MrDRMorgan said:
It will run for 20 minutes and then shut off. I set my cabin temp to 72 deg. F and activate the remote start (preheat) 20 minutes before I leave. This warms up the cabin and keeps the battery full which results in a bit more range.
Fortunately I have a short commute, so it didn't bother me much. Today's drive was the sort where my 20 mile round trip commute would have depleted the battery on my old 2013 Volt (theoretical max range of 38 miles in perfect conditions). It gets COLD here at night, we have big temp swings - even though the car was in a garage, I am sure it was a meat locker - so it puts a big dent on when the battery conditioning has to kick in. Predicted lows in the next few days are in the negatives, the highs below freezing plus more snow. My trusty 94 F150 4x4 winter beater will be my steed the next couple of days as it has a locked front diff and proper mud and snow rated tires on it (well and its rusting to hell from the mag chloride, I'd like to avoid any further abuse I subjected the Spark to today).
I will say this about my experience with my old Volt and now the Spark in the snow...terrible. I want a real mechanical ebrake and a snow mode that completely removes all regen when letting off the throttle...I've driven FWD cars all my life here in Colorado, through all sorts of weather, and the drive this morning was frustrating because I knew with my old VW Rabbits and Sciroccos over the years with a stick and a normal ebrake I would have been having FUN, not being annoyed by terrible programming. I will next time I get surprised by snow in the Spark attempt to drop it in neutral when I get massive understeer and see how it reacts.
One thing I found rather funny, was the blower fan has enough positive pressure on these cars that when I went to the passenger side to let my dog in the car I could feel air coming out of the door handle as I reached for it (it was still in pre-condition and plugged in).