Chevy Spark EV

http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2013/04/chevrolet-spark-electric-range.html

Interesting, it will charge to 80% in 20 mins, 10 mins quicker than a Leaf, power permitting of course.

I wonder can the ESB Fast Chargers be upgraded or will they have to be replaced ?

50 kw charging is going to be old soon enough !

Most interesting of all is that it will accept multiple daily fast charging, that's excellent news !

0-60 mph in under 8 seconds.

Here is the article in full


The 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV is the industry benchmark in retail electric vehicle efficiency with a combined city/highway EPA estimated range of 82 miles when fully charged and an EPA-estimated combined city/highway 119 MPGe fuel economy equivalent.

Compared to the average new vehicle, the Spark EV can potentially save its owners up to $9,000 in fuel cost over five years. The Spark EV goes on sale this summer in California and Oregon.

“Being able to provide our customers with the best overall efficiency of any retail EV has always been a key target for the Spark EV engineering team,” said Pam Fletcher, GM executive chief engineer for electrified vehicles. “We’re poised to deliver to the market an EV that’s not just efficient, but also thrilling to drive thanks to the 400 lb-ft torque output of its electric motor.”

The Spark EV’s 21 kWh lithium-ion battery pack will continue Chevrolet’s tradition of offering industry-leading limited warranty protection – eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Spark EV will be the first vehicle on the market to offer as an available option the recently approved SAE combo charger for DC Fast Charging. The capability, available shortly after launch, will enable the Spark EV to recharge up to 80 percent of its capacity in approximately 20 minutes. The battery system is capable of handling multiple DC Fast Charges daily. Charging can also be completed in less than seven hours using a dedicated 240V charge. A 120V charge cord set comes standard. Charging can be managed and monitored remotely using the Spark EV’s smart phone application, provided by OnStar, which is standard for three years.

"The Chevrolet Spark EV is a great city car which blends technology, functionality and style in an unexpected package" said Cristi Landy, director of Chevrolet small and electrified vehicle marketing. "We built on the success of the Volt and the gas-powered Spark to offer an affordable, fun and efficient mini car our customers will love to drive."

The Chevrolet Spark EV will set an acceleration benchmark for an urban city electric vehicle – 0-60 mph in under eight seconds due to the mating of a permanent magnet electric motor, which produces more than 100 kW (130 hp), with the coaxial drive unit.

The GM designed oil-cooled, permanent magnet motor is the heart of the Spark EV’s propulsion system. Putting more than half a million road miles on development versions of the Spark EV enabled engineers to make the performance of the electric motor the best it could be by using a bar wound copper stator and unique rotor configuration.

The motor and drive unit are assembled at GM’s Baltimore operations plant in White Marsh, Md. Last week, the plant celebrated Spark EV motor production, marking the first time a major U.S. auto manufacturer has designed and built both a complete electric motor and drive unit for a modern electric vehicle in the United States.

Quote from myelectriccarforums.com

For example, one spec on the Spark EV is the torque rating of 400lb-ft. That would be more than 100 lb-ft more than the Tesla Roadster, but if we dig deeper we realize the 400 comes from the measurement after the torque reduction gear, not the direct motor measurement. The electric motor in the Spark electric vehicle will likely be around the 150lb-ft to 175 lb-ft mark.
End Quote.

So there you Have it, the torque number did seem rather high.

MuppetCheck

Damn, I'll have to cancel my order now.

colm_mcm

Torque is cheap.

MuppetCheck

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Damn, I'll have to cancel my order now.

Ah no, it's a lovely looking car !

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Torque is cheap.

400 lbs of it would have been fun all the same.

http://www.myelectriccarforums.com/spark-ev-400lb-ft-torque-confirmed/

400 LBS torque conformed

Quote

In our article discussing some of the confusing information surrounding the upcoming 2014 Chevy Spark EV, we discussed how the 400lb-ft of torque isn’t the motor rating, but the final torque after gear multiplication is factored in.

InsideEVs had a lively discussion going and it attracted the attention of GM’s General Director for Electric Drives and Electrification Systems Engineering, Peter Savagian. He joined the conversation and stated:

I need to disabuse you of the mistaken notion that this motor has less than 400 ftlb of Torque. The Spark EV motor is designed and manufactured by GM. This motor makes 540 Nm (402 ftlbf) of Torque at stall and out to about 2000 rpm. This is not gear- multiplied axle torque, but actual motor shaft torque.

Mr. Savagian went on to explain how GM managed that torque-rating, as well as why their EPA ratings are so high:

The very high torque is motor performance that we are very proud of, and customers will notice the difference: (It has a gear reduction of 3.18 to 1, so the axle torque is the product of these two). This is a very low numerical reduction ratio, which has several great benefits

1) Feels much better to drive. 3.18:1 is less than half of the reduction of all other EVs. This makes for extraordinary low driveline inertia, less than 1/5 of the driveline inertia of the Nissan Leaf and 1/4 that of the Fiat 500 EV. Their cars feel like you are driving around in second gear all day long; ours feels like fourth gear.

2) Lower gear mesh, spinning losses, and lower high speed electromagnetic losses mean very high drive unit efficiency. The Spark EV efficiency from DC current to delivered Wheel torque is 85% averaged over the city driving schedule and 92% when averaged over the highway schedule. This is the highest in the industry, and that is one of the reasons why the Spark EV sets the benchmark for most efficient car

End Quote.

colm_mcm

Does any of this matter until they put this drivetrain into something decent?

