New 2016 Chevy Spark EV owner

[SparkyAZ]

Hello all!

We just traded in our 2010 Lexus RX450h with 122,000 miles for a 2016 Chevy Spark EV 1LT w/DCFC and only 19,000 miles! We love Sparky for all our city errands, going to work, and bringing our daughter to school! We found it at a dealer 52 miles from our house and the GOM showed 77 miles fully charged. The ride home was a little stressful driving into the wind and up elevation, but I made it home with 6 miles remaining! lol This forum helped us in the decision to buy it, so thanks to everyone!

 

[RSC]

Welcome! It's always good to see another member on the forum. We also had a fairly long drive getting ours home from the dealer, 80 miles away. We stopped off for a charge while having dinner, but home was uphill and we didn't have a lot of range left. I don't remember what the number was, but I remember the display turning orange just before our arrival. The car's been working out great for us around town.

 

[SparkE]

Yeah, the Spark EV is the perfect suburban car. < 60 miles daily (roundtrip) commute, shopping, soccer mom duty, and just travelling around the greater city area. A perfect 2nd vehicle for any family that doesn't have BOTH adults needing to drive over 60 miles a day (ever). Well, it works for ME, because where I live there are over 40 DCFC within 30 miles of my house and over 100 within 60 miles, so the few days when I have to drive 100 miles is no big deal.

I still haven't decided that when it comes time to replace my super-efficient, low polluting PZEV gas-mobile, if I will buy a >275 mile BEV, or a PHEV (with at least 30 miles all-electric range). The latter would mean driving electric 98% of the time and have the ease of gas for long distance (>300 mile) trips. The former would be my choice if recharging speed was readily and cheaply available at supercharger V3 speeds (>= 160 kW). That would mean adding 150 miles of range in 15 minutes or so (when battery is in the lower 25% of charge). I could deal with that. Maybe I will buy a used model Y in 3-6 years. (I am only adding about 1500-2000 miles a year on the gas car, so it will probably last another 15 years.)

 

[SparkyAZ]

Thanks for the responses! I agree with both of you about the Spark meeting the needs for anyone driving less than 50 miles in a day. The last few mornings have been below freezing and the GOM is showing high 50's to low 60's, but perfect for our less than 25 mile commute.

We too were a little worried about getting rid of a gas vehicle, but so far 100% electric life has been awesome! We also have a 9.75kW solar at home so the "fuel" cost has been $0! I think a Hyundai Kona EV, Kia Niro EV, Audi E-Tron, or Tesla Model Y (or 3 if the size works) would be great long range vehicles for any family and should work pretty much anywhere. We have taken our Model X on 3 different 1800+ mile trips in the last 6 months and it has worked fine even though it's full charge only shows 230 miles.

I really appreciate this forum compared to the Tesla ones. They always have haters, trolls, and D-bags so it's comforting hearing from cool people! lol

 

[randa1724]

Congratulations on the Spark EV. It's a wonderful car for city driving. Mine's been hovering around 70 miles right now.
I hope you have good luck with yours. Randy

 

[AZaf]

Congrats I love my 2016 spark EV. I live in Pittsburgh so I was a little worried about winter range but no issues. The average range in sub zero weather with heat on low and seat warmers is between 55-65miles which is perfect for me. In the spring and summers here I average 80-90mile range still.

 

[ZNuts]

Got mine in August of 2020, still loving it. Winter range went down to the 60s and now it's back up to the high 80s.

It's less than 20k and I notice the front tire are getting low in the thread so I will have to do something before the coming fall wet season begins. I drive pretty chill so it maybe the last owner or this car eats tires.

 

[ElDobro]

Congrats on your Spark purchase. I picked up my 2015 in November of 2018 and since then, I recently replaced the 6 year old battery and the 6 year old rear tires. That's all the maintenance I've put into it, so far.