Two-Time Winner of KBB's 5-Year Cost-to-Own Award
The kicker? It's just as efficient as the Spark EV. Yet we know the Spark EV has a longer range, so what's with the $3,000 price difference.Īnother Spark EV competitor, the Fiat 500e, actually starts at $33,200, meaning it costs $7,000 more. For comparison, the Nissan Leaf starts at $29,010 before it gets the same incentives. This is before the state and federal-level tax credits, which can total up to $10,000, making the price of the Spark EV just under $15,000 overall. In California, you'll receive $1,000 Maryland you'll get $1,200 and Oregon you can get $3,500. If you decide to buy the Spark EV, Chevy will also give you bonus cash as an extra incentive. On top of this, the company is offering one of the most affordable leases available today: $139 per month with zero down. In April 2015, GM discounted the Spark EV by $1,650 to a low price of $25,995.
Overall, it's clear that the EPA estimates are fairly low and the Spark EV has a good range advantage over the Nissan Leaf.
The 2012 Leaf's calculated range was 88.7 miles, while the newer 2013 model dropped to 81.7 miles. The Leaf was tested with two vehicles, a 2012 model and a 2013 model. According to EPA estimates, the Nissan Leaf has a range of about 75 miles, while the Chevy Spark EV has a range of 82 miles.Īfter completing the test and going through some complicated calculations, InsideEVs determined that the Spark EV actually has a range somewhere around 97.8 miles. In a test by popular electric car blog, InsideEVs, a tester was sent on an 80-mile loop through San Diego while traveling an average of 62 miles per hour. Just as fuel efficiency is important for subcompact cars, like the original Chevy Spark, buyers want an electric car that can go the furthest on a single charge. Spark EV Beats Nissan Leaf in Total Rangeįor fully-electric cars, range is everything. So for the record, the Spark EV is not a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, it's a fully-electric car that produces no emissions and runs purely on its internal battery power. The difference is, if you need the extra distance, it's there for convenience. These plug-in hybrids are becoming more and more popular because owners can go about their daily business, come home, charge it up, and as long as you don't go over the electric range it can function as if it were a fully-electric car. Once the electric battery power runs out, however, the Volt automatically switches over and starts functioning like a regular car. The Chevy Volt, on the other hand, is actually what we would call a plug-in hybrid, as it has an electric motor, which can power the vehicle to a certain range without relying on the traditional internal combustion engine at all. Its electric motor simply made it possible for the gasoline engine to work more efficiently, therefore using less gas and increasing the vehicle's overall mpg rating. This is because it could not run in a fully-electric mode for any amount of time. But the fact is, there's a lot of confusion out there in the market regarding terms used to describe vehicles.įor instance, the original Toyota Prius, the first successful "hybrid" car wasn't what we would necessarily call a plug-in hybrid. "Well, duh," you might be thinking to yourself, especially after reading the intro above. It's a Fully-Electric Car, Not a Plug-In Hybrid That news might seem bad, but the electric car movement that started in California is slowly spreading nationwide, and as Chevy releases its 200-mile Bolt nationwide during the 2017 model year, there's bound to be more demand for fully-electric vehicles.įor now, let's learn more about one of the vehicles that's working to spread the joy of electric cars: the Chevy Spark EV. It was created in order to meet the California state regulations that only allow auto makers with zero-emission vehicles in their line-up to sell ANY type of vehicle in the state.Īnd because the demand for fully-electric vehicles is so low as a whole, auto makers like Chevy can't afford to ramp up production on cars that will more than likely lose money due to the necessary advanced technology and overall low-production volume. Well the truth is, it's only available in California, Oregon, and Maryland. So what gives? Where is this mythical fully-electric Chevy? If you've been browsing cars at a Miami Chevy dealer recently, you probably wouldn't believe me because you wouldn't be able to find one on the lot. What would you say if I told you that Chevrolet already had a fully-electric car on the market? No, not the upcoming Bolt that you've probably been seeing in the news recently, but one that's been around for about two years now.