After 4 years, I am going to be done with my Sparks

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CSW

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2015
Messages
198
Location
Sacramento,CA
I got a 2014 Spark October of 2013 and have 2 Sparks now, a 2015 and 2016. Why out now? Public chargers.

I am so sick of plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and ICE cars blocking EV level 2 AND level 3 parking spots. I am done. I have lived the EV life 4 years now with no gas backup and I can't take it anymore. The inconsiderateness of people is outta hand and I don't want to suffer the consequences anymore. I have pioneered long enough and I am done. It is only going to get way worse before it gets better. I am going to get an ICE vehicle with good mileage and be done with this crap. I want to have an EV, if I do, it will either be a BOLT or Model 3 and I will never rely on public charging or have only an EV ever again. DONE! Dooooooone.

Also, one Spark is used for a 50 mile round trip work commute, car has 27k miles on it now, and it gets home with about 12 miles of range left on a 45 degree day. This is not gonna cut it, so I am out when these leases are up.

Spark is a fun car, but all good things must come to an end.
 
I feel your pain.

Is there a legal recourse of sitting there, calling the police over a parking violation, waiting for them, then a tow truck, possibly dealing with the Dik when they return to the car?
All the while you have places to go.

I haven't been stuck but one of my favorite after work places routinely has plain Prii, lots of plain old inconsiderate ICE's, and often Tesla's that are not plugged in.
Once a Tesla was taking up two slots and not plugged in.
But also Leaf's charging !

Anyway, I'm sure you are experiencing what the EV future will be like for a while.

Do we still have a major media outlet talking trash about 'environmentalist' ane 'EV drivers'?
Are people being influenced by this sort of thinking?
 
Seeing these type of posts only makes me that much happier that we ONLY charge at home (and had that plan since before purchase). I feel even better about NOT have a DC fast charge in our Spark EV now. (never mind that there just aren't a lot of public chargers around here anyway).


^ Then again, our needs are not anything like the majority of people here it seems. My husband has a 1.4 mile commute 1-way and I do grocery getting other times (Spark EV holds 24-pack of water, 2 milks and other heavy items just fine for short jaunts).

Even a visit to family is 10 miles one-way (nothing huge and they let us plug in there if we feel the need-- only done that twice so far in extreme cold). So anyway, We really only need to plug in to charge once a week or so and have the car programmed to charge only during off peak times now.

Its been working fantastic for us anyway.

But sorry to hear the bad news about how difficult its been but I can understand the reasoning and logic to change. Bummer but this news also doesn't really surprise me either. People are 'all about me' and no one cares about anyone else. If its convenient for them, who cares about anyone else seems to be the rule instead of the exception these days :(
 
NORTON said:
I feel your pain.

Is there a legal recourse of sitting there, calling the police over a parking violation, waiting for them, then a tow truck, {...}

Not, not in CA, unfortunately. The *owner* of the lot can call a tow truck IF the charging spot is properly labeled (and they often are not).

I, myself, have no problem with PHEVs using public charging locations. I *do* have a problem with vehicles parked in charging spots when not charging (including BEVs that are fully charged). I see that a LOT more often than spaces blocked by ICEs, in fact : drivers of EVs pretending that the charging spots are reserved parking for any EV.
 
I feel you, man. I have a 60 mile commute and do nearly all my charging at a paid charger at work. On cold/rainy days, I barely get 60 miles out of a full battery. But EVSE issues and getting ICE'd even occasionally is a deal breaker. I'll be getting a long range EV soon so I can get by just charging twice a week.
 
Just to be clear, I'm fine with a ~50-80 mi. range Spark EV (seasonal).
I charge at home L2, at work L1 (free) so life is good.

On occasion I have done ~150 mile days, because my metro area has 16 DCFC stations spread around.
And only one time returning from a ~100 mile RT airport run did I have a Tesla blocking a DCFC. They don't do 10-15 pitstops like me...
So I had the range to move on down the road to the next DCFC about 7 miles in the right direction. If that one was occupied I would have had to wait.

In summary, I'm waiting for Chevy to offer the Bolt with 'Super Cruise' and reliable 50kW (or +50kW) DCFC'ing. Right now it sounds like you can't depend on the full 50kW the way the Spark does it.
And I'm waiting on a bargain...

