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How do I find out if my Spark EV has the fast charge option? We just started leasing a 2016 2LT and I don't know if it has that option.
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SparkevBlogspot
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I hope you have DCFC. If not, can you go and ask them to change it for one that has it? With Bolt rollout, and I suspect there will be lot more DCFC.Hanne said:
I tried to use SparkEV without using DCFC for a week as an experiment, and it was awful. It's not that I use DCFC all the time, but there are times when I would go somewhere after work unexpectedly. Without DCFC, that was pretty much out of the question; it was home/work, that's it. It made me afraid of emergencies (?), in case I had to go to pickup my favorite food 20 miles out of the way unexpectedly. That may have needed couple of hours of public L2, but only 10 minutes (or less) with DCFC. That didn't happen during my experiment, but I was making effort to just go home after work.
+1, Good Luck!!SparkevBlogspot said:
Tell them you were told that it did have it but you didn't know at the time how to tell if it had DCFC. Do it quick. It is a $750 option, but worth it.
It's the future. A few owners may have no use for it, but most will use it at some point.
Zoomit said:
+1-- I tried to get the dealer to knock the price down on my CCS because there was CCS charger within 100 miles but he kept insisting there were lots nearby. Rather than get in an argument with him about chademo vs ccs I decided he wasn't giving me a bad price on it and paid for it. That said, we've gotten a few stations, although I've only used it once and could see doing fine without it.
SparkevBlogspot
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Something to consider is the resale value. For me, EV without DCFC is pretty much worthless, and I suspect many feel the same. Then not having DCFC in used market may fetch much lower price, especially if DCFC becomes more wide spread. If there are more people like me, the difference in used price could be far more than $750.Zoomit said:
Considering 3.3kW L2 for SparkEV vs 6.6kW L2 for all other non-DCFC EV (eg. Fiat 500e, FocusE) except SmartED, not having DCFC takes away one of the best features of SparkEV. While SparkEV performance is better to 60 MPH (worse to 30 MPH), smaller battery (less range) and slower charging than 500e would make it much less attractive. I think you did the right thing by having it.
SparkevBlogspot said:
For me, the worst case of having to charge the car for 6 hours at 3.3kWh isn't a deal breaker considering we have another car for longer trips. As for resale value, most off-lease ~20kWh EV's have already lost ~70% of their resale value - regardless of having the option of DCFC. Being able to pick up one of these near "worthless" EV's has peaked my interest in them.
SparkevBlogspot
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That's not quite correct. You have to consider how much they paid post subsidy when new. 2013 Leaf lost about 45%. Pre 2013 was older battery and options, so they lost more value, and I didn't look at them. In contrast, SparkEV seem to be losing very little, though sample size is small. I wrote about price / depreciation in my blog.oilerlord said:
http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2016/02/sparkev-pricing-and-depreciation.html
With Bolt and to greater extent, Model 3, I suspect many BMW i3 will come to used market. Since they are similar to SparkEV with better performance, that could have negative effect on SparkEV pricing. But then again, SparkEV is first GM EV, and that could count for something. My crystal ball is full of haze.
WyrTwister
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I know very little about EV's , so I am doing some research .
I have read that DCFC'ing will shorten the life of the battery . Is that true ?
Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
I have read that DCFC'ing will shorten the life of the battery . Is that true ?
Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
nikwax
Well-known member
WyrTwister said:
more likely on a LEAF that doesn't have thermal battery management.
WyrTwister
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Are you saying any damage would be caused by heat ? And the Spark's battery cooling system will prevent that ?
God bless
Wyr
God bless
Wyr
Good EV's have a TMS for the battery. Cheap EV's have nada for TMS.
