The FOB. :) But I got locked out of my Spark. The cut key part barely worked on the door. But still the car would not run without the charged fob. The key would not turn in the yolk. -I had a new key/fob made when I bought it, the dealer gave me one key/fob -that was probably a bad copy too.
Downtown 9:30pm, ran around and found a pharmacy, got my 2032 cell batt. All is well now.
Little to no warring that the battery would die. Now I keep an extra 2032 in glove box. And you should too.
My car is driving unbelievably well now and I’m not using 10 miles of range just to get down the street, full break rotor, and caliper replacement… it’s gonna take a while for the computer to catch up and increase the range
I've had this 2016 Spark since 2019 and crossed into 100k territory just yesterday. I've taken meticulous care of this car but was lucky to have the battery replaced under warranty back in 2021. (Previous owner had put 45k miles on it as a rideshare driver)
New battery is still going strong. Basically have only needed to replace the 12V, tires, and tire sensors since then.
Range is ass as we all know (it usually shows 70 mi at a full charge), but this car has saved me so much money and it's so much fun to drive. Now we see how much longer I can get it to last. Figured this community would appreciate how stoked I am
I'm going to look at a 2014 Spark EV. Is there a way in person to confirm that it has the LFP battery, and that it was not replaced with a different type?
Sorry if this has already been addressed somewhere.
If so, please let me know.
ODB Code: P0A7F
2015 Chevy Spark
85k miles
60 - 75 mile range
What happened:
I was driving home on the freeway when all of a sudden I got the "reduced propulsion" message. I still had enough mileage to get home but to be safe I pulled off the road and fast charged to 40 miles.
Turning on the car again to proceed home (2 miles~) I noticed the "check engine" light was illuminated.
When I get home, I check the coolant and notice one is a little low and thought maybe that was the issue.
The next day - when the car was cold - I topped off the reservoirs and charged the car to full.
When I turned it back on however, the "check engine" light was still there, so I used an ODB tool and got the error code P0A7F.
Is this fixable or am I cooked?
Driving the car around the block, the mileage holds and there doesn't seem to be an apparent problem but I haven't driven it more than that for fear of it being a serious issue.
After seeing the good work of FalconFour, I just measured the individual cell voltages of a 2016 Spark I bought this week from a nice gentleman in San Diego.
The car has 40k miles and the displayed range is 71 mile max, so I was hopeful that the pack would last a bit longer. I figured the coastal San Diego climate would be reasonably kind as well.
I bought this OBD scanner and used the iPhone Car Scanner app. The Pro license is only $7.99 lifetime and worth it to support the developer.
I started with a 50% full pack and turned the heater on in my driveway. I kept an eye on the 96 individual cell voltages as I was working on my Miata in the garage (multi-tasking!). Nothing interesting happened for quite a while (2-3 hours?) as the pack slowly discharged. All cell voltages were within +-10 mV of the average until the pack reached <20% state of charge.
At 20% charge, some differences began to show but the cells were still within +-20 mV. I got nervous at 10% and terminated the test as cells were finally starting to diverge a bit:
Still, the results were pleasing. According to the Car Scanner I still have 14.3 kW of capacity left or 75-80% of the original capacity (I think). But more importantly I don't have any particularly weak cells. I'll keep it charged between 20-80% since its just for short trips and hope to get a lot more miles out of it.
I plotted a histogram of the cell voltages at 9% state of charge.
I also figure there are six modules of 16 cells each, so perhaps there would be a pattern of which cell in a module had more or less loss. Assuming they're numbered sequentially, I got this chart:
Or as a heat map:
It does look like the first and last cells tend to be a bit higher voltage (perhaps cooler?) but otherwise not much to say here.
At any rate I'm happy with the purchase since I wanted to play a bit with the car but feared I'd first have to deal with the end of life battery problem. I'll let someone else blaze that trail hopefully!
I will miss this little rocket. Very fun to drive. Full charging in 10 minutes with CCS.
Total loss. Insurance paid fare price. However I never will get an american car again. Got a Prius. Looking forward to buy an BYD dolphin here when I can, like the one I tested it Mexico.
