Battery Saver Active Message?

[grimmrimmer]

I just got a "new" 2015 Spark EV. It was a dealership demo car with ~1000 miles that was sitting on the lot for a while, and I had it shipped to me just this past week. When I first started the car, I noticed a "Battery Saver Active" message. After some reading, I figured that it just had to do with a low 12v battery and some driving around would cure it. Well, it's 35-40 miles later, and that message has not gone away. I haven't had any issues driving it other than that message, but just in case I pulled out my multimeter and measured the DC voltage from the 12v battery while it was turned off, and it reads 12.1v. That seems a little low to me and probably the cause of battery saver message. I wanted to see if I could get confirmation here that that really is low.

My car is still under warranty for a few months, but I'm pretty sure the battery is only covered for the first year I'm not sure, though, since I don't have the warranty book on-hand (it's not in the car). (EDIT: Actually upon reading the warranty info on Chevy's site, it looks like it would be covered!). If I have to replace it myself, is there something I could get at Autozone? I don't see the Spark EV model as an option on their site, and I'm not sure what to use to replace it with.

Thanks in advance for the help. I'm a total newb to this car, and I don't have many places to turn to since I'm probably one of a few in Texas that actually has a Spark EV.

 

[scrambler]

Fully charge 12.1V is low (should be more like 12.7)

The best way to be 100% sure is to stop at a Battery store and have them test the battery for charge and holding capacity.

If you cant and in doubt, I would replace the battery, no need to get stranded for such a silly thing

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Fully charge 12.1V is low (should be more like 12.7)

The best way to be 100% sure is to stop at a Battery store and have them test the battery for charge and holding capacity.

If you cant and in doubt, I would replace the battery, no need to get stranded for such a silly thing

I agree - 12.1 volts is too low. A fully charged 12 volt lead-acid battery should measure about 12.7 volts. 12.1 volts indicates the battery is about 25% of being fully charged. Due to the long non-use time, the battery may have degraded or gone bad from non-use.

Go to the HOME page of mychevysparkev.com. Scroll down to BATTERIES AND CHARGING. Go to page 3. Scroll down to SERVICE BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEM and press ENTER. You will find quite a discussion on this problem.