Chevrolet Spark EV

[Spies]

Will it have L3 (SAE??) capability to promote QC infrastructure?

Just enough L3 promise to completely stop further CHAdeMO deployment :roll: Should be interesting to see. Any bets?

 

[TonyWilliams]

No way will it have fast charge. They are playing the CARB game, and building a cheap, hopefully easy to unload car.

If it was planned to have QC, they would be advertising 30 minute charges.

 

[mwalsh]

evnow, case in point.

Oh, FFS, grow a sense of humor. :roll:

Or maybe this is the wrong forum for you to be hanging out in? There is a nice one for Volt fanboys, or so I'm told.

 

[scottf200]

evnow, case in point.

Oh, FFS, grow a sense of humor. :roll:
Or maybe this is the wrong forum for you to be hanging out in. There is a nice one for Volt fanboys, or so I'm told.

I'm sure your repeated one liners are funny the first 50 times. Then not so much. Nice derogatory attempted labeling. Don't be a hater. A rising tide raises all boats.

 

[mwalsh]

I'm sure your repeated one liners are funny the first 50 times. Then not so much. Don't be a hater. A rising tide raises all boats.

Yeah, except everyone else of my acquaintance is just rolling with laughter at my wit. So I'll just keep playing to the crowd. But, hey, thanks for your input.

 

[JPVLeaf]

MWalsh? Yup, still funny ... and still appreciated ... even after the 4926(+)th time.

 

[planet4ever]

Wow - that is 11 models !

I shouldn't admit this, but I was active on gm-volt.com, using a different monicker, long before this board existed. In July 2010 "nuclearboy" wrote there, "At the end of two years, when the volt and leaf will hopefully be ramping production, demand for the Volt should be higher. The volt is simply more practical and is worth more $. For a majority of people, the Volt is the only practical electric car that will be available."

I responded, "Personally I think by Jan 2013 there will be hundreds of thousands of potential customers who will have concluded (as I already have) that forty or more miles of all-electric range would satisfy most of their needs, and that they can live with either a BEV or an EREV. And there will be close to a dozen vehicles for them to choose among, either already in showrooms or coming very soon. And that the demand will far outstrip the supply at that point."

I have waited 15 months, and I will have to wait another 15, to see which of our predictions is closer to reality, but your mention of 11 models triggered my memory. So far I think my prediction is doing fairly well.

Ray

 

[SanDust]

A zebra can't change it's stripes any more than GM's true nature can be hidden

They hate all things that are electric, and non polluting, no matter what lies are comming out of their corporate mouthpieces

Mitch, since you're big on corporate misdeeds, here are a couple of questions for you: Just how many innocent women and children did Nissan vehicles kill during WWII? And how much Chinese forced labor did Nissan use at its plants in China?

Given Nissan's corporate history, surely it's the height of irony for someone buying a Nissan product to be overly concerned about the fact that GM killed off the EV-1. Unless of course you think it inexcusable to discontinue a car model but excusable to use women for forced labor and to rip their babies away, leaving them to die in bug infested nurserys.

Like I said, I'm not big on corporate history. My approach is to leave the past in the past. But if you think corporations are something more than abstractions and that corporate decisions made in the past are relevant and important, even if the people who made the decisions and engaged in the actions are no longer there or perhaps even alive, then you need to do a better job understanding those histories.

 

[adric22]

OK.. I keep seeing a lot of people referring to the california zero emissions mandate. But I'm confused. I thought that mandate was repealed years ago.

 

[mitch672]

SanDust, until all if the GM execs of "that" generation are retired, it still holds true. Just look at our friend Bob Lutz for an example, taking credit for the Volt, and then riding off into the sunset (well, actually he's trying to ruin another EV startup). GM wishes these PITA greenies and their EV's would just go away, so they can get on with selling their SUV's. GM has and continues to be a despicable company, going back to their buying up of electric trolley lines in the earlier part if the century, so they could replace them with GM made bus's. They've always hated electrification of any kind.

 

[scottf200]

Wow - that is 11 models !

I shouldn't admit this, but I was active on gm-volt.com, using a different monicker, long before this board existed. In July 2010 "nuclearboy" wrote there, "At the end of two years, when the volt and leaf will hopefully be ramping production, demand for the Volt should be higher. The volt is simply more practical and is worth more $. For a majority of people, the Volt is the only practical electric car that will be available."

I responded, "Personally I think by Jan 2013 there will be hundreds of thousands of potential customers who will have concluded (as I already have) that forty or more miles of all-electric range would satisfy most of their needs, and that they can live with either a BEV or an EREV. And there will be close to a dozen vehicles for them to choose among, either already in showrooms or coming very soon. And that the demand will far outstrip the supply at that point."

I have waited 15 months, and I will have to wait another 15, to see which of our predictions is closer to reality, but your mention of 11 models triggered my memory. So far I think my prediction is doing fairly well.

Ray

I've been using battery only in my Volt 97%+ of the time. My typical week is a couple hundred miles and zero gallons of gas. That is what I shoot for no doublt. I'm a fan a reducing my gas/oil consumption for all the stated health, "cost", and many other stated reasons for years. The Volt is helping me do that and is my first Chevrolet. Did not think I'd buy another new car in my life.

But to my shame. I used 0.17 gallons of gas yesterday 11Oct2011 to go 57.2 miles (temp were modest). Went 48.6 miles on the battery then 8.6 miles on the gas_generator.
In my defense I had to run unexpected errands after work THEN on my way home from a sporting event there was a major detour because of road construction.
Of course everyone will point out if I was driving a 70ish mile BEV I still would have made it today.
BUT the point is I was planning on going certain distance today and a couple of unexpected things came up. Had a back up source of energy.
(FYI my MPH ranged from 30-50 thru suburbia. My highest this summer was 50 miles on the battery alone which included highway miles. Typically got 45 all summer using A/C.)