Here's one link: http://insideevs.com/idaho-national-laboratory-dc-quick-charging-nissan-leaf-doesnt-kill-battery/
But then DCFC may not be that bad for battery life regardless. Here's a link but I don't have time to find the actual test site: http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/17/dc-fast-charging-not-as-damaging-to-ev-batteries-as-expected/
Here's one link: http://insideevs.com/idaho-national-laboratory-dc-quick-charging-nissan-leaf-doesnt-kill-battery/
But then DCFC may not be that bad for battery life regardless. Here's a link but I don't have time to find the actual test site: http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/17/dc-fast-charging-not-as-damaging-to-ev-batteries-as-expected/
MrDRMorgan
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The report can be found at https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/vehiclebatteries/FastChargeEffects.pdfNORTON said:
You can also go to http://avt.inl.gov for more information from the Idaho National Laboratory.
SparkevBlogspot
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That study was done using Leaf that doesn't have any active cooling, not even a fan. Survey by plug-in-america showed correlation with temperature even with liquid cooled Tesla. Indeed, even Leaf did poorly in hotter climate in that survey.
Even then, the Leaf only showed about 10% more degradation with lots of DCFC. It's hard to tell if that's due to DCFC or temperature effects. When using DCFC in non-cooled battery, all that power has nowhere to go. Especially bad will be the cells in the middle. 5% of 50 kW is 2.5 kW, far more than two space heaters. We all know what happens in a small bathroom with two space heaters in enclosed bathroom, especially at 90F heat.
In contrast, SparkEV has liquid channels for just about all the cell. I suspect it'll be much better than Leaf, probably even better than Tesla due to superior cooling mechanism in SparkEV. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any formal study with SparkEV DCFC, and this is just a guess. At worst, DCFC effect will be comparable to Tesla and far better than Leaf that the study used.
Even then, the Leaf only showed about 10% more degradation with lots of DCFC. It's hard to tell if that's due to DCFC or temperature effects. When using DCFC in non-cooled battery, all that power has nowhere to go. Especially bad will be the cells in the middle. 5% of 50 kW is 2.5 kW, far more than two space heaters. We all know what happens in a small bathroom with two space heaters in enclosed bathroom, especially at 90F heat.
In contrast, SparkEV has liquid channels for just about all the cell. I suspect it'll be much better than Leaf, probably even better than Tesla due to superior cooling mechanism in SparkEV. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any formal study with SparkEV DCFC, and this is just a guess. At worst, DCFC effect will be comparable to Tesla and far better than Leaf that the study used.
SparkevBlogspot
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There are only two DCFC capable EV that do not have any active cooling: Leaf and eGolf. SparkEV and Tesla have liquid cooling while others have gas cooling. I3= Freon, iMiev and SoulEV have AC chilled air cooling. Considering SparkEV is second cheapest EV behind iMiev and even iMiev has active cooling, it's not the cheapness that determine car's coolness.NORTON said:
But this is why SparkEV is such tremendous value. It has even better cooling than Tesla while being second cheapest EV.
MrDRMorgan
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It will be interesting to see what happens to the market value of the used Spark EV. Insideev's monthly report shows only 5733 have been sold in the USA starting in 2013 through May 2016. 2014 Spark EVs leased in late 2013 are starting to come off of their leases so keep an eye on the used market.SparkevBlogspot said:
xylhim said:If your charge port looks like this, you have the DCFC option :
If your charge port looks like this, you do not have the fast charge option:
I was told by the Chevy dealer that a Spark with out DCFC option can be upgraded to DCFC for $700 by the dealer? is that true?
sTeeve
Well-known member
jcar said:xylhim said:If your charge port looks like this, you have the DCFC option :
If your charge port looks like this, you do not have the fast charge option:
I was told by the Chevy dealer that a Spark with out DCFC option can be upgraded to DCFC for $700 by the dealer? is that true?
No. It's a factory-installed option; dealer cannot install.
oilerlord said:
I was going to make a similar comment, and was not surprised to see Oilerlord posted this.
You will never get $750 back on the DCFC option in the private market, not even close. The value of EVs plummets so fast that the extra $750 becomes a significant amount of the total car value. There is a 2014 Spark EV that has been on CL for months that will not sell for $8,300. Isn't that nearly 70% less than the original price?
You don't buy a new vehicle or DCFC as an investment.
