Just signed a else for a re-tread Honda EV.

[dwtaylorpdx]

Couldn't resist, 500 bucks (First payment and licensing fees) and I am driving it for 24 months 199.00 a month. Includes a level 2 charger, I only have to pay for liability, they are covering the insurance of the car itself. All maintenance covered except tires.

First week:
The regen braking is very impressive, I have a 9 mile downhill commute to work so I arrive at work with a 99% charge.. Uphill 9 miles home I use 8 to 12 % of the charge depending on how often I have to gas it to move in traffic.

They don't give the driver enough control over the audio/nav system. its a 2013 car and the interface on the nav is showing its age.

The hondalink-ev version is weak, doesn't really give you much except checking charge and telling the ac/heat to turn on, but you have to set the climate control to a temp and auto so it will work before you leave the car, have to think ahead.

Car has plenty of power for a city commute battle wagon, 3 driving modes, eco/normal/sport _ two "transmission modes, regular and dynamic braking.

In eco mode the car has a pretty honest 80 mile range with the temps above 65, in normal mode it has about a 70 mile range with better power performance and glide in traffic which can beat eco mode in certain terrain.. In sport mode, or angry squirrel mode as I call it.. you drop to about 45 miles, but you get a lot of performance(And fun). for 60' its fast as heck... LOL after that its just peppy.

Telemetry on the dash is kinda weak as well, I'd like to be able to see stuff like real battery current , not just a needle that swings back and forth..

Basically the car is a 2 year test for me to see if a full electric is my daily car in retirement with my gas snorting jeep as my fun car for camping and such..

[dwtaylorpdx]

Update. its official, I hate the head unit/nav system in the car.. Other than that so far so good.

I put about 25 miles a day on the car, since I use typically less than 30% of the charge to do that, my charge/recovery time is about an hour when I get home. So once I get home, the time to get my stuff packed in, wait for wife, kid etc, eat dinner, the car is back up to 100%.

Its interesting using an electric car when you live on pretty much the highest area of your city so its downhill everywhere for the house and uphill to get home. Getting use dot judging how to maximize the recovery charging is keeping me amused on my commute. Love the 1 foot driving mode with the braking turned on, in rush hour I almost never brake..

[dwtaylorpdx]

Well ,, its time,, On Sept 5 I have to turn it back in..
Sparky the Bright Blue Wonder car (Daughters named it... ) will RIP..
2013 to 2019...

Too bad,, from an overall livability perspective its one of the most useful vehicles I've owned. Its going to the dealer to be Picked up for destruction by LKQ.

Far as I could find out ,, they are crushing them,, supposedly certain cars are being stripped and the parts sent back to Honda.. (Motors/batteries etc.. )

It has 58000 miles on it now. The battery is down about 8% below new.

Both Daughters love driving the car, (2nd in college starting this fall)

I still hate the head unit,

But for overall comfort in a small car,, cheap to operate, almost zero maintenance.

I averaged about 30 bucks a month to charge it,, it became the car for pretty much all our local errands. MY youngest has run all over the area with it and she got pretty savvy about where free charging was available.

In sport mode 0-60 is 8.4 average over 15 runs.
Handles better than our gas fit, the extra 700 lbs 4" off the road helps..

I wish I could keep the chassis,, it would make a rocking hot rod with all the heavy duty parts,, make a great autocross or road race car..

Or a tesla motor and a creative battery layout.. Nobody would be expecting it.. LOL

It will be missed ,, my Daughters are bummed about it going away..

Having it for 2 years really has me looking at another EV,, just haven't settled on the right one. I'm considering a 2016 Chevy Spark.. its kinda the closest thing to the fit.. The I3 is interesting too.. But the $$ are a bit tough.

Cheers!

[dwtaylorpdx]

Just added a 2016 SPARK EV to the stable a couple weeks ago.

With all the covid worries,, Its unknown how long the paperwork will take.

Salsa red this time.. Its not quite as roomy as the Honda was paid 8800 with 20K on it.
So far getting something in the area of 90 miles out of it if the temps are above 55.

Its actually a little faster than the Honda, and the Regen is way more active. It easily pushes 25KW on a steep (~7%) down hill at highway speeds.. Accelerating it pulls 120KW out of the batteries is the dash is even close to correct. 0-60 is about 7/7.5 seconds.