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Does any of this matter until they put this drivetrain into something decent?

That's very true Colm, I can't imagine what they were thinking. The Spark is ugly.

The Leaf is much better looking and Zoe better looking again, but GM could have done so much better.

Maybe if I drove it I could ignore the outside and enjoy the torque. But if it had twice the torque of the Leaf it would be a real blast.

witless_steve

Any sign of one of these being available over here?
Sounds worth a look.

witless_steve

witless_steve wrote: »

Any sign of one of these being available over here?
Sounds worth a look.

Unfortunately GM won't be selling the Spark EV in Europe.

It's a very strange decision considering that some sales are better than nothing. And the population of Europe is far greater than that of the U.S.

I hope they change their decision as it has potential for being a lot of fun but the Leaf would be a more practical car and more comfortable.

As with all E.U and U.S EV's, they will only have the fast charge standard called CCS and not CHAdeMo that the Leaf and I-miev use meaning a lot more QC points for those.

witless_steve

Mad Lad,

Since you're well informed on this topic.
Aside from pure EV like the leaf or the Renault Fluence, are there any alternatives available here?
So many of them either aren't for sale here or are only special imports.

bazz26

Renault stopped selling the Fluence ZE here at the end of last year due to poor sales afaik.

Honda did similar recently with their Insight hybrid.

Bigus

bazz26 wrote: »

Renault stopped selling the Fluence ZE here at the end of last year due to poor sales afaik.

Honda did similar recently with their Insight hybrid.

Fluence ZE was a joke of a car in all respects.

witless_steve

So aside from the leaf and the Toyota hybrids are there any alternatives?

witless_steve

witless_steve wrote: »

So aside from the leaf and the Toyota hybrids are there any alternatives?

The Golf EV is supposed to be sold in 2014 and the BMW I3 is for sale already with optional generator or (Rex)

TBH I can't see the Golf being much better than the Leaf, I don't know if it would be worth the usual premium, the leaf is a really nice car to drive.

The Leaf is pretty good if the range is suitable ?

witless_steve

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The Golf EV is supposed to be sold in 2014 and the BMW I3 is for sale already with optional generator or (Rex)

TBH I can't see the Golf being much better than the Leaf, I don't know if it would be worth the usual premium, the leaf is a really nice car to drive.

The Leaf is pretty good if the range is suitable ?

The leaf does sound like a great car, the range is a tiny concern but I could get used to it.
Will wait for the battery heater to keep going in winter.

Would love to have some more choice to pick from. Range extenders sound amazing but sky high prices. Pure electric would be great if you could upgrade the battery if the tech improves.

witless_steve

witless_steve wrote: »

The leaf does sound like a great car, the range is a tiny concern but I could get used to it.
Will wait for the battery heater to keep going in winter.

Would love to have some more choice to pick from. Range extenders sound amazing but sky high prices. Pure electric would be great if you could upgrade the battery if the tech improves.

Range extenders don't qualify for the grant or VRT exemption as they're not fully battery electric.

The Leaf won't work for everyone but if the range of 60 odd winter miles for the MK I is enough and you can charge at destination for 120 miles a day then I think it's suitable for most people.

witless_steve

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Range extenders don't qualify for the grant or VRT exemption as they're not fully battery electric.

The Leaf won't work for everyone but if the range of 60 odd winter miles for the MK I is enough and you can charge at destination for 120 miles a day then I think it's suitable for most people.

Is it possible to upgrade battery if tech improves the range?

witless_steve

witless_steve wrote: »

Is it possible to upgrade battery if tech improves the range?

Absolutely, however as it currently stands Nissan will not allow it, but that could change as most people won't reach end of life (70%) until 8-10 years.

It isn't just the battery though as the battery electronics and charger would most likely need to be replaced also which would add a lot to the cost. But replacing the current battery for the same isn't a big deal at all.

Nissan will only repair the battery when it reaches under 70% to back to 70% or slightly above which wouldn't be a big cost and it would still be more than enough as a run a bout.

I think battery leasing makes a lot of sense as a high mileage driver, someone who drives 20,000 miles a year and more, but if you add up the rental you'll have paid for a battery anyway. But the difference is you'll get a brand new battery only Nissan Ireland don't give people the option to rent the battery though I'm sure if you ask they wouldn't refuse.

If you buy a new car and replace it every 3 years or within 100,000 miles then you won't have to worry about it anyway.

witless_steve

The idea of an EV is very appealing.
I do a lot of short range trips so would be a good thing to consider. Must see how pricey they are to get used.

Hybrid is worth looking at too, though not many models to chose from

Personally, I'd have a leaf much more than a hybrid as I know the leaf would do 98% of my yearly driving. For the rest I'd borrow a car or rent. And I'd still be well capable of doing 20,000 miles a year in a leaf.

A fully electric would still be much better than even a hybrid, unless it's a plug in for lots of short trips.

A 2011 leaf with between 5,000 and 40,000 miles will cost around 12,000 euros excluding travel and charge point install which alone costs around 1,000 not sure on that. You could save money by finding out what cable to use and running it from your consumer unit to where you want the charger and mount the charger and all the spark will have to do is connect it either end.

If ever you think you'd upgrade to the MK 1.5 leaf then if buying new you'll have the option to buy the 6 kw charger or it may have it already if it's 2nd hand.

The 6 kw charger needs around a 30 amp cable.