Chevy Spark EV

Chevy brought their Spark EV to the auto show. Looks like competition at the i level.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/photogalleries/hands-on-inside-chevys-spunky-spark-ev/

$32,500 and a car-estimated 74 mile range. I guess we'll see if GM lets this EV out of their hands and sell them, or will it be lease only?

The only issue with Chevy is the fact they refuse to adapter the standard connection for charging. Not Cool.

MitsuMike said:

The only issue with Chevy is the fact they refuse to adapter the standard connection for charging. Not Cool.

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I'm not sure what you mean by that. CHAdeMO is not going to be the standard in the U.S., if that's what you mean (though I do hold out hope it will be included in Level 3 charging stations deployed during the next few years), so it's hardly surprising that GM won't be delivering a brand new EV with that connector. Instead, they will be delivering the SparkEV with a connection for the SAE Combo charger, which will be the standard in the U.S. I really don't think it's fair to tag GM as "Not Cool" for following the national standard, even if it's not compatible with the CHAdeMO interface on [some of] our cars.

On the other hand, "Not Cool" is a very fair characterization of the anti-CHAdeMO blather that GM spokesholes spew in public meetings (and I'm sure at least as much behind closed doors), where they actively lobby against including CHAdeMO in public Level 3 charging stations. Since the SparkEV is a year away and there will be NO cars with the SAE Combo port before that, that's just straight up dog in the manger stuff.

PV1 said:

I guess we'll see if GM lets this EV out of their hands and sell them, or will it be lease only?

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As of now, I think the plan is to have for sale as well as lease. I think the larger question is if they'll let this EV out beyond the West Coast; they haven't been very clear about production targets either. Until those questions are cleared up, we have to assume this is just a CA-compliance EV like Honda's Fit or Toyo's RAV4.

Are there any SAE quick chargers installed, or any planned? I guess we'll be seeing a battle of the plugs for quick charging. I have a feeling CHAdeMO may win out here, based on the number of chargers already installed, plus the 40,000+ cars with the port. I like the idea of an all-in-one plug, but it should have been standardized well before the LEAF was released in the US.

And then there's Tesla... :mrgreen:

Honda Fit EV, tell me that won't be an EV1, EV+ repeat. Lease only, only in California!?

CHAdeMO is not going to be the standard in the U.S.

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J1772 and the Yazaki plug in particular is not the standard in Germany/Europe.

The result we have charge points where you cannot charge and we have useless Yazaki sockets in our cars not to mention useless EVSEs in each and everery trunk. We have CEE 400V/32A and CEE 400V/16A and CEE 230V/16A and a plethora of local power sockets.

But we do have a defacto standard for fast chargers because all of them cars and chargers as well have CHAdeMO. I am glad we do not need another bag of adapters in our trunk. Too sad there are so few of them CHAdeMO chargers yet.

peterdambier said:

J1772 and the Yazaki plug in particular is not the standard in Germany/Europe.

The result we have charge points where you cannot charge and we have useless Yazaki sockets in our cars not to mention useless EVSEs in each and everery trunk

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You don't use a J1772 EVSE to charge your car? :?

Don

Marketing note: in all the writeups about the Chevy Spark EV, I have only seen "less than $25,000, after rebates". Nowhere does GM or a writer identify its sticker price.

Our base iMiEV is less expensive. I suspect our iMiEV is also roomier inside and has the SparkEV beat in a number of other categories, but we'll have to wait for feature-by-feature comparisons.

Meanwhile, after over 9000 miles, we continue to be very impressed by the overall excellence of our little iMiEV as a daily driver - to use a well-worn phrase, it sure has exceeded our expectations!

Many cars, I guess most of our cars the conversions in particular dont have a Yazaki plug or the J1772 logic implemented.

Those few who have it mostly use it to connect an adapter to either CEE or local mains power plugs.

Very few charging points exist with Yazaki plug and cable and I guess just as many fast chargers with CHAdeMO do exist, if not more.

I have heard most cars with Yazaki plug and J1772 can charge without an EVSE and try it I will.

I have been a hamradio operator for almost 40 years now and I have built part of my equipment myself and survived :mrgreen:

In Germany we do have a car industry who has burnt millions of money and 3 years to invent a plug nobody needs (RWE/Mennekes). Same goes for France (Schneider/Marechal) both will never accept Yazaki they declared. Interestingly enough there do exist some CHAdeMO hot spots in Europe and in France in particular. I cherish the idea when German power companies succeed to win a majority over french plugs France will drown us in CHAdeMO quick chargers :lol:

We do have a national show case with cars you cannot buy and I'd love to throw a hammer into their windows to free the cars so they can roam the streets and finally find a power socket for themselves :twisted:

Please excuse my rant