question to buyers of brand new 2014 sparke

[evboy]

i hate to start a new thread on a existing thread somewhere else but i must. since there r no hard numbers on usable capacity from gm would someone that bought new 3 years ago post what their usable capacity was the first 6 months. someone posted its 18.4 max. did anyone get higher than that number when it was new. that seems to be the only way to tell.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

i hate to start a new thread on a existing thread somewhere else but i must. since there r no hard numbers on usable capacity from gm would someone that bought new 3 years ago post what their usable capacity was the first 6 months. someone posted its 18.4 max. did anyone get higher than that number when it was new. that seems to be the only way to tell.

I bought my 2014 Spark EV 2LT in August 2015. It was used but only had 1500 miles on it. In August 2015 I collected a little battery capacity info using L1 and L2 charging. My average calculated battery capacity for the 4 charging sessions I recorded was 19.81 kWh with a high of 20.00 kWh. This data was taken between 1600 - 1900 miles on the ODO. Today, at 9184 miles on the ODO, my most recent battery capacity calculation was 17.84 kWh. I recorded 90 L2 charging sessions starting at 4483 miles with the most recent at 9184 miles. My average battery capacity for those 90 sessions and 4701 miles is 18.38 kWh. On 12 Mar 2016, when I started collecting data, my calculated battery capacity was 19.23 kWh. Today, 31 Jan 2017 and 4701 miles later I recorded 17.84 kWh. My battery capacity chart shows a definite downward slope.

For comparison, I also have a 2015 Spark EV 2LT which I leased new. Again, in August 2015 I collected a little charging data. Between ODO miles 1414 - 2422 my average battery capacity was 18.61 kWh. At ODO mileage 8410 the battery capacity was 17.59 kWh. At ODO mileage 15169 the battery capacity was 17.50 kWh. The average battery capacity, between ODO mileage 8410 and ODO mileage 15169, was 17.74 kWh and this was for 98 L2 charging sessions. My chart for March 2015 to today shows no degradation at all; it actually went up slightly during the summer and then dropped back down to the before summer numbers.

I hope this helps.

 

[kevin]

i hate to start a new thread on a existing thread somewhere else but i must. since there r no hard numbers on usable capacity from gm would someone that bought new 3 years ago post what their usable capacity was the first 6 months. someone posted its 18.4 max. did anyone get higher than that number when it was new. that seems to be the only way to tell.

This was the capacity of my 2014 Spark EV over 3 years. It starts off at about 19.6kWh and degrades to about 16kWh at the end.

The graph was created from readings off the energy screen after discharges of greater than 50%.

I was disappointed at the level of degradation.

kevin

 

[CCIE]

This graph, and another that I believe was posted in the past, are what made me avoid with 2014 (as well as the difficulty finding one for sale with DCFC). Hopefully the LG Chem cells in the 15-16 hold up better than those A123 cells seem to.

I tend to think it's the uneven temperature control provided by the bottom plate heating/cooling in the A123 pack. But, it could also be that the cell chemistry just isn't great. In any case, I guess we'll see in another couple years how everyone's batteries hold up.

 

[evboy]

i hate to start a new thread on a existing thread somewhere else but i must. since there r no hard numbers on usable capacity from gm would someone that bought new 3 years ago post what their usable capacity was the first 6 months. someone posted its 18.4 max. did anyone get higher than that number when it was new. that seems to be the only way to tell.

This was the capacity of my 2014 Spark EV over 3 years. It starts off at about 19.6kWh and degrades to about 16kWh at the end.

The graph was created from readings off the energy screen after discharges of greater than 50%.

I was disappointed at the level of degradation.

kevin

so its a myth that 18.4 is max. thats what i keep reading on the boards.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

i hate to start a new thread on a existing thread somewhere else but i must. since there r no hard numbers on usable capacity from gm would someone that bought new 3 years ago post what their usable capacity was the first 6 months. someone posted its 18.4 max. did anyone get higher than that number when it was new. that seems to be the only way to tell.

This was the capacity of my 2014 Spark EV over 3 years. It starts off at about 19.6kWh and degrades to about 16kWh at the end.

The graph was created from readings off the energy screen after discharges of greater than 50%.

I was disappointed at the level of degradation.

kevin

so its a myth that 18.4 is max. thats what i keep reading on the boards.

My data for my 2014 Spark EV 2 LT, at 9000 miles, correlates very close to Kevin's graph value at 9000 miles.