New Owner! Just got a 2015 Spark EV w/ 26000!

[wiseguyz23]

Hello all!

I've been reading the forums for a couple of months as I tried to make a decision on turning in my Fiesta ST and whether or not the Chevy Spark EV would be a good choice for a replacement. I'm in a slightly unique situation as I was driving my Fiesta ST only 3000 miles a year for a smaller commute than originally intended.

So, I ended up at the end of my lease with my Fiesta with it being worth more than the payoff amount. So, I asked myself, "Why am I paying 375 dollars a month for a car I barely drive and have to put premium fuel into?"

So, as I did my research I came across the Spark EV. I've done a ton of research and (thanks to all of you), I made a decision to buy the Spark yesterday. I think it was a prudent and solid decision. Here were the factors that helped me and hopefully they'll help others that may be in my situation:

-I drive low miles.
-It was inexpensive.
-I live in California and the weather isn't prohibitive of EV technology where I am (efficiency etc.).
-No more trips to the gas station!
-It's just peppy enough to replace my awesome Fiesta ST.
-It actually rides nicer than my old car and has better road noise.

I got it at 26,000 miles for $8990 and it's in almost perfect condition. It was a returned lease and the original owners really took care of it. I traded in my old car and they gave me over what I owed and I also put down $2000 so the payments are only $140 a month as the full loan amount was only $7600.

Here was our experience with the mileage as I was a bit uneasy being about 38 miles from home. They had it fully charged and it said the range was between 45 to 60 miles w/ the guess-o-meter saying 53 miles. But, we drove a total of 51 miles home and all over (we came mostly down hill back home) and we finally got to around 3 bars left and we had 33 miles left on the guess-o-meter. So, I'm assuming we drove it well enough for it to get the mileage up.

We also are having a blast learning to drive it efficiently.

Either way, thanks for helping me make my decision and preparing me for realistic expectations! I'm going to pay it off in a year and really enjoy the car around town and not worry about the mileage. It charged with no problems over night and I got 63 miles guess-o-meter on the full charge and I expect that to go up a bit and that's about fine for me. My girlfriend has a Chevy Cruze (2017) and that'll be our trip car, so no worries on range anxiety.

Next up: Upgrading the speakers and lookin' to get a good OBD2 and level 2 charger.

One that I couldn't find... anyone know if you can get an adapter for the original charging cable for a 240v plug and use it to level 2 charge? I've seen you can do that on the BMW i3, but I doubt you can do it on this one, but you never know unless you ask.

Thanks again, sorry for the book. lol

TLR

Got a Spark EV yesterday. Lovin' it. Thanks for the help!

 

[NORTON]

I know for a fact that you can't put 240V into a 2014 model stock EVSE.

Don't ask........

 

[Kermit]

We got our car through Carvana and they ended up sending a us a brand new TurboCord which has an adapter for 240V. Here is a link to the product page. https://www.evsolutions.com/turbocord

Since my commute is so short my Spark only needs charged for a couple hours a day at the most. You may realize you do not need the level 2 charger after you drive it a week or two. I thought we needed one when we first purchased our cars (Volt and Spark) but both of ours are being charged on 120V.

 

[scrambler]

I know for a fact that you can't put 240V into a 2014 model stock EVSE.

Don't ask........

 

[wiseguyz23]

I know for a fact that you can't put 240V into a 2014 model stock EVSE.

Don't ask........

haha, I won't. Thanks for the info. I think I'll be fine with the level 1 charger. There are several places within 3 miles of my house with level 2's that don't get used that often.

 

[SparkE]

An overnight charge on 120V (10 hours) should add about 50 miles of range. If now and then you need more, use the level-2 stations near your house for a couple of hours, THEN charge overnight.

 

[wiseguyz23]

An overnight charge on 120V (10 hours) should add about 50 miles of range. If now and then you need more, use the level-2 stations near your house for a couple of hours, THEN charge overnight.

Yeah, I think that's the plan. Not worried about the range much. Thankfully my commute (if you can call it that) is only 2.7 miles one way. So, I do come home for lunch so it's 10.8 miles a day.

 

[NORTON]

Yeah, I think that's the plan. Not worried about the range much. Thankfully my commute (if you can call it that) is only 2.7 miles one way. So, I do come home for lunch so it's 10.8 miles a day.

You would be a candidate for not plugging in for several days in a row.
There is a theoretical benefit to not having the battery always at 100% SOC if you are not needing it for a long trip.
You are not doing the battery a favor keeping it always topped up. This is true of all Li-Ion batteries.

