2014 Chevrolet Spark EV: Sneak peek at quick-charging rocket (Wheels.ca)

[ne_one]

2014 Chevrolet Spark EV: Sneak peek at quick-charging rocket
Wheels.ca
November 16, 2012
by Gerry Malloy

General Motors will officially reveal its Chevrolet Spark EV battery-electric vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show Nov. 29. But I got behind the wheel of a near-production prototype.

Today’s electric vehicles (EVs) are no longer the glorified golf-carts of their early predecessors. They are real cars with all the qualities, features and characteristics of their siblings except that they’re powered electrically. Such is the case for the Spark EV.

Getting in the car and firing it up, I followed the same ritual as for a regular Spark. Except that, pushing the start button resulted only in the instrument cluster lighting up.

There was no sound of an engine coming to life, or of electronic control systems buzzing or whining as commonly happened in more primitive iterations of many electric vehicles.

In lieu of an idling engine, an orange light in the cluster signalled that the car was ready to go, so I shifted into drive — via a conventional PRNDS shifter — released the electric parking brake, squeezed the accelerator pedal, and we were off. Smoothly.

My first surprise, on a slightly winding bit of the driving course, was that steering seemed both moderately boosted and precise, with an agreeable level of feel and feedback — not always the case with electrically power-assisted systems.

The next surprise was over the braking, where the usual non-linearity in response that identifies a regenerative braking system — which helps recharge the batteries — just wasn’t apparent. It felt like a normal car.

But the biggest surprise came when I turned onto a moderate length straightaway and tipped into the “throttle.” The Spark leaped, with hot-hatch-like performance.

Full article at link.

[MechEng]

It's coming to CANADA!

I hope it is reasonably priced. This could be a second car for us. I look foward to driving it.

[zete]

It's coming to CANADA!

I hope it is reasonably priced. This could be a second car for us. I look foward to driving it.

So much for it being solely a "compliance car for California" then, eh?

[Tre-Tre]

I myself if I had to go that route, I'd choose the Volt. But then again it's good to see GM broaden their EV offerings leading, as opposed to following some other manufacturers success after the fact.

[scout62]

Do the last few lines of the article make any sense to anyone else?

[HermPerez]

probably a slip of the finger on the keyboard

[chakis24]

Do the last few lines of the article make any sense to anyone else?

wait, you actually read the article? who does that, honestly? dont you know youre supposed to read the title and the 3 paragraph blurb and the draw your conclusions from that? thats internet 101.

[Gm786]

If I was GM I would change or find a new supplier for their batteries because A123 went bankrupt although control is being ported over to another company's management. Either way, I don't picture myself buying a Spark anytime soon though it may appeal to the Smart For Two buyers.

[johnstarnes]

I'd love to know the cD of this car.

[johnny smallblock]

Do the last few lines of the article make any sense to anyone else?

It sounds like he's referring to the regular, non-EV, Spark. "It uses gas and lacks the thrust of all the torque." A paragraph probably got cut and no one noticed the last sentence related to it.

[germeezy1]

Who would have thought that GM who invented in many ways the hybrid as we know it, and the truly mainstream electric car as we know it would not be evolving so fast as far as electrification is concerned?