First time poster, long time owner. I have 61,000 miles on my 2014 Spark EV (purchased in February 2014, right before high speed charging became an option on the car, argh!). I have lost approximately 20% of my useable batter capacity which puts me right around the 35% battery warranty number right when I get to 100,000 miles. I commute 134 miles per day round trip, 4 days a week. My drive home involves insane range anxiety every day because I am going up 1,000 feet of elevation on the drive home. I barely made it through the mild southern California winter. Summer is here so it is getting easier again to make it home, but by the time I make it to the late fall I will not be able to make it home from work without a significant decrease in speed. Chevy has really put Spark EV owners in a bind by not offering a formal battery replacement program like Nissan. There are plenty of well written articles about Nissan owners getting their 2011/12 Leaf batteries replaced for free because of degradation. They are even getting a new, more modern battery. The resale market will eventually bottom out for short range EV's like Leaf's and Spark's, but right now the bottom is nowhere in sight. There are listings on autotrader.com for $6,200 for a 2014 Spark EV with less miles than mine. Ouch! Since Chevy is not providing a reasonably priced replacement battery they are essentially telling owners we have no options. Watch the depreciation continue to almost nothing in less than five years.
I have only seen one poster with slightly more miles than me. Based on my current commute I may be the first owner to 100,000 miles, but not certain about that. If Chevy doesn't provide an option soon, they are risking a class action lawsuit. If it can be proven that they did not intend to support their product (aka no battery replacement program) than they misled all of the owners like me that purchased the car brand new for $26k +. That is the primary cause for super low used car values in my opinion. I know Leaf used prices are low too, but at least there is a floor on them since they can replace the battery. If battery prices are coming down as fast as the articles say they are, a 20kw battery should be well below $4,000 soon. Besides 4 new tires, I have done no maintenance on my car. If more people find out how cheap electric vehicles are to operate, an 80 mile range EV would still be very attractive once they become truly mainstream (2 more years?).
When I bought my Spark I had an 8 mile round trip commute and free charging stations at my work. After the $10k in credits and rebates, I thought I was sitting pretty good at $17k all in price and no maintenance and operating expenses. Now I am upside down $8k because of how much faster the car depreciated than my principal payments on my car loan. Sorry for the long post. I have tons of positives to say about the car, but this battery thing is the one big con that I am struggling with.