Where do we all live? Sparks are dispersing.

[Chris101]

HA.. another Spark EV that leaves Phoenix.. only in my case I took it out of state to Illinois (haha). ...just kinda funny 2 Spark EVs leaving Phoenix (then again, my Spark obviously started life in California before migrating to Phoenix for 1 year)

 

[Chnillapoil]

Montreal, Canada Spark 2014 from CA

 

[IllinoisSpark15]

I just purchased a used '14 1LT. Shipped from dealership in California to me in Northern Chicago suburbs (Illinois). I've never seen another Spark EV owner. But this is actually my second Spark EV. 1st one died a horrible death after a vehicle accident. That one was also a '14 1LT.

 

[Chris101]

^ Well now we have 2 in the Chicago area... haha

 

[Anonymous]

Just added to the Idaho fleet yesterday. Took home a white 2015 LT1 with 15k miles. No DCFC option... So it's the same as this state. (At least area)

 

[Rosegrif1]

Lexington MA - just go delivery of my 2016 2LT ...running beautifully. So far very impressed with the easy driving. Looked at a Bolt but just like the feel of the Spark. Work is close to no range issues - even with the recent cold snap not seeing any issues.

 

[NorthernSpark]

I'm in Toronto, Canada with our 2014 1LT, owned since mid-2015 (was bought with about 1,400 km on it). Now we're at around 36,000 km, been relatively trouble-free. What we've done so far:

-replaced stock tires with Michelin Premier A/S
-close to 30K there was a creaking sound that we thought was the brakes (i.e. brakes not releasing fully when pedal is released), but it turns out it was the motor mount that was a bit loose
-fuse for washer fluid pump just went recently, used a spare and we are back up and running

 

[NORTON]

Just checking in!

I'm in KC, Mo. '14, 2LT w/DCFC.
It's at + 49k miles. +2.5 years of ownership. Bought it with 3500 miles It was a Buy Back car. I got the original 3/36k B2B warranty.
It has been mostly Free Public Charging during this time except for winter months when I plug it in L2 at home for TMS reasons.

Haven't calculated Battery Capacity in a while because I rarely use more that 50% during one direction of my commute and I keep it plugged in at both ends in this dang winter weather.
Last entry in my Battery .xls was at 33k mi, 3-23-17 was 17.47 kWh. An entry from 32k mi was 16.94 kWh. I have pics on my phone I have not entered yet...

I have 0.5" wider wheels and 195/50-15 tires all around, so I can now do proper tire rotations. Haven't yet though... Love the feel !

The car has been flawless for all this time!

Except...
In the last month or so I've been very rarely hearing a 2-3 second 'Hum' from the charge port area of the car while powering it down from the driver's seat or when outside unplugging the car.
Crap,,, this can't be good...But there's no way I'm taking it to the dealer for a Fishing Expedition....It's very intermittent...
Has anyone heard this sound?

 

[Anonymous]

Just bought mine from a used car lot near Sacremento....unfortunately it didn't migrate very far. According to the Carfax, it was originally purchased and owned near San Jose, CA now living about 30 miles north in the East Bay.

Had no intention of purchasing but damn that Car Gurus application on my phone: 2015 LT1 w/ DCFC 3,820 miles (not a misprint). Bought for $9.5k
Still had protective plastic and tape on various interior trim bits.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, My 2014 Electric Blue Spark EV(no DCFC) moved to Colorado in 2017 and lives in Aurora just east of Denver, it came from Glendale, CA. I have seen a silver Spark EV and a white one here in Denver metro area. I have put about 9k joy filled miles on my Sparky it isn't every vehicle that can put a smile on my face just from driving to work.

I keep trying to bully Prius owners but they won't look at me. Anybody else having luck in drag racing Prius'. I tell everybody I talk to they need to at least test drive an EV at some point, they are just too fun!

 

[NORTON]

... Anybody else having luck in drag racing Prius'.....

Your not going to find a sporty Prius driver. Those guys made a bad name for hybrids by driving by that dang display. Pinching pennies.

I dominate at the stop lights,,, usually.
3 series BMW are fun to dik with!
At the green light I'll stay just a few feet ahead, then when I hear their gasser start gassing to try to get ahead,, I may let them inch in front a little bit, then I drop the EV Hammer !! SILENTLY !! Except for the small chirps from my front tires! :lol:

 

[SparkyJ]

Sacramento CA here, 2015 limey metallic spark. 2nd owner, car was from bay area region. I purchased in feb with about 17800 on the odometer, about 18900 on it now. Love it as a commuter, travel about 30-35miles round trip a day for about a buck in electricity, not driving conservatively :mrgreen: Fun little car! I'm not planning to do much to it but add 205's on the front and hit sac raceway for a bit more fun. Glad I decided to buy it, but do wish we had more numbers in the forums.