But then when it's really hot or cold the pack likes the Thermal Management System to keep the pack in a happy temp range.

Most of the year I don't plug in at home and my pack sits overnight around 60-70% SOC.
I enjoy free public charging at work!!! That also is another reason to not plug in at home! :lol:

 

[wiseguyz23]

Yeah, I think that's the plan. Not worried about the range much. Thankfully my commute (if you can call it that) is only 2.7 miles one way. So, I do come home for lunch so it's 10.8 miles a day.

You would be a candidate for not plugging in for several days in a row.
There is a theoretical benefit to not having the battery always at 100% SOC if you are not needing it for a long trip.
You are not doing the battery a favor keeping it always topped up. This is true of all Li-Ion batteries.

But then when it's really hot or cold the pack likes the Thermal Management System to keep the pack in a happy temp range.

Most of the year I don't plug in at home and my pack sits overnight around 60-70% SOC.
I enjoy free public charging at work!!! That also is another reason to not plug in at home! :lol:

For sure! I drove around yesterday a total of about 14 miles and only had my bar drop to 87 percent charge and only saw my range increase again. I believe the last people that had this vehicle didn't drive it with efficiency in mind.

Also, I will agree. I'm going to do my best to keep it on the 20-80 charging scale. As a computer technician, I'm very aware of the implications of battery degradation and maintenance. I think I'm up to the challenge of making this the absolute best used Chevy Spark EV on the market in about 4 years. lol

 

[NORTON]

.... I believe the last people that had this vehicle didn't drive it with efficiency in mind.

.... I'm going to do my best to keep it on the 20-80 charging scale.....

Maybe the previous owners enjoyed flogging the little EV hot rod and didn't care about saving a buck and a half a week by driving it slow.
Tires are cheap. Is there a way to quantify stomping vs. tip toeing when it comes to battery life?
Life's short. Surprise that guy in the Tang next to you!!!

Don't forget that BMS runs after the pack is topped up to 100%. The cells need to be balanced once in a while.

 

[wiseguyz23]

.... I believe the last people that had this vehicle didn't drive it with efficiency in mind.

.... I'm going to do my best to keep it on the 20-80 charging scale.....

Maybe the previous owners enjoyed flogging the little EV hot rod and didn't care about saving a buck and a half a week by driving it slow.
Tires are cheap. Is there a way to quantify stomping vs. tip toeing when it comes to battery life?
Life's short. Surprise that guy in the Tang next to you!!!

Don't forget that BMS runs after the pack is topped up to 100%. The cells need to be balanced once in a while.

Thanks for the tip. I just read an article on BMS (because I'd never heard the term before you mentioned it). I now have a greater understanding of how the batteries in an EV and the management system works. Here's the article if you're interested:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/26/the-secret-life-of-an-ev-battery/

 

[NORTON]

..... I now have a greater understanding of how the batteries in an EV and the management system works. Here's the article if you're interested:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/26/the-secret-life-of-an-ev-battery/

This article talks about BMS as the total brains of the system.

I was talking about 'Cell Balancing' which I think is a function that only happens after the pack has reached 100% SOC.
I would think that allowing the car to sit overnight once in a while plugged in after being topped up would allow for cell balancing.

But then, the Bolt has a 'Hill Top Reserve' setting, which stops the charge at 90% SOC. Does cell balancing take place after that?
It must, because an owner that uses that setting all the time would still need cell balancing. (I would use it, unless I had a road trip planned)

 

[wiseguyz23]

..... I now have a greater understanding of how the batteries in an EV and the management system works. Here's the article if you're interested:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/26/the-secret-life-of-an-ev-battery/

This article talks about BMS as the total brains of the system.

I was talking about 'Cell Balancing' which I think is a function that only happens after the pack has reached 100% SOC.
I would think that allowing the car to sit overnight once in a while plugged in after being topped up would allow for cell balancing.

But then, the Bolt has a 'Hill Top Reserve' setting, which stops the charge at 90% SOC. Does cell balancing take place after that?
It must, because an owner that uses that setting all the time would still need cell balancing. (I would use it, unless I had a road trip planned)

hhmm, I'm most likely going to try to top mine off around 85 percent most of the time and then once a month I'll top it off to 100%. My thinking is that putting it to 100% charge isn't likely happening due to the battery having the reserve space that the manufacturer specified since we're most likely using that "virtual battery" anyway. Letting it drop to 20% then fully charging all the way to 100% is most likely dropping to 10% and then 90% after some degradation.

