The Spark EV has strong 'Torque steer' - when accelerating hard, the vehicle will pull to one side.
The Spark EV accelerates like a bat out of hell, but do NOT punch the accelerator when going around a corner (by 'punch' I mean push to the floor).
In terms of battery degradation, the Spark EV seems to have very good history. To increase the lifetime (range) of your battery, I would suggest :
- only charge to 100% when you need it. I charge to 'about' 80% and then unplug. Li-Ion batteries just don't like being either fully charged or fully discharged. Yes, the S/W in the car doesn't allow you to REALLY fully charge or discharge, but keeping the charge (generally) between 20-80% should help battery longevity. When I know that I will need a full charge, I prefer to charge to 85-90% the night before, then plug the car in again when I get up in the morning, before I shower, eat, etc. That ways the battery is at 100% for only a short time, and not sitting there for days at 100%.
- You *should* charge to 100% every now and then. (Once a month?) The batteries will "balance" the charge across all cells when fully charged. The way I look at it, if I only fully charge (say) once every 2-4 weeks, I have reduced the battery damage by a factor of 14-30 - good enough for me!
- use fast charging (DCFC) when you NEED it - try to 'regular' charge at other times. Do not charge over 70-75% on DCFC - unless of course you need it.
- charging when the battery is hot is BAD for the battery. Yes, the Spark has a thermal management ... still. Plug in in the A.M. when you arrive at work, and unplug before it gets too hot (80 degrees?) and also plug in after things have cooled down at night (at home).
- The Spark EV has a rather slow on-board charger (bolted into the car) : 3.3 kW. It will charge more slowly than most other EVs (this is probably good for battery life)