCFC option, the average calculated battery capacity for 23000 miles through 27000 miles is 15.9 kWh (26 charging sessions) with the most recent session being 15.3 kWh. My historical calculated HV battery capacity data shows it looks like I lost one cell in my HV battery in December of last year. However, today my GOM shows 90 miles after a full charge and the trip meter has been showing 6.0 to 6.5 mi / kWh. 6.0 mi/kWh X 15.3 kWh = 91.8 miles of range. Note: Most of my driving is around town with a few short freeway trips at 60 mph. I drive in L for maximum regeneration and I have been doing this for 3 years.
 
Tim said:
What kind of battery capacity should I expect for a 2015 with 20k miles?

I have a 2015 w/ 23,XXX miles & dcfc. My battery capacity is somewhere between 16-16.5kwh. The vehicle lifetime average efficiency (tripometer never reset by myself or first owner) is 5.2 miles per kwh, just ticked up from 5.1 where it was from the time I got it, 16,XXX miles to 22,XXX miles.
 
2015 Spark EV no DCFC approx. 10k on the odometer. Using the energy screen this morning showed 8.6Kwh at 50% charge (17.2Kwh total). 4.9 miles per kwh efficiency over past 6k miles.

Car is normally fully charged each night on L2 (240v) Juicebox EVSE. My daily commute is 30 miles round trip on secondary roads in rolling foothills with little traffic and top speed of 50 mph.

Still loving the car. Joy to drive and no service other than one windshield washer fluid refill and swapping winter/summer wheel/tires along with associated resetting of TPMS.

Joe M in WV
 
Will all remote functionality be lost without a paid OnStar subscription? I tried to search for this but was still unsure of the answer Thanks again.
 
Tim said:
Will all remote functionality be lost without a paid OnStar subscription? I tried to search for this but was still unsure of the answer Thanks again.
Call Onstar.
You may have a 5 year basic plan.
I was still getting 'Charge Complete' and 'Charge Cord Disconnected',, the big ones, that are part of the Basic Plan.

I called to inquire about other functions as their site seems to not talk about EV features.

The guy gave me a free 6 month upgrade and now I have 'Vehicle Status' again, where it will tell you time to complete and other data.
 
Tim said:
Will all remote functionality be lost without a paid OnStar subscription? I tried to search for this but was still unsure of the answer Thanks again.

No usey OnStar

No usey phone with Spark.

Used GM vehicles (2011 & newer I believe) are currently eligible for 3 years of free basic onstar services (remote start, lock, unlock & panic from phone app). They give 3 months full service for free. I never answered the calls from onstar our SiriusXM, I didn't want to have to tell them where they could stick their over priced services....
 
Our Spark EV arrives this afternoon. Any last kick the tires advice (we have a 7 day trial)? Any more general advice? Any Spark owners thinking-- 'don't do it, you'll be sorry.'?

Also is this the most active Spark EV forum and the best place to come with questions?

Thanks all.
 
Check the CarFax, just to make sure there are no crashes. I'm in the Davis, CA area and would be glad to look at the car if you're near by. I suspect you'll be fine. These cars are very well put together, and yours has low mileage. BTW I'm also driving a Clarity, but the hydrogen version. Love it! But you've gotta be in CA and not too far from a fueling station for it to work.
 
Alcalira said:
Check the CarFax, just to make sure there are no crashes. I'm in the Davis, CA area and would be glad to look at the car if you're near by. I suspect you'll be fine. These cars are very well put together, and yours has low mileage. BTW I'm also driving a Clarity, but the hydrogen version. Love it! But you've gotta be in CA and not too far from a fueling station for it to work.
Thanks. We are in NC so that would be a long trip for you. We love our Clarity too. The Spark seems very nice so far (half a day). It's a very different feel than the Clarity but we expected that.
 
So we have our green Spark EV and think we quite like it. The only problem was that it was delivered without a working key fob. It will open the car mechanically and start the car if it is placed in the fake ignition slot but that is all. And it will often give a warning that it does not sense a remote. Before anyone suggests a new battery, we tried three. Two brand new ones and one from my working Jetta fob in case the new ones were somehow duds. I will skip my several page rant at how annoyed I am at Carvana about this. And go to my real question.

Does the Spark EV have a history of key fob problems? Is it likely that the problem is not with the fob but the car? This is my biggest worry, I know I can get a new key (Carvana (after suggesting I go to a dealer with my 90 day warranty and get a new key made) has said they would send out a locksmith to make a new key). If the key is working fine but somehow the car is not receiving properly, we might want to pass on this one dispute liking the color and the low mileage. Anyway, any key fob advice you all have would be greatly appreciated.
 
We've had two Spark EVs and had no problems with key fobs. Never had to change batteries, even. There should be two key fobs with the car. If neither works, and the batteries are good, I suggest you try following the procedure on pages
2-5 and 2-6 of the owner's manual to re-program the fobs. Also, I hope they are the correct Chevy fobs. There's a picture of one on page 2-3. If you need to go somewhere to get fobs, I suggest you go a Chevy dealer, not a locksmith, since you have the Carvana warranty. You should have the genuine GM parts.
 
Tim said:
Does the Spark EV have a history of key fob problems? Is it likely that the problem is not with the fob but the car?

No history of fob problems, my two work great, but may need the rubber button assembly replaced at some point.

If you want the issue solved promptly, you should make it very clear to Carvana that they must resolve this problem within the 7 day "test drive" period or they can have the vehicle back.

I bought mine from Carvana in January, and outside of two instances of service vehicle lights, a STRONG marijuana smell at delivery, a broken door trigger, and undisclosed body imperfections, I've been very pleased.
 
We have two Spark EVs (four fobs total). No fob issues so far. Both cars are used daily.

I would not be comfortable at all without two working fobs.

Joe M in WV
 
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