My next EV: Other EVs to consider

[camiev]

I have a Miev and pretty happy with mine. I am considering buying another EV.
Here in CA here is my upcomming choices. Let me know what you think.

Chevy Spark EV Priced at $19,995 After Federal Incentive; 36-Month Lease is $199 Per Month With $999 Down
http://myimiev.com/forum/posting.php?mode=post&f=12

Spark EV: Pretty aggressive pricing from GM. Maybe around 7K more than Miev. The specs (demenssion) almost identical to Miev. Longer range. A bit more than the Miev now. Better battery TMS (same as Volt).
CCS quick-charge option? I don’t think we will see any CCS quick-charge option any time soon. Who will committ to install? GM? Others will not install it because only Spark EV use this? Spark EV is a compliance car with limited production. Nissan and Mitsu use the DC quick charge. Does anyone have any idea on the roll out plan of CCS? Thx


Fiat 500e Pricing Is A Pleasant Surpise At $32,500, Leases From $199/month
http://insideevs.com/fiat-500e-pricing-is-a-pleasant-surpise-at-32500-leases-from-199month/
-I never drive a Fiat before. 2 doors is a draw back for me. Don't know Fiat reliability althought interior looks good. This is their first EV. No quick charge.

Another Miev? If these 2 come out. I can see MiEV price will drop a couple thousands more. So should I get another MiEV. After the rebate, it will be under 10K.

Question: On the Leaf, you can upgrade to 6.6 kw charger for $1,300. Do you know if Miev can retrofited after market for 6.6 kw.

JoeS, if you want to get anther EV. What would you consider? Another Miev? Or others?

Thanks

 

[fjpod]

I'm honestly not looking for my next EV. I'm perfectly happy with my "small" if not peculiar iMiev. It's just the right size for my NYC commuting and errands, and parking.

Sure, I wish it had a little more range, (not looking for 150 miles. 100 would be nice). especially in the winter. I'm figuring my next expensive purchase will be an upgraded battery pack in 8 or 10 years. Or if the car itself doesn't hold up to abuse, I would probably buy another one by then, and presumably with an upgraded battery.

 

[RobertC]

The Chevy Spark EV has many similarities to the i-MiEV. It's a four-door that seats four. With an MSRP of $26,685 the Chevy Spark EV looks like it will be fun to drive, but initial availability will be limited to California and Oregon and will be available Summer 2013. You can pre order now.
Some of the differences are:
The Chevy Spark EV has a liquid heated/cooled battery.
The i-MiEV has a forced air heated/cooled battery using the air conditioner during DC fast charge. The Nissan Leaf has a resistance heater for the battery and uses passive air cooling (or no real cooling at all when the Leaf is parked or is being DC fast charged).
The Chevy Spark EV goes from 0-60 mph in 7.6 seconds, has a range of 82 miles with a 20 kWh battery, will be available with the optional SAE combo DC fast charge port that can charge the Spark to 80% in 20 minutes, and is front wheel drive.
The Chevy Spark EV's motor and battery will be manufactured in the US, shipped to South Korea where the rest of the car is manufactured, and shipped back to the US.
GM is already working on the next generation electric vehicle that will be built on a dedicated EV platform (not a conversion), and will also be manufactured in South Korea.

 

[jray3]

Yep, the Spark should be a pocket rocket with range to boot, but all accounts are that it feels claustrophobic next to an i. I sat in one at an auto show and agree, though haven't driven one yet. The Fiat is definitely the cutest EV on the market, but less practical than an i. The Spark looks generic to me, rather than the arguably cute i. The SMART just ain't.
I don't need or want two cars in the same category (electric 4 passenger minicommuter, gotta define those categories narrowly in order to justify the fleet), and plan to keep an i for the long term (though would be open to trading for one with CHAdeMO, if any of you in flyover country have a useless option) ;-).
My next replacement vehicle should be for the minivan. A 7-passenger Model S could almost fill that role today, and maybe in a few years when the SuperCharger network is mature, I'll be able to afford a used one! (Daughter 'inherits' the i in only 9 short years). Trouble is, our Y2k Honda van should last at least another decade in it's second-car status, as we're down to under 7k miles per year on that 22mpg guzzler, now that the i is doing 16k miles per year.
-Jay

 

[peterdambier]

Before Karin bought us Snowwhite I thought a range extender is a must. Today we are convinced a car who needs an enema of some smelly liquid to run is not an option.

