Automotive

Chevrolet Spark EV to be priced under $25,000 with tax incentives

Chevrolet Spark EV to be priced under $25,000 with tax incentives
The Spark EV has two LCDs to give the driver all the info they need © General Motors
The Spark EV has two LCDs to give the driver all the info they need © General Motors
View 18 Images
The cargo area of the Spark EV © General Motors
1/18
The cargo area of the Spark EV © General Motors
The drivers view inside the Spark EV © General Motors
2/18
The drivers view inside the Spark EV © General Motors
The Spark EV driving on the track © General Motors
3/18
The Spark EV driving on the track © General Motors
Detailed breakdown of the Spark EV's interior features © General Motors
4/18
Detailed breakdown of the Spark EV's interior features © General Motors
The Spark EV © General Motors
5/18
The Spark EV © General Motors
The Spark EV comes with Siri support for iPhone users © General Motors
6/18
The Spark EV comes with Siri support for iPhone users © General Motors
The Spark EV has two LCDs to give the driver all the info they need © General Motors
7/18
The Spark EV has two LCDs to give the driver all the info they need © General Motors
The taillights of the Spark EV © General Motors
8/18
The taillights of the Spark EV © General Motors
The Spark EV charging © General Motors
9/18
The Spark EV charging © General Motors
The side view of the Spark EV © General Motors
10/18
The side view of the Spark EV © General Motors
Breakdown of the exterior features of the Spark EV © General Motors
11/18
Breakdown of the exterior features of the Spark EV © General Motors
The rear quarter view of the Spark EV © General Motors
12/18
The rear quarter view of the Spark EV © General Motors
One of the LCDs in the Spark EV © General Motors
13/18
One of the LCDs in the Spark EV © General Motors
The front quarter of the Spark EV © General Motors
14/18
The front quarter of the Spark EV © General Motors
The Spark EV shifter © General Motors
15/18
The Spark EV shifter © General Motors
The Spark EV can drive in HOV lanes in California © General Motors
16/18
The Spark EV can drive in HOV lanes in California © General Motors
The front end of the Spark EV with the HOV approved sticker © General Motors
17/18
The front end of the Spark EV with the HOV approved sticker © General Motors
Close look at the rear of the Spark EV © General Motors
18/18
Close look at the rear of the Spark EV © General Motors
View gallery - 18 images

Chevrolet recently announced a slew of details about its upcoming electric Spark EV, breaking down specifics of the engine and giving us a general idea of what to expect from the car. A couple of details were left out, however, most notably the price. Well, the company has now announced that, after tax breaks, the Spark EV will cost under US$25,000.

The Spark EV's electric drive system delivers 130 hp (110 kW) and 400 lb.-ft. (542 Nm) of torque but Chevrolet is still yet to reveal how far one full battery charge will carry you, saying only that the EV will have a "range among (the) best in EV segment." We'll have to wait and see what that actually means in terms of real numbers.

Chevrolet has also unveiled a little more information about the interior of the car. The Spark EV will have two seven-inch LCDs that display infotainment and key vehicle information including the expected range based on driving habits and other conditions. The company's MyLink smartphone integration system comes standard and Siri is also built-in (but you need to own an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 to use it).

While no exact list price has been given for the Spark, GM says the new EV will be "priced under $25,000 with tax incentives." Electric car purchasers in the US receive a $7500 tax credit, so this would put the Spark's MSRP at around $32,500.

The initial markets for the Spark EV will be California, Oregon, Canada and South Korea.

