Recent content by FutureFolly

With the surge in sales/leases in April the Spark EV seems to have fulfilled any need to generate CARB-ZEV credits for GM. The 2015 credits don't expire until 2016, and by then the Bolt will be able to take over any regulatory burden for GM. Reports I've found seem to reflect that GM was caught...

That's $7100 out of $7500 they get from the Feds. All GM did to juice sales was permanently lower the starting price to $26K and advertise the lease deal. The only other cash GM threw on top was $1,000 bonus cash that applied to all GM vehicles for the month. Nothing special to get the surge...

The Spark is designed to partially discharge its 12V battery until it is being recharged from a wall, thereby using the Lead-Acid battery as a form of power storage as well as the Li-ion. GM obsessively went over the Spark with a fine tooth come to minimize 12V electricity use as well. Most of...

94% or 864 of those 920 Spark EVs were retail leases. That 920 also represents 25% of the Chevy Sparks sold in April. http://www.autoblog.com/2015/05/04/chevy-spark-ev-outsold-volt-april-2015/

I didn't actually think finding a dealer that would help service a Spark EV would be difficult. I always encourage people to buy the Spark EV out-of-state. I meant that everything about actually servicing the car should be very simple. I see no reason why they wouldn't as least let their Volt...

Your biggest hurdle to servicing your Spark EV will be finding a dealer that will let their Volt tech try to diagnose and repair your Spark EV. All the tools to repair a Spark EV and Volt are the same. Most of the high voltage electronics are the same. The design of the Spark EV is much more...

GM is reporting that they sold 920 Spark EVs and 905 Volts in April 2015. That would make April by far the highest selling month of sales for the Spark EV, the first month it out sold the Volt, and puts it in the top three of EV sales for the month...

My F-150 does the same thing. It has saved me many times.

Just make sure the dealership can service a Volt, and you should be fine. Be patient if anything serious stops working though.

I love that logic. All customers can charge at the dealership so you're not using an employee benefit.

Modifying a 2015 to put out the original 400 ft*lbs of torque and maybe 10-20 extra HP seems very possible. Will the Spark EV support tower braces?

Shipping charges from Oregon may kill the price difference. Shipping would be at least $0.75 per mile and probably more like a dollar. If you really had Lithium running through your veins you would drive it down yourself and then painstakingly explain to GM this is why 10+ kW L2 charging is...

An electrician will probably try to talk you out of trenching through your yard unless you know for a fact that no other lines run through through the yard. Running conduit through a crawl space is almost always easier than trenching.

Well done Tony! I wish there were some good DOE grants that could get this project done quickly. Even local governments should consider subsidies.

I'm pretty sure you meant Smurf Lightning, but even if you didn't I'm totally stealing that.