What's the range like?

I know there's not a lot of owners out there, but how's the Spark's range? Is it consistently getting 80 miles per charge?

charlestonleafer said:

I know there's not a lot of owners out there, but how's the Spark's range? Is it consistently getting 80 miles per charge?

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I have been getting over 80 miles per full charge and that includes mostly freeway driving with the A/C running. I have over 700 miles on the car at this point. The EPA 82 range is pretty spot on.

Yea I agree. The mileage is pretty spot on. I drive about 35 miles total in my commute. In the morning its traffic but moving around 45 miles per hour. My mileage really didnt move for the first couple days. Meaning it would say 85 miles to empty when i left fully charged from home and when i got there it would sometimes say 86 miles. Going home was worse then going to work. Ac would be on and the traffic would be thicker meaning slower speed and more stop and go. Usually when i get home it say 65 miles or so till empty. Now the car seams to have adjusted for my driving and at full charge it say 95 miles till empty. At speeds north of 65 mph expect to get a bit less than 85 miles out of her but it should be close. At speeds below 65 mph i think north of 85 is possible. I am very happy with the estimator so far.

My experience is the same as previous posters - and with stop+go city driving you could easily squeeze 100 miles out if you are really risky - i.e. don't try it!

I have about 300 miles on my car and am consistently getting over 150 mpge per my onstar app. My roundtrip commute is about 62 miles, mostly freeway with standard SoCal traffic. I usually get home with 40 miles range to spare. Each time I charge up now, it says I have an estimated 100 miles of range.

I know the battery is 21kwh, but what is the actual usable capacity? how many miles per kwh are you averaging? Thanks so much for the info. I'm in South Carolina, there's not a Spark anywhere near me yet, but I'm thinking it might be the next EV for me.

charlestonleafer said:

I know the battery is 21kwh, but what is the actual usable capacity? how many miles per kwh are you averaging? Thanks so much for the info. I'm in South Carolina, there's not a Spark anywhere near me yet, but I'm thinking it might be the next EV for me.

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I'm averaging approximately 4.1 miles / kWh.

My average is 4.5 miles/kwh

I'm averaging 5.2-5.6 miles/KWh - for my primary driving which is city streets at 35-40MPH with a bunch of stoplights, as long as I don't have to turn the A/C on (radio is non-negotiable and always on ).

I would like to do a range test on a San Diego area Spark EV. It is very simple course that you can view here. We drive the 80 mile loop at 100km/hr ground speed, or about 65 mph indicated on your dash.

Here's a previous test with a Nissan LEAF:

http://insideevs.com/real-world-test-2013-nissan-leaf-range-vs-2012-nissan-leaf-range/

Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested.

I would love to see how the Spark would do on that same loop!

Here's my last 50 miles. It's not hard to see where I turned the A/C on (and had 3 passengers).

Thanks for the pic!

Here are the results of the Spark EV range test. The Spark EV wins! http://insideevs.com/real-world-test-shows-chevy-spark-ev-has-substainally-more-range-than-nissan-leaf-62-mph-wvideo/

Just drive to Half Moon Bay from Campbell and back. Round trip of 75 miles and had 15 left when we got home. Great little car! Drive 65 on the freeway and had AC on for half of the trip. Average was 4.7kwh/mi.

Electricbowtie said:

Here are the results of the Spark EV range test. The Spark EV wins! http://insideevs.com/real-world-test-shows-chevy-spark-ev-has-substainally-more-range-than-nissan-leaf-62-mph-wvideo/

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Yes, I posted that here.