A Tesla certainly is an option if we could find someone to pay for it. :lol:

There are few cars who can compete with an i-MiEV. More range, bigger battery, longer charge time. We do not own a garage. So a car who needs a wallbox to charge is not an option either.

In the end there is only i-MiEV or Leaf. We have seen a Leaf carrying a "small" CHAdeMO charger in its trunk and charging from 400V/32A, 3 phases of 230V AC. Interestingly enough the inventor of that little 20 kW CHAdeMO charger prefers the i-MiEV for himself. That little CHAdeMO can be programmed to charge only 10 kW or 400V/16A. At least there is a way to replace or supplement our builtin charger.

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

Hi Peter,
We have seen a Coffee and Charge brand, made I think in Switzerland, and aim to buy the large fixed model for at a shop or service station useage, and a smaller one for mobile use for our flat battery assistance trailer or truck.

Here is a page about it, the chargers I mean : http://www.evtec.ch/c5website/index.php/en/news/

Here is the Website of the makers of the brand or model of the charger we aim to use. http://www.evtec.ch/c5website/index.php/en/products/coffee_and_charge/

I note they are now being also sold in Australia too.

Jray3, Me too re the Tesla Model S, in fact my boss is in HK now, doing a test drive of one ! None here in NZ to test and no showroom in Australia yet set up, so I hope the test is good and he approves of me buying one. I showed him a youtube video of it one day and he said yes, buy it, then I told him the price.... so Maybe if we can get a cheaper version...or a showroom test car.

I'd be keen to talk with Tesla to see if they would be keen to assist in providing solar powered chargers in NZ.

I think we could get at least two places with suitable room on sites that would be keen to have the surplus power for running their shop . Solar / Grid Tie, to shop /mains back to charger. That would allow for sunny and non sunny days too.

 

[aarond12]

If I remember correctly, the Spark is supposed to use the new SAE charger standard -- not J1772. This could cause finding a public charging point a near impossibility. I wonder if it includes a J1772 adapter?

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

The Coffee and Charge ones that we are getting have both Combi and Chademo leads, plus the J1772 lead and another lead I am not familiar with.

So anything from an iMiEV to a Tesla will be fine / ok to charge at our stations.

We have ordered them as no payment required versions as that can be a problem with software and fobs not working, and as they are being mounted in remote locations, we want them to be trouble free.

We aim to get the repayment on investment via the iMiEVs being rented or hired out. If another car uses the charges we will simply count it as us doing our bit to promote electric car uptake.

 

[Don]

Sure, I wish it had a little more range, (not looking for 150 miles. 100 would be nice). especially in the winter. I'm figuring my next expensive purchase will be an upgraded battery pack in 8 or 10 years.

If I lived anywhere in 'cold country' my first purchase would be a Webasto diesel heater. The cars minimal, range robbing heating apparatus is barely adequate down here where we seldom if ever see freezing temps - I honestly don't understand how you guys up in the cold north get by with the heater we have. I read an article that many folks with iMiEV's in Norway install these heaters and they really put out a ton of heat using very little fuel. I think the tank only holds about a gallon. They mount under the hood and splice into the heater hose between the stock heater and the heat exchanger in the car, so the car's normal controls (fan and heat) control it. I think the price is around $1K

Don

 

[jray3]

If I remember correctly, the Spark is supposed to use the new SAE charger standard -- not J1772. This could cause finding a public charging point a near impossibility. I wonder if it includes a J1772 adapter?

Well not exactly, because the SAE standard is J1772 plus the two big DC pins. The SAE Frankenplug relies on the J1772 communications to control the DC current rather than a different protocol, as CHAdeMO does. I'm just thinking there must've been a reason that the Japanese decided to have all them extra communication wires and use the CANbus protocol rather than something independent of the vehicles' main computer...

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

maybe one of these for sports type car... 200 km range !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6XGapAznFE

 

[peterdambier]

Hi iMiEVNZ7,

that is the charger who came to visit us. One of them has removed the plumbing and has put the charger into the trunk of his i-MiEV. Has a lot of fun charging 3 phase with a car that was not made for 3 phase in the first place. :mrgreen:

Helped the boss to get the charger out of and later back into the Leaf. That is the version with the orange plumbing. Can easily be carried by two people. On its rolers it can be handled by a single person.

