There are still hot-rodders at Chevy, and they work in the electric-car division. “Build a small EV,” the management said. “We’ll stuff a high-output motor in a tiny car,” the engineers said. And they did. When the Spark EV begins arriving at dealers in the summer of 2013, it’ll be powered by a 134-hp electric motor; the gasoline Spark has just 84 hp. Even better, the electric motor makes five times the torque of the gasoline engine, delivering 400 lb-ft instead of 83. GM estimates a 0-to-60 time in the high-seven-second range. Realistic? Based on short drives in several pre-production vehicles, absolutely. Here’s what else you can expect from the Spark EV, which is still undergoing final calibration and tweaking:
Range
The battery pack should store 20 kWh of juice, giving the Spark EV a range of roughly 60 to 70 real-world miles. Its sibling, the Volt—a car from which the Spark EV’s engineers borrowed liberally—is good for 40 or so miles, while the Nissan Leaf averaged 58 miles in our testing.
Recharge Time
Plugged in to a 240-volt charger, the Spark would need about seven hours to go from drained to a full charge. That’s adequate, but the real pot of gold is the optional DC fast charging; it’ll enable an 80-percent recharge (from a completely dead car) in just 20 minutes. Since most people don’t coast their EVs up to charging stations on empty, that time is cut significantly if the battery still has 20 or 30 percent of charge left. That might still be too annoying to drive from New York to Washington, D.C., but it’s more than enough to use a Spark EV as a regional runabout. An engineer for the car says there’s no technological limit on the number or frequency of recharges.
Changes from the Gasoline Spark
For the parts you can see, the Spark EV looks rather similar to a conventional Spark. There are a few minor cosmetic changes, almost entirely made in the name of aerodynamics: There’s a rear spoiler, underbody air management, active grille shutters, and smoother front and rear fasciae. A keen eye could spot wider rear tires. The interior isn’t much different either, which switches for a few more features and a standard infotainment system, but there’s no difference in volume or space, and no bulges in the rear floor.
Under the skin, though, things are very different. All told, the battery pack adds about 560 pounds to the Spark, requiring accommodation not just for the space it takes up but the weight it adds to the rear. As a result, the Spark’s entire suspension has been redone, with different springs and damping up front and a major redesign in the rear to accommodate for the battery pack, featuring a new rear axle and torsion beam. Considering electric motors and systems put out higher-frequency sounds than gasoline engines, different isolation is used.
Features
The Spark EV isn’t meant to be a high-end car, so it won’t be absurdly loaded, but it will carry a solid complement of features. Automatic headlights and heated front seats are standard, as is the normally optional—and very good—touch-screen media system, which in essence just displays apps from your smartphone. GM and OnStar are rolling out several smartphone apps for the Spark EV, too, for tracking energy use, paying for charging at public stations, and scheduling home charging.
Pricing and Availability
Not yet and not yet. GM is looking to be competitive with other pure EVs on pricing, and we’re guessing an MSRP in the high $20,000s—and that’s before the $7500 federal tax credit. The availability is the bigger concern. General Motors is insistent that the Spark EV isn’t being built just to satisfy the government, as are some other vehicles—those would be the Fiat 500E and Scion iQ EV, among others—but so far, sales are only planned for California and South Korea, where the Spark is assembled. We do expect to see 50-state sales for the Spark EV eventually, though, and GM will be offering an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the battery pack.
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