You can tell the water temp regulated battery pack is a good thing,, in the morning with a short warmup while on the level 2 it seems to maintain available power better.

back soon.

[Daox]

Great info. Keep us posted and throw up a picture of it too.

[JSH]

I had a 2016 Chevy Spark EV for 39 months. ($99 a month lease). Range was 65 miles in the winter / 95 in the summer. My commute was Hillsboro to Swan Island.

It was a fun car but Chevy wanted $9,500 for me to keep it. (I could have bought it outright for $11,500 back in 2016)

[dwtaylorpdx]

So far the daughters love the car, after my stint with the Honda EV they were pretty savvy at fining free chargers and working out their routes,, its working out to be just a little more efficient than the Honda was. I commute 10 miles to work each day, it starts out the morning with a full charge and uses about 13 miles range round trip, the trip to work is about 90% gentle down hill to flat, uses between 1 and 6 KW immediate load,,
return trip it averages 6 to 13 kw. Its most efficient on cruise control. Does a good job at riding momentum before adding power.

To make it more interesting ,, my wife's mid-size SUV was just getting totally crummy mileage for its size so we sold it. Went and bought a Model3 Tesla. She has a 20 mile 1 way commute and so far shes liking it a lot. It doesn't tent to get the kw per mile the Spark does but its a really good driving car. Easily gets over 225 miles , has a theoretical range of about 250 miles. We drove it Seattle to Portland had 50 miles range left. That was with the cruise set at 70. Ours is a standard range 2WD so a bit lighter than the AWD model. Very aerodynamic there is only a little wind noise and I found a gap filler kit to help smooth that out. Also has mirrors that fold electrically so that should help on the freeway.

So right now we are all electric, my normal daily (Old Jeep) is torn apart in the garage for the near future.. And its never going to be much of a eco rig. But it is a toy ...

[California98Civic]

What a great thread. Thanks for the annual updates! Your Honda EV was the Fit EV, I guess?

[dwtaylorpdx]

Yep 2013 Fit EV.. Bright Electron Blue (IIRC the color name) Was a SOLID car if they had put the clarity power plant selection in the fit Honda could not have kept them on the shelf, the clarity is just pointless in the market, cost more than the Tesla and has no range in the EV version, and you still cant buy them. The Hydrogen powered one is cool but only available really from one dealer in CA,, and no filling stations. The hybrid they just didn't build in high enough volume.. I test drove one with the family and they hated it. NO room, (The fit had a lot of room in the back seat for full sized people)

But the Ev journey goes on!

[dwtaylorpdx]

Update..

The spark continues to hold its own, I start the morning out between 69 and 75 estimated miles,, I end the day with 58 or so ,, after 11.5 miles downhill to work and 11.5 miles uphill back to work. The car is better at managing the power than me, I get 6-7 Miles per KWH on the cars display vs 7-8 if I let the car run on cruise at 55. (That's on the way to work.. ) on the uphill return I get 3.9 vs the cruise getting 5..

The normal interior amenities work OK , AC and Heat work well and don't suck the battery dry, we shall see how it goes through the winter. The stereo is decent and the head unit has pretty simple menus for managing the setting and info.

Then there is the latest ,, My wife's tiny crossover (GMC terrain) Just wasn't hacking it for her 35 mile round trip daily.. was getting < 15 mpg often worse..

So the Spark got a new room mate..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/D3zqP4naHcxtUGd69

We picked up a 2020 Tesla Model 3 2WD SR+
Its Metallic blue and our first drive in it was Bellvue Wa to Portland Or. right at 200 miles. Had 212 odo miles on it when we got it home.. and about 15% charge.

Car has a peak range of 250, I have it set to charge to 220 at night.
It only needs charged about every 3 days and does amazingly well on the Level 2 in my garage. < 2 hours on average to top it off. We are running it down to 20 -30 % if it works out in the family schedule before charging.

The sparks only lame thing I've noticed is the charger is very small really. It takes about 5 hours from almost dead. Only charges at 3KW.. But after my commute its easily charged back up in < an hour or two. It has fast charge unfortunately the nearest fast charge with J1772 is about 5 miles away. But if I need it juiced up quick that's where we go.

The Tesla's week point, which to me is surprising, is the lack of real data on the battery and motor system, there is really none of the Geek data display that both the Honda fit had as well as the Spark has. Going to have to go aftermarket and get a package to monitor it if I want real data.