New-to-me 2015 Spark EV owner questions

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.

jeffkay1967

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2017
Messages
11
Hello!, I have this new-to-me Spark EV with 24K miles. I have put several miles on it now and want to run the questions by others here...
I have live in Arizona and the commutes are almost 100% on-the-flat. I have been getting about 70-73 miles range on the GOM after charging. I have never charged from less than 49 miles left. I do however level 2 charge in garage or at work, topping off 15 miles average.
My questions are: Is charging topping off going to be ok in the long run or should I wait and charge from lower miles left on battery? Next, I would like to know if this 70-73 miles full charge is average for the mileage and age of the car? I average around 4.2-4.5 Kwh/mile. Finally, wanting to know what to expext in degradation over time/mileage as this vehicle ages? I have read some threads here and on the net but it is not clear what to expect. Also, I would like to know when/if Chevy would "do something" about capacity in a case under warranty, etc?

Thanks, Jeff K.
 
First read whole thread below that will answer most of your questions.
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4994

Once you did that, 4.5 miles per kWh and 73 miles range corresponds to a battery capacity of 73/4.5 = 16.2 kWh; 4.2 miles and 73 range to 17.3 kWh.

I live in North California, and in the winter, my average is 4.9 miles per kWh and in the summer around 5.4 miles/kWh.

That number is only affected by your driving style and conditions (city/highway, speed, acceleration, terrain, temperature, use of climate control...) Aside from terrain and temperature you have full control on that number with your driving style.

The battery usable capacity is however not under your control. I have a 2014 Spark that has 57k miles, and its battery capacity is down to 15.5 kWh.

I don't think topping it off every day will have a big impact on that. I personally have adopted a habit of charging every couple of days, when the battery gets below 50%.

One think to consider is the ambient temperature. If your car sits outside in very cold temperatures at night, it would be beneficial to plugin every day, so that the battery conditioning can run. That will reduce degradation.
 
Back
Top