Until then, I'm fine with the Spark EV, even as we grow old together ;)

Of course there is the smelly gasser Element waiting for road trips!
 
This is problably one of the most real discussions I have read on this forum. I believe many EV drivers, myself included, "have seen it all" with respect to inconsiderate drivers occupying charging spaces, broken DCFC chargers , etc. The list goes on and on. But this did make me think about why I am still driving an EV [Spark EV].

Early in 2015, I was retired and my wife was working at the Kaiser Hospital in Modesto. I drove a 1999 Chevy pickup truck [still have it] and she drove a 2002 Honda Accord. Our combined mileage was about 15k miles per year; 5,000 miles for me and 10,000 miles for her. Our adult daughter was living with us and needed a car to get to work so we gave her the Honda and replaced it with a leased 2015 Spark EV (with DCFC) to see how an EV would work. It worked great for my wife and it was very easy for her to get into and out of the car with her bum knee. I liked the Spark EV too. So, three months later, I purchased a used 2014 Spark EV (no DCFC).

About 90% of our driving is local and can be easily accomplished on a single charge. Therefore, almost all of our charging is done at home where I have both an L1-EVSE and L2-EVSE installed in my garage. DCFC charging is used mainly for trips outside of a comfortable round-trip range. I use PlugShare to make sure DCFC locations are available and working when I plan longer trips. I also make sure I can get back to a known working charger if a DCFC location is found to not be working.

The longest trips we have taken in our 2015 Spark EV are to Hollister, CA and to South Lake Tahoe. I am currently planning a trip to Reno, NV just to say I did it! But, the weather needs to get much warmer first and the EVgo chargers along I-80 need to be working and available.

I, too, am concerned about the charging infrastructure not keeping up with the increasing sales of EVs and the ever increasing inconsiderate attitude of some ICE AND EV / PHEV drivers. Time will tell.

Long story short - Our Spark EVs are and will continue to be used for all local driving. Very long trips will be made using our truck or a rental car.
 
I will drop the comment about the Sparks range. That is a given. It is only a problem for me as there is absolutely no charging option at work, not even level 1 really.

I forgot to add broken level 3 chargers, so add that.

Also, yes, Teslas parking in EV spots, I have seen about a 50/50 ratio of charging and not charging, the not charging is
obviously maddening.

I have logged about 50k miles all together in my sparks.

I made the trip from Sacramento to Reno about 3 years ago and made it. I may be the first one.
This was when there were zero superchargers along the way and it is 130 miles mostly steep uphill.
It took me about 7.5 hours as I had to wait in Colfax for about 4.5 hours to get barely enough juice on L2 to make
it to Reno going like 35 mph up the grades behind a semi.

I have also made it to Tahoe, Bay area, Clear Lake, Jackson, and a few others well before supercharger existence along these routes.

I even suffered the one and only tow-truck ride in the Spark due to the charger port defective design issue.

Almost every time, I have run into problems charging, from totally ruining my trip, to minor annoyances.
Almost even time.

Yes, the Spark is the prefect around-town car and I love it for that, but if you do happen to need some juice and want to use a level 3, therein lies the problems.

I am extra-frazzled about this as there has been so many incidents for so long and they get more exasperating each time......
like a dripping faucet, at first it does not bother you, but eventually it will drive you crazy.

There is enforcement options, but I have yet to see or even hear about somebody getting a ticket. I can make calls or ask managers to have them moved, but I don't want to have to deal with all that when I am on a trip, I just wanna go about my business and have a smooth day.

I am glad Whole Foods put in level 3 chargers, but what is it with people at Whole Foods??! I have seen and been subject to some serious weird rudeness at those stores from folks, to a leaf not plugged in parked in 2 spots, to ICEd, to hybrids blocking. The ratio of rudeness seems higher at those locations.

Plus at this point, I am liable to "hulk out" or have a "falling down" kinda day if I were to talk to a plug-in hybrid person who parked in a supercharger spot and they got crappy with me about it, and I don't wanna do that.
 
CSW said:
I will drop the comment about the Sparks range. That is a given. It is only a problem for me as there is absolutely no charging option at work, not even level 1 really.

I forgot to add broken level 3 chargers, so add that.

