Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
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Interestingly, the Spark EUV ships with support for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard – two technologies that GM claim lead to “unsafe” driver in North America.
Both of those technologies make driving safer, because everyone knows how to use their phone, and these interfaces are very uniform across vehicles. Without these, you have to figure out how to use "random manufacturer's interface of the moment" in every different car.
That might be true for people who are hopping between cars all the time or something. I don't see how this applies to the typical driver though.
I wish someone made a compact car with this square design. I want another Honda e, I don't want a crossover.
Hard agree. Hatch storage is negated with a slanting rear design. What's the point of all the trunk space if the door sits low anyway. That's why I loved my Kia Soul. Too bad I had to give it up because of the theft issues.
The Toyota Compact Cruiser EV concept still lives rent free in my head
It’s a real shame this won’t be at all possible to acquire in North America.
Also a shame that it’s another crossover
Big, ugly, crap range. GM just doesn't get it anymore. Make an electric car that's not an ugly piece of crap and they might sell some.
220 miles of range is plenty for a commuter car for a family with a 2nd car with more range. Not everything needs to be a 1 car solution.
I bet in the winter in the upper midwest that range drops to like 110 miles.
I have a Chevy Bolt with identical range and can confirm that range is halved in Winter. Still no big deal in urban areas. My 1-hour commute to the other side of the city is only 8 miles. I just charge the car every-other week for an hour. Ezpz.
From what I'm reading the Chevy bolt does not have a heat pump and it seems that most of your commute is just standing still in traffic.
In these conditions it makes sense that range goes down in winter but for longer drive with a more recent EV it's not really an issue anymore.
I barely noticed any difference in range in winter compared to summer with my EV. I have to admit though that winters are quite mild here.
8 miles in one hour? At that point you could almost bike if it wasn't freezing. You could bike at a steady 10mph, though it would take nearly an hour.
Sadly there is absolutely no safe way to bike from my home to my work.
Rated range, meaning 100%-0% in near-ideal conditions, drops significantly in the winter. Battery conditioning and a cold start can drop it by 35% if it's using resistive heat (as opposed to a heat pump), plus reserve capacity on both sides (you don't usually want to go below 20% or above 80%, to maintain battery health).
I recommend people take the listed rating and cut it in half for real world use in bad conditions. For instance, if you need to travel somewhere that's 75 miles away (150 round trip) in the middle of winter without charging, then you need a battery rated for 300 miles. You can obviously get by with less if charging along the way is viable, and these are just estimates. If your route is 80 mph, it will suck down a lot more juice than the same distance at 55.
It's ugly and high, but not big:
Length 3,381 mm (133.1 in)
Width 1,685 mm (66.3 in)
Height 1,721 mm (67.8 in)
Kerb weight 1,006 kg (2,218 lb).
Man, that curb weight seems completely off for that tall of a vehicle. If it's true, than sure it's just tall and ugly and not that heavy. Sport Utility Vehicles that aren't sporty, don't have much utility should just be cars. Tall vehicles objectively drive worse, and are less safe for everyone.
How is the weight so low¿? It is not small enough to be just a ton
Because cars made for the US have tons of extra stuff and weight for safety and cars made for other countties don't have to have it.
I wouldn't want it if it was. GM quality is notoriously terrible. Look at their 4 cyl turbo engines in the past decade. I'd rather buy a Hyundai than a GM and Hyundai engine quality has been shit since firever.
Me neither. I used to work at an auto shop and the cars that needed struts and shocks and wheel bearings replaced at the 6 year point or earlier were all GM.
That being said, I still want it available in the North American market. There are so few EVs available in Canada. More diversity and price points would be nice. EVs here are strictly luxury cars. There isn’t a single cheap EV available.
Will nobody advocate for incremental improvements on the original SparkEV?
It's sad, because it's a tiny hatchback with full headroom and decent legroom in the back (for two), C3 charging rate, 240ft-lbs of torque (too much!), and a good balance of cheap and usable.
It needed better range, even just a bit more at 130km on a nice day or 80km in winter. Storage is tiny, but the hatch and shape make up for that when you put rear seats down.
While it was a compliance car without the skateboard chassis, it was a great first BEV attempt, and the tiny efficiency of the design works because even with a Chevy badge it's primarily a Korean car.
The category is something we need a lot more of. It's reasonable to not haul around huge battery packs for errands and commute.
Not everyone needs wild west intercity commuting range. Last intercity trip I took in the SparkEV required a 10-minute charge to make the 160km round trip, no biggie really since I had to answer a phone call anyway.
Yes, we have a long range vehicle too as we live in the countryside, but in different circumstances we would probably just rent for the long road trips, or car co-op.
It looks pretty good in my opinion. At least better than most electric SUVs.
It looks like the trucks children draw in preschool. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess, but this and every other SUV looks terrible to me. Bulbasaur has better aerodynamics than this brick with wheels.