 

[EGDriver]

Sacramento CA here, 2015 limey metallic spark. 2nd owner, car was from bay area region. I purchased in feb with about 17800 on the odometer, about 18900 on it now. Love it as a commuter, travel about 30-35miles round trip a day for about a buck in electricity, not driving conservatively :mrgreen: Fun little car! I'm not planning to do much to it but add 205's on the front and hit sac raceway for a bit more fun. Glad I decided to buy it, but do wish we had more numbers in the forums.

I'm also in the Sacramento area. I bought a used 2015 Spark with 17300 miles on it. It was originally from the Bay area. It came with fast charging so it took me about 2 hours from Fremont to Sac. The speed on this is amazing!

 

[RSC]

Sonora, CA (Sierra Nevada foothills), 2015 1LT with DCFC, 16K miles. I bought the car a little less than two weeks ago from a dealer in Placerville and charged it up (for free) in Sutter Creek on the way home. The car was a lease return from Watsonville, so hopefully the battery hasn't seen too much hot weather.

The funny thing is that about a week after I got it I saw another one in Sonora the same color (Electric Blue). I waited for the owner to come out of the store and chatted for a bit. He's also in Sonora, or just east of it. We both really like this car.

 

[NORTON]

Sonora, CA (Sierra Nevada foothills), 2015 1LT with DCFC, 16K miles. ....., so hopefully the battery hasn't seen too much hot weather....

Congrats ! You won't be sorry!

Even if it did come for a 'hot weather' area it would take leaving the car fully charged and not plugged in the sun in very high heat for any degradation to eventually show up.
If the car is plugged in, or running, TMS is keeping the battery happy, regardless of -5*F or 115*F!

Have you punched it at a stop light yet? !! Use both hands and smile at the Tang in the other lane!!

 

[CypressVH]

Seattle, WA

Mine came from Oregon.

 

[RSC]

Have you punched it at a stop light yet? !! Use both hands and smile at the Tang in the other lane!!

I wouldn't say that I've quite punched it, but the acceleration is definitely exhilarating and sometimes it's hard to restrain myself.

 

[StEVen]

Hi guys. Brand new here from Austin TX. Your forum has been a wonderful resource. Thank you. I ended up with a lime green '15 that was only driven about 324 miles a month, not a scratch on it. I'm not positive but I don't think the previous owner didn't DCFC much due to the cobwebs I found under the orange flap I was also smiling when I found a nice aftermarket level 2 EVSE in the hatch. A small bit of luck I guess. I changes the cabin air filter, put some speakers in and tinted the two un-tinted windows to match and I'm all set for now. My 10 mile total commute leaves lots of juice left for tooling all over town. Even here in the hill country I'm getting over 5.0mi/kwh so happy there too. I have only seen 1 other blue Spark EV here in town but there is no shortage of Leaf's and Tesla's.

 

[evolv]

small chirps

Said no Ecopia tire ever. (More like little sneezes if you're lucky.)

I know many have upgraded. But has anyone posted their 0-60's with them? Have to think with any traction, breaking into the 6's becomes quite feasible. Or are we really that much slower than a Bolt? (And then of course there's the methodology issue...)

Would love to do it, but becomes a tougher sell to the management when your car just came with new fronts.

 

[SparkE]

Hi guys. Brand new here from Austin TX. Your forum has been a wonderful resource. Thank you. I ended up with a lime green '15 that was only driven about 324 miles a month, not a scratch on it. I'm not positive but I don't think the previous owner didn't DCFC much due to the cobwebs I found under the orange flap I was also smiling when I found a nice aftermarket level 2 EVSE in the hatch. A small bit of luck I guess. I changes the cabin air filter, put some speakers in and tinted the two un-tinted windows to match and I'm all set for now. My 10 mile total commute leaves lots of juice left for tooling all over town. Even here in the hill country I'm getting over 5.0mi/kwh so happy there too. I have only seen 1 other blue Spark EV here in town but there is no shortage of Leaf's and Tesla's.

Living in Texas (where it might get very hot) I would suggest not filling your Spark (to full) every time you plug it in. By now you should have figured out about how many miles of range show on the guess-o-meter when full. So, just figure out 'about' how many miles of range you are comfortable with when leaving home, and fill up to that, not more than about 80% full. Yeah, it involves thinking about it, and a small bit of mental calc ("gee, it's showing 35 miles, and it normally shows 100 when full, so I want to add about 45 miles, and that's about 3 hours on the level-2 EVSE - I'll come out and unplug in 3 hours."). It becomes 2nd nature and really easy to do after about a week.

Keeping the range of the battery between 30-80% *in general* should help prolong the life of the battery. You shouldn't worry about it too much (say, if you fill to full "by accident"), but if your "default" mode (when it is easy) is to baby the battery, then your battery might just baby you over the years.

Some people say it isn't necessary, but my reasoning is that if an extra 15 or 45 seconds of thinking or planning or doing when parking the car *might* prolong the battery health, then it is worth doing even if it has no effect at all. Well, so long as you don't fixate on it - just try and do it most of the time.