Also, yes, Teslas parking in EV spots, I have seen about a 50/50 ratio of charging and not charging, the not charging is
obviously maddening.

I have logged about 50k miles all together in my sparks.

I made the trip from Sacramento to Reno about 3 years ago and made it. I may be the first one.
This was when there were zero superchargers along the way and it is 130 miles mostly steep uphill.
It took me about 7.5 hours as I had to wait in Colfax for about 4.5 hours to get barely enough juice on L2 to make
it to Reno going like 35 mph up the grades behind a semi.

I have also made it to Tahoe, Bay area, Clear Lake, Jackson, and a few others well before supercharger existence along these routes.

I even suffered the one and only tow-truck ride in the Spark due to the charger port defective design issue.

Almost every time, I have run into problems charging, from totally ruining my trip, to minor annoyances.
Almost even time.

Yes, the Spark is the prefect around-town car and I love it for that, but if you do happen to need some juice and want to use a level 3, therein lies the problems.

I am extra-frazzled about this as there has been so many incidents for so long and they get more exasperating each time......
like a dripping faucet, at first it does not bother you, but eventually it will drive you crazy.

There is enforcement options, but I have yet to see or even hear about somebody getting a ticket. I can make calls or ask managers to have them moved, but I don't want to have to deal with all that when I am on a trip, I just wanna go about my business and have a smooth day.

I am glad Whole Foods put in level 3 chargers, but what is it with people at Whole Foods??! I have seen and been subject to some serious weird rudeness at those stores from folks, to a leaf not plugged in parked in 2 spots, to ICEd, to hybrids blocking. The ratio of rudeness seems higher at those locations.

Plus at this point, I am liable to "hulk out" or have a "falling down" kinda day if I were to talk to a plug-in hybrid person who parked in a supercharger spot and they got crappy with me about it, and I don't wanna do that.

I avoid Whole Foods for DCFC charging - Period! As far as equipment goes, I have had good luck with EVgo DCFC locations. The closest EVgo DCFC station is 10 miles from home in Salida - only 1 DCFC combo there and no L2 EVSE. 2 miles further South there are two more EVgo combo DCFC stations in the Vintage Fair Mall in Modesto. The next closest EVgo DCFC is 18 miles from home in Tracy and it is usually in use. That is it! Therefore, most of my charging is done at home. There are plans for a DCFC here in Manteca but I an not holding my breath. There is a FREE L2 EVSE by the Tesla Super Chargers near the Bass Pro Shop here in Manteca. L2 really is not of much use since I only get about 15 miles of range per hour of charging. But, I have used the Tesla L2 a couple of times while eating at a nearby restaurant and it nice to be able to get a little free charging while eating.

I am beginning to think a PHEV with an electric / gas range like the Chevy Volt would be the ideal vehicle.
 
CSW said:
I got a 2014 Spark October of 2013 and have 2 Sparks now, a 2015 and 2016. Why out now? Public chargers.

I am so sick of plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and ICE cars blocking EV level 2 AND level 3 parking spots. I am done. I have lived the EV life 4 years now with no gas backup and I can't take it anymore. The inconsiderateness of people is outta hand and I don't want to suffer the consequences anymore. I have pioneered long enough and I am done. It is only going to get way worse before it gets better. I am going to get an ICE vehicle with good mileage and be done with this crap. I want to have an EV, if I do, it will either be a BOLT or Model 3 and I will never rely on public charging or have only an EV ever again. DONE! Dooooooone.

Also, one Spark is used for a 50 mile round trip work commute, car has 27k miles on it now, and it gets home with about 12 miles of range left on a 45 degree day. This is not gonna cut it, so I am out when these leases are up.

Spark is a fun car, but all good things must come to an end.

I can understand your frustration. I never went "all EV". We use an EV 90% of the time, but have an ICEv for when it is needed (a low-polluting, high-mileage gasmobile).

Have you considered keeping one Spark for most of the around-town trips, and a 5-8-year-old PZEV (low polluting) gas mobile for the freeway drives? (that's what we have).

Article about PZEV : https://www.thoughtco.com/pzev-partial-zero-emissions-vehicle-85335

List of PZEV : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:partial_zero-emissions_vehicles
 
SparkE said:
CSW said:
I got a 2014 Spark October of 2013 and have 2 Sparks now, a 2015 and 2016. Why out now? Public chargers.