Do you have any info to the contrary? I'm trying to be a good steward of this card as I'm planning on getting a Bolt at some point but I want to drive this regularly until then.

 

[Kermit]

I've never read anything definitive about a reserve just a lot of assumptions based off of the Gen 1 Volt.
If Torque Pro is right my cells are at about 4.128 Volts when fully charged in my 2016 Spark EV which would be 98.29% (assuming 4.2V is 100% charged per cell.)

Our Gen 2 Volt reads as high as 4.108 Volts (typically closer to 4.0) which is 97.8% Charged (95% which 4.0 Voltage.)

There may be a buffer at the bottom end but I don't typically run my car below 50% charge.

I may have over simplified this or not be understanding it fully but I think they are letting us use the whole pack at the top end so they can have the best EPA range they can get.

I will check our volt the next time we run it out of electrons just to see what the voltage is but I do not plan on running our spark down that low to check the cell voltage then.

 

[wiseguyz23]

I've never read anything definitive about a reserve just a lot of assumptions based off of the Gen 1 Volt.
If Torque Pro is right my cells are at about 4.128 Volts when fully charged in my 2016 Spark EV which would be 98.29% (assuming 4.2V is 100% charged per cell.)

Our Gen 2 Volt reads as high as 4.108 Volts (typically closer to 4.0) which is 97.8% Charged (95% which 4.0 Voltage.)

There may be a buffer at the bottom end but I don't typically run my car below 50% charge.

I may have over simplified this or not be understanding it fully but I think they are letting us use the whole pack at the top end so they can have the best EPA range they can get.

I will check our volt the next time we run it out of electrons just to see what the voltage is but I do not plan on running our spark down that low to check the cell voltage then.

hhmm It's been difficult to find some of the specifications on this. I'd imagine GM wanting to keep this type of info proprietary. Thanks for the experience with yours. I ran a charge from 33% to 92% last night and I think I'll be ok with that. Just trying to figure out a good way of keeping the battery in good condition while enjoying the car without worrying too much about it. You know, that happy medium.

 

[Engineear]

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

I am currently experimenting with charging at home to determine if fully charging the HV battery every time is detrimental the battery and causes it to slowly degrade. Using TorquePro to measure the SoC of the HV batteries in my 2014 and 2016 Spark EVs shows a degradation rate of approximately 1.2 kWh per year in both cars. Now I am going to change my charging method by using delayed charging to see if that makes a difference. I do this by using the departure time charging function in the car.

For my 2014 Spark EV being charged using a L1 EVSE and a charge rate of 12 amps, I set my departure time 3 hours ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC. For my 2016 Spark EV being charged using a L2 EVSE (3.3 kWh), I set my departure time 1 hour and 15 minutes ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC too. My disconnect time is 8 am for both cars.

I am not currently on a TOU rate plan for my power but there is rumbling that PG&E may have plans to shift everyone to a TOU plan. Even if they do and if my testing shows I can significantly decrease the HV battery degradation rate by not fully charging the HV battery, then I will continue with the departure time charging and pay the extra power cost.

 

[wiseguyz23]

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

I'm feelin' more of what you're saying. My personality is really a person that likes to know everything about something and then test the limits of it. I actually enjoy grinding for levels in video games while others like to get on with the story. I'm probably going to end up doing both. I'm setting it to charge between certain times right now so I'm not getting a full charge with my level 1 EVSE anyway. Thanks for your good advice and I will definitely be just enjoying it. But, I'll definitely be also figuring how this thing ticks.

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

I am currently experimenting with charging at home to determine if fully charging the HV battery every time is detrimental the battery and causes it to slowly degrade. Using TorquePro to measure the SoC of the HV batteries in my 2014 and 2016 Spark EVs shows a degradation rate of approximately 1.2 kWh per year in both cars. Now I am going to change my charging method by using delayed charging to see if that makes a difference. I do this by using the departure time charging function in the car.

For my 2014 Spark EV being charged using a L1 EVSE and a charge rate of 12 amps, I set my departure time 3 hours ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC. For my 2016 Spark EV being charged using a L2 EVSE (3.3 kWh), I set my departure time 1 hour and 15 minutes ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC too. My disconnect time is 8 am for both cars.

I am not currently on a TOU rate plan for my power but there is rumbling that PG&E may have plans to shift everyone to a TOU plan. Even if they do and if my testing shows I can significantly decrease the HV battery degradation rate by not fully charging the HV battery, then I will continue with the departure time charging and pay the extra power cost.

