Highway Commute

[klueck]

Do you think there is any chance the Spark would not have enough range for a daily commute that is 60 highway miles and 5 city miles (round trip)? From what I have read, it seems the car is capable of well beyond this range, but I want to make absolutely sure before leasing. I'm also interested in whether anyone has driven the Spark EV through a southern California winter. The winters here are mild, but I have read weather is known to lower the battery's range. Could I make my commute year-round or would that make anyone nervous?

 

[TonyWilliams]

http://insideevs.com/real-world-test-shows-chevy-spark-ev-has-substainally-more-range-than-nissan-leaf-62-mph-wvideo/

 

[markcmann]

Do you think there is any chance the Spark would not have enough range for a daily commute that is 60 highway miles and 5 city miles (round trip)? From what I have read, it seems the car is capable of well beyond this range, but I want to make absolutely sure before leasing. I'm also interested in whether anyone has driven the Spark EV through a southern California winter. The winters here are mild, but I have read weather is known to lower the battery's range. Could I make my commute year-round or would that make anyone nervous?

My daily commute round trip in So. Cal. is 50 miles highway and about 5 miles (give or take) for lunch and when getting home at the end of the day I have approximately 35 miles remaining on the 'Guess-O-Meter' so you should be fine with a round trip of 65 miles total.

As far as how the battery range will perform in colder climates, I can only guess that since the battery pack is liquid cooled, this will not be an issue (at least in So. Cal.) but I will let any "EV Engineering" types that are out there chime in with their 2 cents...

 

[fengshui]

Do you think there is any chance the Spark would not have enough range for a daily commute that is 60 highway miles and 5 city miles (round trip)? From what I have read, it seems the car is capable of well beyond this range, but I want to make absolutely sure before leasing. I'm also interested in whether anyone has driven the Spark EV through a southern California winter. The winters here are mild, but I have read weather is known to lower the battery's range. Could I make my commute year-round or would that make anyone nervous?

That should be no problem, especially with the A123 battery used by the Spark. I would not feel any nervousness about that commute.

 

[snail3]

my daily commute is 63miles round trip (55miles highway and rest local). I averaged about 33~28 mile left at night when got home (around 30% battery left if checking on the Onstar mobile app). I think you should be ok.

 

[iletric]

Your only enemy is your heater, rainy weather, and real cold. Still, 65 miles seems comfortable proposition. Expect to lose up to 10 miles range by the time you hit 40,000 miles.

 

[drchocotaco]

My commute is about 50 miles highway + 2-3 miles street. Haven't had any issues so far, though my battery is still young. The estimated range is remarkedly spot-on, I get about 90 miles to a full charge. Though I have realistically never tested it by going under 15 miles. It does depend a little on how fast you go on the freeway and how aggressive you are with acceleration and braking. I tend to turn off the automatic running lights during sunny days and usually have the A/C running at the lowest fan setting.

You can always stop at a chargepoint or blink station for an hour or so to get a 10-15 mi range bump if you get yourself in a jam by making too many side-trips. I recently stopped at a Carl's Jr (a lot of them have Blink chargers) while traffic was at a standstill. BTW, Onstar will also tell you how far away your destination is, helping to plan things out if you can't reach or use your phone while driving. I've only dealt with "range anxiety" once or twice, and it was early on.

 

[Sesamecrunch]

My commute is 72 miles round trip. Half of it is freeway, the other City streets (San Francisco). I also have a hills, probably 3,000 ft. round trip. I have had my car over a month, and am very comfortable making that trip now.

I usually have 20% or more battery charge left when I get home. My efficiency level is usually around 4.8 miles per kwh, even with the elevation, so I'm a conservative driver. Weather is usually good here, so I don't need A/C or heater very often. It's starting to get colder, so I have used the seat warmer instead of the heater.

 

[klueck]

Thank you for all the feedback. Sounds like it's unanimous that I should go ahead with the lease Thanks again!

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
How will you be charging at home? Will you have/be using a 240 volt EVSE at home or will you be charging at 120 volts? Will you be charging at your destination(s)?

If using only 120 volts and only at home, you eventually might not be able to replenish charge quickly enough overnight.

If using 120 volts at home AND at the destination where it's charging all day, then my wild guess is that you'd be ok.

 

[klueck]

I'll be looking to install the 240V as soon as possible, which hopefully won't take long. In the meantime I'll use 120V and probably take my husband's car on Wednesday to give the Spark enough charge time for Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. Have an appointment to go pick up the car tonight, last chance to raise any last objections!

 

[markcmann]

I'll be looking to install the 240V as soon as possible, which hopefully won't take long. In the meantime I'll use 120V and probably take my husband's car on Wednesday to give the Spark enough charge time for Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. Have an appointment to go pick up the car tonight, last chance to raise any last objections!

You will definitely want (and need) the Level 2 EVSE installed but besides that, the Spark EV is a fun, affordable little runabout. Enjoy!