I am so sick of plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and ICE cars blocking EV level 2 AND level 3 parking spots. I am done. I have lived the EV life 4 years now with no gas backup and I can't take it anymore. The inconsiderateness of people is outta hand and I don't want to suffer the consequences anymore. I have pioneered long enough and I am done. It is only going to get way worse before it gets better. I am going to get an ICE vehicle with good mileage and be done with this crap. I want to have an EV, if I do, it will either be a BOLT or Model 3 and I will never rely on public charging or have only an EV ever again. DONE! Dooooooone.

Also, one Spark is used for a 50 mile round trip work commute, car has 27k miles on it now, and it gets home with about 12 miles of range left on a 45 degree day. This is not gonna cut it, so I am out when these leases are up.

Spark is a fun car, but all good things must come to an end.

I can understand your frustration. I never went "all EV". We use an EV 90% of the time, but have an ICEv for when it is needed (a low-polluting, high-mileage gasmobile).

Have you considered keeping one Spark for most of the around-town trips, and a 5-8-year-old PZEV (low polluting) gas mobile for the freeway drives? (that's what we have).

Well, that is the plan, but not a low-range EV anymore, I need to cut out as much as I can needing to ever use a public charger ever again. The plan is an efficient ICE car and a full BEV, either Bolt or Model 3 when my leases are up.

But I do hesitate....... and think of having ICE and buy 2016 spark at lease-end cuz I like the car so much and it is so cheap to operate and own..... but I hafta remind myself of all the head-squeezing frustrations I have run into all these year & it is gonna get worse.
 
CSW said:
>Teslas parking in EV spots, I have seen about a 50/50 ratio of charging and not charging, ..
>I have logged about 50k miles all together in my sparks.
>I made the trip from Sacramento to Reno about 3 years ago and made it. I may be the first one... to make it to Reno going like 35 mph up the grades behind a semi.
>I have also made it to Tahoe, Bay area, Clear Lake, Jackson, and a few others well before supercharger existence along these routes.
>I even suffered the one and only tow-truck ride in the Spark due to the charger port defective design issue.
>Almost every time, I have run into problems charging, from totally ruining my trip, to minor annoyances.

Yes, the Spark is the prefect around-town car and I love it for that,..

I am extra-frazzled about this as there has been so many incidents for so long .... eventually it will drive you crazy.
There is enforcement options, but I have yet to see or even hear about somebody getting a ticket. ....
I am glad Whole Foods put in level 3 chargers, but ...some serious weird rudeness at those stores from folks, to a leaf not plugged in parked in 2 spots, to ICEd, to hybrids blocking. The ratio of rudeness seems higher at those locations.
....
You, sir, are truly an EV Pioneer !! And I can see how you could use a break from the present day Public Charging MESS.


There needs to be a BisAZZ lit sign stating [ EV CHARGING ONLY ] .
And there definitely needs to be some form of enforcement of this rule.

I tried to get this enforcement talked about locally and all that came from my work was, "The stations are mostly on private property. We can't enforce parking rules there..." Say what? Who can?

Until that day, we all are helpless 80 mile range EV pioneers, when it comes to using the car for more than a ~40 mile radius from home.

CSW, Take a break. You deserve it. You fought the good fight way more than any of us !!!

You know,, The AH Tesla owners know what they are doing to you. The ICE AH's don't care or have some media generated hatred of the clean energy future.
The ones that really burn my bunns are the Hybrid drivers.. I can just hear them try to justify parking in an EV charging spot by saying "But my car is an EV some of the time"..No Pal, ALL your energy comes from the gas pump. Go park there and walk away.

Break:
I traded from a Volt to a Spark EV, and with/because of my metro areas Charging infrastructure, I can use it for all my metro driving. And no oil changes or a strange vibrations coming from under the hood. :roll: No popping the hood !!!
I'm committed to EV driving. And I am going to upgrade to a Bolt someday, once Chevy offers the High Tech goodies they have on other cars in their line up.

I an not going down the Tesla path. The way they are going,,, I don't want a car that comes from a Chinese ownership. I never liked the idea of thousands of individual stainless steel battery cells.
And the whole marketing/servicing model is 'too pioneering' for me...