Awesome info, bro. I'm pretty interested in knowing how many KWh my battery has left. But, as Engineear said, I also just want to drive it and not worry about it. So, I'm most likely going to just drive it and then check in with the charging to full and get numbers as I go without taking away from the general experience of driving it for fun.

I have been pretty happy with it so far. I'm enjoying the ease of driving around town without having to worry about shifting gears. I had a FIesta ST before this and I LOVED it, but I really like not thinking about driving.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

I'm feelin' more of what you're saying. My personality is really a person that likes to know everything about something and then test the limits of it. I actually enjoy grinding for levels in video games while others like to get on with the story. I'm probably going to end up doing both. I'm setting it to charge between certain times right now so I'm not getting a full charge with my level 1 EVSE anyway. Thanks for your good advice and I will definitely be just enjoying it. But, I'll definitely be also figuring how this thing ticks.

Charge it and go. Quit the micro managing. I plug mine in at what ever level it's at. If I'm at 40 miles soc and the next day I'll need more than that I charge it. Has always gone over 90+. I just need it to work. I would like to think that GM would let us know if we charge to full to many times.
Sorry, I'm not going to pull the plug at 93% to "save the battery", that would mean I'd have to get up at 3-4am to unplug because, my electric rate from 11pm-5am is 6c a Kwh. I'm not paying anymore than I have to. The battery will last. Relax/Enjoy

I am currently experimenting with charging at home to determine if fully charging the HV battery every time is detrimental the battery and causes it to slowly degrade. Using TorquePro to measure the SoC of the HV batteries in my 2014 and 2016 Spark EVs shows a degradation rate of approximately 1.2 kWh per year in both cars. Now I am going to change my charging method by using delayed charging to see if that makes a difference. I do this by using the departure time charging function in the car.

For my 2014 Spark EV being charged using a L1 EVSE and a charge rate of 12 amps, I set my departure time 3 hours ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC. For my 2016 Spark EV being charged using a L2 EVSE (3.3 kWh), I set my departure time 1 hour and 15 minutes ahead of my actual disconnect time. This is giving me 81% SoC too. My disconnect time is 8 am for both cars.

I am not currently on a TOU rate plan for my power but there is rumbling that PG&E may have plans to shift everyone to a TOU plan. Even if they do and if my testing shows I can significantly decrease the HV battery degradation rate by not fully charging the HV battery, then I will continue with the departure time charging and pay the extra power cost.

Awesome info, bro. I'm pretty interested in knowing how many KWh my battery has left. But, as Engineear said, I also just want to drive it and not worry about it. So, I'm most likely going to just drive it and then check in with the charging to full and get numbers as I go without taking away from the general experience of driving it for fun.

I have been pretty happy with it so far. I'm enjoying the ease of driving around town without having to worry about shifting gears. I had a FIesta ST before this and I LOVED it, but I really like not thinking about driving.

Engineear is correct! Just drive the car and you will quickly learn what you need to know. PlugShare is a valuable source for finding charging locations in your immediate area. Check it out. Knowing locations where you can charge is a great comfort to EV drivers. I frequently review locations to see just how far I can go in Sparkie. My longest trip so far is to South Lake Tahoe and back - about a 300 mile round trip.

 

[Kermit]

I've never read anything definitive about a reserve just a lot of assumptions based off of the Gen 1 Volt.
If Torque Pro is right my cells are at about 4.128 Volts when fully charged in my 2016 Spark EV which would be 98.29% (assuming 4.2V is 100% charged per cell.)

Our Gen 2 Volt reads as high as 4.108 Volts (typically closer to 4.0) which is 97.8% Charged (95% which 4.0 Voltage.)

There may be a buffer at the bottom end but I don't typically run my car below 50% charge.

I may have over simplified this or not be understanding it fully but I think they are letting us use the whole pack at the top end so they can have the best EPA range they can get.

I will check our volt the next time we run it out of electrons just to see what the voltage is but I do not plan on running our spark down that low to check the cell voltage then.

Our gen 2 Volt when out of electrons and running on gas yesterday showed an average battery cell voltage of 3.504 volts. 3.4 volts is the lowest these cells are wanting to go and 3.0 volts is dead and the cell probably will not charge back up. That leaves about 12-15% left in the battery based purely on battery cell voltages. (torque pro actually showed 15.9 % Charge Raw).