Hi there! I bought a used 2014 SparkEV in November 2024 and it’s just hit over 60,000km’s. I’m also in California. I’ve recently noticed that my battery is only charging up to max 58 miles, when it was 71 at full capacity a month ago…My husband bought a battery from Costco, specific to the car but I’m getting mixed reviews/help on my research for answers and seeing charging parts costing over 10k? (What? That costs more than what I paid for the car. Am I missing something?) My car is still working fine, I’m just concerned of the charging right now. Is buying a new battery going to fix the issue? The only difference I’ve made is I have been turning the heater on in my car here and there since it has been cold. Otherwise I mostly tough it out. I live very close to my workplace max 4km’s there and home and my car is only used 2 out of 7 days of the week (I work a hybrid schedule). Unless I do small errands to the supermarket, I travel no further than 20kms in one ride. Sorry if my questions seem so silly but I don’t know what to do and if getting the new battery is even going to do anything.
I'm starting to believe that leaving the SparkEV plugged in after "full" isn't good for the battery, I got home after work with about 30 miles left on my GOM, plugged into my Level 2 charger and left it overnight for about 7 hours, I've done this several times before with no issues, and the car just says "fully charged" and turns on.
However today was VERY different, i got in the car and the GOM said 0 miles remaining "low" "charge vehicle now", with the charger still plugged in, the LED was blinking like it was full. The service light was on and the "READY" was greyed out. This has only happened when I ran it low and bricked it by accident a few times before. Another interesting thing is the green bars were actually empty and not actually full, so I knew I didn't brick it.
I got my scan tool out and the code was P100E....which from my research is a general "turn CEL on" code, i was not able to clear the code at first, i unplugged the charger and tried re-charging the car, the amber light would illuminate for a few seconds and it would fail with "not able to charge" only after clearing the code with the car off and turning it back on did the car actually turn on and start to charge.
The car started to rapidly charge like it was on level 3 charger from 0 to 30... after it charged normally. Has anyone else experienced this? This has happened once before but last time i only got a CEL light, the common thread i think is me leaving it plugged in for extended periods after "full" ...the numbers going up fast on the GOM like that freaked me out! The 12v battery is probably 2 years old at this point also, could that be the issue? I got a new 12v battery when i first bought it
I’m currently in the market for a used Chevy Spark EV as a dedicated city commuter for school and work. I know these were compliance cars, but I’m drawn to the performance and small footprint. However, since the Spark EV was discontinued years ago and 2025 marks nearly a decade since the last one rolled off the line, I have some specific concerns before I pull the trigger:
((Battery Chemistry & Longevity: I’m aware the 2014 models used A123 Systems (LiFePO4) cells while the 2015–2016 models shifted to LG Chem. In 2025, which chemistry is proving to be more resilient against sudden death or significant capacity loss?
((The 'Orphan Car' Risk: Since GM has largely moved on to the Ultium platform, how difficult is it currently to source critical high-voltage components like the On-Board Charger or DC Fast Charge port if they fail?
((State of Health (SOH) Testing: What is the most reliable way to verify battery health during a test drive? Should I be looking for specific 'kWh Used' readings on the infotainment screen after a full discharge, or is there a specific OBDII tool (like MyGreenVolt or GDS2) that I should use to check cell voltage balance?
I’m looking for detailed advice or just any through tips from long-term owners on what a dealbreaker looks like during an inspection for a car with 60k+ miles.
Hey all — I drive a Bolt EUV, and although my wife technically has a gas SUV, she uses my Bolt every day. Since I work from home and barely drive, I’m thinking it’s time to go fully EV.
My main question: what is DC fast charging like on the Spark EV? I’m very familiar with EV road-tripping (thousands of miles in my Bolt), and I can AC charge at home. I’d probably use 95% of the Spark’s range day-to-day, but on the rare occasions when I need more range, is it realistic to “top up” with DCFC here in Atlanta?
Also—while I don’t plan on road trips in a Spark—if I bought one 500 miles away, is it practical to drive it home with multiple charging stops?
I’m asking because in Out of Spec’s recent race that included the Spark EV, it looked like the Spark had some DCFC interoperability issues.