Good thing for europeans, our biggest plug that can be installed and used without bribing the red tape department is 400V/32A or 20 kilowatts. That is what this charger is made for.

Cheers
Peter and Karin

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Kia has announced a Soul EV:

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/24/kial-soul-ev-35000-with-a-120-mile-range/

 

[danpatgal]

(Daughter 'inherits' the i in only 9 short years).-Jay

I also have a daughter slated to get our raspberry i in 9 years (our son wants an electric Mustang - if they ever make one, I might have to get one for him/me ).

Our next EV was going to be some kind of PHEV like the Ford C-max Energi, but it just doesn't have the cargo capacity we need and now have in our Focus Wagon.

 

[MLucas]

I have a Miev and pretty happy with mine. I am considering buying another EV.
Here in CA here is my upcomming choices. Let me know what you think.

Chevy Spark EV Priced at $19,995 After Federal Incentive; 36-Month Lease is $199 Per Month With $999 Down
http://myimiev.com/forum/posting.php?mode=post&f=12

I've seen Spark ICEs around Buffalo and personally, I think they are butt ugly. I wouldn't drive one even though some of the specs are very nice. The other problem, they are compliance cars and not available in this area at all. We still only have the i-MiEV, Leaf or re-Volt-ing options. I'll take the i-MiEV everytime. Been away for a week and 1/2 on vacation and just got back, what a pleasure to drive the i-MiEV.

 

[camiev]

Thank you for the feedback. I would like to get all the feedbacks I can to make the decision in couple months.
For Spark EV, it looks just like the regular Spark, so that is a drawback.
Battery with TMS and 0-60 under 8 seconds are big pluses.

I have a Miev and pretty happy with mine. I am considering buying another EV.
Here in CA here is my upcomming choices. Let me know what you think.

Chevy Spark EV Priced at $19,995 After Federal Incentive; 36-Month Lease is $199 Per Month With $999 Down
http://myimiev.com/forum/posting.php?mode=post&f=12

I've seen Spark ICEs around Buffalo and personally, I think they are butt ugly. I wouldn't drive one even though some of the specs are very nice. The other problem, they are compliance cars and not available in this area at all. We still only have the i-MiEV, Leaf or re-Volt-ing options. I'll take the i-MiEV everytime. Been away for a week and 1/2 on vacation and just got back, what a pleasure to drive the i-MiEV.

 

[aarond12]

The ICE Chevy Sonic/Spark is 116th out of 116 vehicles for owner satisfaction in the UK.

http://insideevs.com/beyond-the-numbers-the-spark-ev-is-priced-well-on-paper-at-27495-but-will-it-sell/

They better get their game together if this tiny car will do even that well in the US market.

The less-expensive Tesla will be available in around 5 years. By less expensive, they mean "under $40K". That makes for a reasonable choice. My i-MiEV lease expires in 2 years, so I'll have to lease another EV until the new Tesla comes out.

The Focus Electric seems like a good choice, but looking at their forum, too many are having serious issues with "Stop Safely Now", where the car completely loses power in the middle of the highway. No thank you. I'm not going to alpha-test a car.
I have concerns about the LEAF and its hot weather performance. Here in Dallas, summers typically have 30+ days over 100 degrees F consecutively. Without some thermal management system, I'm concerned.
Mitsubishi is still in the EV game. It will be interesting to see what they're bringing to the table in 2-5 years.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

The Honda Fit EV is now $0 down on a 3 year lease, $259/month with no mileage limit, and it includes collision insurance and all maintenance.

 

[aarond12]

The Honda Fit EV is now $0 down on a 3 year lease, $259/month with no mileage limit, and it includes collision insurance and all maintenance.

I wonder what will become of all those Fit EVs at the end of the lease. I hope they will not become like the EV1. I don't like how you can't buy these cars.

 

[misterbleepy]

I have been interested by this car:

http://www.loremo.com

Through google translate to english:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.loremo.com

A video of the EV version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__Oz4amWkY&feature=player_embedded

but it seems like it is not yet in production. Hopefully it will get built (and people will buy it).
I really like the idea of designing the whole car for efficiency - low weight, low wind resistance, economical power source.