Chevrolet Spark EV 2013 Review - International

A Barina Spark with almost double the standard model’s wattage and five-times the torque? Sounds quite the novelty, doesn’t it? But it’s not Holden’s answer to Nissan’s crazy Juke R. It is in fact the rather sensible second chapter in GM’s global electrification strategy.

Sensible, but far from dull. And pretty practical, too. And maybe even something half way to a bargain. For an EV, at least...

The world’s biggest car maker will use the upcoming LA Motor Show to whip the covers off a new version of its smallest car, the Chevrolet-branded Spark EV. That’s some months before it reaches showroom floors next northern summer, but when it goes to market it will come with several selling points standing it in good stead against its petrol sibling and other EVs.

Firstly, it has big muscles. Its 100kW output approaches double that of the 1.2-litre petrol engine’s 59kW, while a crazy sounding 542Nm makes the original’s 107Nm sound as puny as, well, as it is. And true to the tradition of electric motors, it serves up all that twist in full from the moment your foot goes down.

However, it’s not the tar-tearing spectacle it sounds. We can put that down partly to a considerable weight disadvantage, partly to a planetary gear-set at the output end that softens the blow on its final drive, helping keep it nicer for longer.

GM hasn’t revealed the vehicle’s exact poundage, but at 254kg, the 336-cell lithium-ion battery pack under the rear seat, although relatively compact by normal standards, effectively sits two obese grown-ups over the back axle. And that’s before the real grown-ups climb in – possible, given the Spark EV preserves in full the donor car’s comparatively generous rear seat space.

With sports suspension to help offset the weight disadvantage, the Spark EV is palpably perkier than the its petrol counterpart. Even on a drive program taking in just a couple of kilometres looping around Sausalito’s Fort Baker, it proved itself a load of fun. GM claims a sub-eight second 0-100km/h sprint – a reliable local figure for the petrol Spark is nowhere to be found, but it’s certainly a lot slower than that.

Like Audi’s electric concepts and Nissan’s LEAF, it uses its weight to good effect in creating a meaty, solid feel that’s absent in the donor car. It negotiates speed bumps without crash or bounce, and lifting your foot when coasting, even on the flat at low speed, sees it just roll and roll forever.

Inside, it’s immediately differentiated from the standard car by a complete cockpit makeover dispensing with the original Spark’s motorcycle-style instrument panel in favour of something more Volt. Driver information is care of a control screen atop the centre stack and a main instrument binnacle featuring a large digital speedo with trip computing figures in the centre, flanked by a charge gauge power re-gen gauges.

General Motors is still finalising an official range figure for the Spark EV, but it’s thought to be in the vicinity of 200km. It’s still pretty rubbery on most of the interesting metrics – “over 100kW”, “about 400lb-ft” (542Nm), a battery capacity of “more than 20kWh” etc., but have promised to nail things down in time for the public reveal at LA.

Of course, they also remain tight-lipped on price. But count on it being affordable – the symposium at which the company introduced media to the car was convened largely to express how serious the company is not just about electrification but about popularising it sooner rather than later.

Another major point of attraction lies in the Spark EV’s standard fast-charge fitment, allowing what we repeatedly heard would be a flat-to-80 per cent charge in just 20 minutes, less if the battery’s not flat.

The marketing stuff can get a bit misleading here, encouraging the uninitiated to believe they can just pop their little car on the end of a wire and whacko, twenty minutes later they’re free to drive a hundred kays or more. That’s quite true, as long as the wire comes out of a special three-phase, high-voltage, high-amp, almost-nowhere-to-be-found power outlet, often double or more the output of the stock domestic plug. The charge times out of a stock domestic outlet are decidedly less exciting – think six hours or overnight.

But back to the good news. In pondering price, consider this. The Volt lists in the US for USD$40,000, dropping below $30,000 in some areas by the time $7500 federal incentive and state subsidies like California’s $3500 offer are factored in.

An important part the Spark EV’s development strategy entailed dipping into the existing parts box. It borrows about 75 per cent of its propulsion componentry from the Volt and other existing GM hybrid product, meaning they’ve put plenty of thought in to production cost-efficiency.

With suggestions of a sub-$30,000 list price, it could sneak in under $20,000 [in the USA].

GM Holden says the Spark EV is not on its horizon - yet - but GM's Senior Vice-Presiodent of Global Product Development Mary Barra says it’s been developed as a global product and of course they’d like to see it everywhere.

At a time when the EV's fortunes could do with a lift, so would we.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site