Source: GM

View gallery - 18 images
9 comments
9 comments
JBar
Yet another economy car selling for $10K more than its fossil fuel alternative. If you want green cars make the source of thier fuel green...go nuclear. Put 50 nuclear power plants on 50 military bases in each of the 50 United States. Use the heat of the reactors to dissociate water into oxygen and hydrogen. Use this hydrogen to power communter vehicles. Save the oil and natural gas to power trucks and trains. Stop burning natural gas in power plants and residential heating. Think strategically and all your problems are EASILY solved. On a side note...I recently installed a 5KWatt solar array on my house. Even if the materials were completely free, the power yield divided by installation costs alone is 3Xs current energy costs. Solar is a crock and always will be. Stop throwing government subsidies at it.
Dave B13
The car looks about the size of a Honda Fit Takes 8 seconds to go from 0 to 60 (presume MPH) HAS 400 FOOT POUNDS OF TORQUE So does it weigh 8 tons ? Is the unibody made of Gold ? Does it take a gigantic crane to change the battery ? How much does the thing weigh?
Daishi
EV aside the dash looks really sleek. I wish auto manufacturers would start using the space for LCD screens to insert a swapable touch screen tablet. Even if it is proprietary if consumers have the ability to replace it with another 7" GM tablet for instance in 5 years it would really increase the longevity of the vehicle.
I looked at a used Lincoln for instance, I think it was a 2009 or 20010 that had a built in LCD with GPS and I couldn't get over how antique the dated computer made the vehicle seem because computer technology moves so quickly compared to everything else on the automobile. This is mostly how I think people will view 2012 vehicles in 2015 or 2016 unless companies start building an upgrade path for onboard computers/screens.
Mark Beardsley
Dave, Motortrend said the prototype they tested weighed 3000 pound, which is around 336 pounds less than the Leaf with half again the torque. The Spark EV length is a couple inches less than a Mina and a couple more than a 500, so it is solidly in the mini car territory, but the back seat of the Spark is tight but not tiny. If this car does have an MSRP of $34,900 the first year, I wonder what deals you will be able to make with Chevy in 6 months or so. You can get base model Volts down from MSRP by $3,000 now, and the loaded ones sometimes sell for $5,000 less than MSRP. I can see the Spark nearly doing this well (well for buyers) within a year.
dkmiller26
I hope that the instrument panel is a mock-up. It is showing 90% charge, and only 25 miles range. I do like the fact that they made it very similar to the panel in my Volt.
Guillaume Levesque
Something is strange here, at 400 foot/pound and 130 hp, it means the motor's max RPM is merely 1700 RPM??
It means that assuming wheel size and top speed to be comparable to the Nissan Leaf, we get the following. Wheel 205/55R16 and top speed is 90 mph, the actual ratio from motor to road is about 23:1.
So that's where all the torque and acceleration went :)
A side comment on the Nuclear reactor suggestion, Nuclear energy is NOT green. Not counting a meltdown, just look at the half life of nuclear waste.
Ross Nicholson
I just wonder when style will be replaced by aerodynamics. This car could be roomier and more slippery. Open wheel wells are air anchors, so is a square shape. It needs a boat tail, closed wheel wells, smooth body everywhere, and range will improve as well as higher top speed. We need to build cars from light weight components, like carbon fiber. I'm waiting for a truly aerodynamic carbon fiber electric car.
Marcel Noë
Solar Energy is the FUTURE. Wind also in many cases. Prices of solar cells are dropping down everyday whilst their captivity is increasing. Quieter more efficient wind turbines are also coming to the fore. YES CLEAN/GREEN is the way to go.
pointyup
@ Guillaume C Levesque, Nuclear is not a thing to be feared. The solutions are as simple as 123 1 sell the waste to FRANCE. They have a 500 year supply of energy but are now selling power to GERMANY and will need more. 2 Texas is dotted with oil wells, drop the waste into a well and fill it with concrete. Or better still fill it with bentonite so recovery is easier when America wakes up to the value of "nuclear waste". 3 In between earthquakes drill a deep hole in the fault line so that future earth quakes will carry the waste deeper and there by dilute and distance it from fraidy cats. Once upon a time there was wood fires. Then came coal fire and steam. Then a great leap forward and petroleum. Now we are on th brink of NUCLEAR. and traffic will flow like electrons in an orderly fashon, and we will be driving electric cars that think for the idiots that will still infest the roads