FYI this is a 2011 Volt display. On the 2012s they include kWh used. Yes, I only have 201 MPGused lifetime since I flew to NY to buy it, vacationed, then drove it home to IL.
When talking about my miles per gallon I almost always put used after it (MPGused) to clarify that is what it means. Of course, I'm using electrons from the wall for some of the miles.

 

[Stoaty]

But to my shame. I used 0.17 gallons of gas yesterday to go 57.2 miles (temp were modest). Went 48.6 miles on the battery then 8.6 miles on the gas_generator.
In my defense I had to run unexpected errands after work THEN on my way home from a sporting event there was a major detour because of road construction.
Of course everyone will point out if I was driving a 70ish mile BEV I still would have made it today.
BUT the point is I was planning on going certain distance today and a couple of unexpected things came up. Had a back up source of energy.
(FYI my MPH ranged from 30-50 thru suburbia. My highest this summer was 50 miles on the battery alone which included highway miles. Typically got 45 all summer using A/C.)

We really don't need to hear this (again) in a thread about GM announcing a pure EV. It is getting a bit tiresome.

 

[mwalsh]

We really don't need to hear this (again) in a thread about GM announcing a pure EV. It is getting a bit tiresome.

+1. GM-Volt.com is ---> that way.

 

[scottf200]

+1. GM-Volt.com is ---> that way.

Can you please put that into a real clickable hyperlink to make it easier.

The official GM media post.

http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Oct/1012_SparkEV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DETROIT – Chevrolet today announced it will produce an all-electric version of the Chevrolet Spark mini-car – the Spark EV. It will be sold in limited quantities in select U.S. and global markets starting in 2013, including California.

“The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option,” said Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles at Chevrolet. “It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.”

Feedback from participants in Chevrolet’s electric vehicle demonstration fleets in Shanghai (Sail EV), Korea (Cruze EV) and India (Beat EV) are being incorporated into the Spark EV.

“Our global demo fleets continue to provide insight into the needs of electric vehicle customers living in urban environments,” said Federico. “The Spark EV is another step in Chevrolet’s plan to provide customers with a variety of electrification solutions to address the lifestyle and transportation needs of people around the world.”

A123 Systems will supply the advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs that will power the Spark EV. Details on specific markets, range, quantities and pricing will be announced later.

Large picture:
http://media.gm.com/content/Pages/n...ner/par/download/file.res/bev_001-retouch.jpg

Large picture:
http://media.gm.com/content/Pages/n...ner/par/download_0/file.res/Spark_Cutaway.jpg

 

[scottf200]

I've been using battery only in my Volt 97%+ of the time. My typical week is a couple hundred miles and zero gallons of gas. That is what I shoot for no doubt. I'm a fan a reducing my gas/oil consumption for all the stated health, "cost", and many other stated reasons for years. The Volt is helping me do that and is my first Chevrolet. Did not think I'd buy another new car in my life.

We really don't need to hear this (again) in a thread about GM announcing a pure EV. It is getting a bit tiresome.

Sorry. The first part was about treating the Volt like a BEV. The second part was about responding to Ray's post and practical situations that come up.

 

[TRONZ]

Scotty I don't get it. You say your an EV fan but are using this thread to post about your Volt. Why cant you celebrating the announcement that GM is going to make an EV again??? It seems like a great time for you to do this. The more you keep trying to redirect everyone and wedge your Volt into the conversation the less "EV enthusiast" credibility you have. This thread should be about the GM Spark, not a screenshot and giddy narrative about how well your Volt works for YOU... a single person! Just say "I love my Volt" and move on.

 

[edatoakrun]

I Just listened to some GM tool being interviewed on CNBC.

First GM markets its overpriced hybrid Volt as "electric", and pushes FUD on BEVs to sell its questionable concept.

Then, GM scours the third world parts bin for the cheapest sources to assemble a BEV conversion, which it plans to market as a "limited use" vehicle, only suitable for "urban" drivers, and sell only in the minimum numbers required in California to meet CARB requirements.

You'd think that, having driven a GM "diesel" 30 years ago, would have made it impossible for me to ever lose any more respect for this corporation...

 

[mitch672]

You'd think that, having driven a GM "diesel" 30 years ago, would have made it impossible for me to ever lose any more respect for this corporation...

You can't lose what you never had

I've owned GM / Chevy vans in the past, they all ended badly, either engine blew up or the transmission died, my last work van was a brand new 1991 GMC Vandura, sold it it 2001 for scrap, as the transmission was junk, this van had less than 70K miles and regular maintainence and 3-4K mile oil changes.

and to think, I was considering a Volt, but I have vowed to never own another GM product, even if they are the last mfr on earth (I will walk in that case)

contrast this to my last Nissan, which was actually called a "Datsun 310GX", the first new car, in 1982, lasted 12-13 years, and only was sold due to rust, not mechanical problems.

My Leaf due date is now "January 2012"

 

[Herm]

I can smell the collective fear of the Leaf community, relax guys.. its a limited release only.

I must admit that A123 batteries and active cooling is very impressive, hopefully they will match the Leafs cost.

 

[mwalsh]

When the Spark has a retail price and/or a lease with a residual, then I'll believe that GM is on the bandwagon instead of just running along side of it trying to grab a rail.