Besides all that rant,,, I need a +200 mile range EV Hatchback .
 
SparkE said:
You can't charge at home, overnight?

I assure you I do as much as possible.
I have a level 2 and level 1 charger at my home for my current 2 sparks.

My issues come in whenever I try to go beyond the "point-of-no-return" battery capacity with my around town trips over
slightly outta town trips.

I know the argument "the spark is not meant for that", well I disagree, the chargers are there, I should
reasonably expect to be able to use them and not be defeated by my fellow humans or broken equipment.
 
NORTON said:
CSW said:
>Teslas parking in EV spots, I have seen about a 50/50 ratio of charging and not charging, ..
>I have logged about 50k miles all together in my sparks.
>I made the trip from Sacramento to Reno about 3 years ago and made it. I may be the first one... to make it to Reno going like 35 mph up the grades behind a semi.
>I have also made it to Tahoe, Bay area, Clear Lake, Jackson, and a few others well before supercharger existence along these routes.
>I even suffered the one and only tow-truck ride in the Spark due to the charger port defective design issue.
>Almost every time, I have run into problems charging, from totally ruining my trip, to minor annoyances.

Yes, the Spark is the prefect around-town car and I love it for that,..

I am extra-frazzled about this as there has been so many incidents for so long .... eventually it will drive you crazy.
There is enforcement options, but I have yet to see or even hear about somebody getting a ticket. ....
I am glad Whole Foods put in level 3 chargers, but ...some serious weird rudeness at those stores from folks, to a leaf not plugged in parked in 2 spots, to ICEd, to hybrids blocking. The ratio of rudeness seems higher at those locations.
....
You, sir, are truly an EV Pioneer !! And I can see how you could use a break from the present day Public Charging MESS.


There needs to be a BisAZZ lit sign stating [ EV CHARGING ONLY ] .
And there definitely needs to be some form of enforcement of this rule.

I tried to get this enforcement talked about locally and all that came from my work was, "The stations are mostly on private property. We can't enforce parking rules there..." Say what? Who can?

Until that day, we all are helpless 80 mile range EV pioneers, when it comes to using the car for more than a ~40 mile radius from home.

CSW, Take a break. You deserve it. You fought the good fight way more than any of us !!!

You know,, The AH Tesla owners know what they are doing to you. The ICE AH's don't care or have some media generated hatred of the clean energy future.
The ones that really burn my bunns are the Hybrid drivers.. I can just hear them try to justify parking in an EV charging spot by saying "But my car is an EV some of the time"..No Pal, ALL your energy comes from the gas pump. Go park there and walk away.

Thanks Norton.
I knew going into it that I would be blazing the trail for future EV drivers, but I could only last so long.
I have educated quite a lot of folks to the benefits of the EV life at many a supercharger while waiting on my charge.....
whether I wanted to or not.... they seem to think I work for Chevy or something.
 
As for enforcement, handicap spots are heavily enforced and they are under the cvc (california vehicle code), just like the
EV parking spot laws.
Yet EV enforcement seems to be ignored.
In CA, it says if you are parked in a EV spot, you have to be plugged in, not charging necessarily, but plugged in.
Does this stop hybrids & ICE drivers? Nope.
 
CSW said:
In CA, it says if you are parked in a EV spot, you have to be plugged in, not charging necessarily, but plugged in.
Does this stop hybrids & ICE drivers? Nope.

Yes, that law is in the books in CA - that law also specifies that THE OWNER of the parking lot can have the car towed. There is no possibility of getting a ticket. Honestly, what retail establishment is going to alienate a customer by having their car towed?

The law needs to be changed.

I am going to the next city council meeting and propose a CITY ordinance. Why would they? Maybe something like this could convince them:

https://insideevs.com/one-charging-spot-generated-27000-fines-ice-drivers/
 
I have no intention of ever using public charging when I eventually get an EV.

That said, I'm thinking of making some stickers that explain the importance of not blocking charging spots. I'll get the kind that cannot be removed without leaving behind the gooey residue. Slap these on the rude car, and they can then spend the afternoon getting adhesive remover to remove the sticker.

I've always thought that EV spots should be located at the back end of a parking lot if possible. Make the spots undesirable for those who don't actually need to charge.
 
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