% Warning: nytimes.com articles can lead to consumer confusion Fast-Charging Spark? There isn't any public ccs L3 EVSE! Is GM going to install ccs L3 like Tesla installed their Superchargers? ? Spark EV most efficient compliance-car on the road ? %
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/the-new-chevy-spark-will-offer-a-c-or-d-c-charging/ [images] The New Chevy Spark Will Offer A.C. or D.C. Charging By MATTHEW WALD Apr 17 2013 [images / General Motors http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/04/16/automobiles/wheels/charging/charging-blog480.jpg The new Chevrolet Spark EV can be charged with alternating current or direct current chargers. The D.C. connection has an orange cover http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/04/16/automobiles/16gm-electric-2/16gm-electric-2-articleInline.jpg General Motors will build electric motors and drive units at its Baltimore Operations facility in White Marsh, Md ] WHITE MARSH, Md. – Electric cars can take a while to charge. In part, that’s because the alternating current electricity that comes from the grid has to be converted to direct current before a car’s batteries can store it, and the capacity of the electronics that make the A.C.-to-D.C. conversion is a bottleneck. General Motors may have a way around that. The electric version of the Chevrolet Spark, G.M.’s second offering in the electric vehicle market, comes with a standard SAE port for A.C. charging as well as two extra receptacles that will accept a D.C. charge. The charging system also includes a communications link so that the car can tell the charger its optimum voltage and amperage numbers. There is a catch: at present, it is difficult to find a [CCS] D.C. charger. Several companies are developing D.C. electric vehicle chargers, which will certainly lend an extra bit of complexity to the process of coming up with charging network standards. Eaton and Fuji Electric are a couple of the companies with D.C. quick chargers on the market. Connectivity may also be an issue. The Spark EV is the first electric vehicle to be equipped with the American-spec A.C. port plus D.C. port in a combo plug. The Nissan Leaf [EV] and the ... Mitsubishi i-MiEV [EV] also have provisions for D.C. charging, but their charging ports are for Japanese Chademo-standard chargers. The Spark’s extra circuitry could make a considerable difference, said Larry Nitz, G.M.’s director of global electrification. According to G.M., on 110-volt house current, a charger delivers one kilowatt of power; on a 220-volt circuit, the kind that runs an electric oven or clothes dryer and which most buyers are expected to use for home E.V. charging, a charger delivers three to six kilowatts. But a D.C. charge can deliver 50 kilowatts, he said, and a fully depleted Spark could be restored to an 80 percent charge in 20 minutes. The D.C. quick-charge capability is not intended for home use, but for public places, Mr. Nitz said. New York City’s expanding grid of fast charging stations would seem to be likely candidates for such technology ... G.M. has not said exactly how far an 80 percent charge will take the Spark EV; in fact it has not said what the car’s range is. But the automaker showed off the Spark on Tuesday at a factory northeast of Baltimore that it said was the first in the country to make drive motors for electric cars. (Hitachi produces the Volt’s drive motor.) A Spark EV I drove around a test track achieved, according to a dashboard display, 4.2 miles per kilowatt-hour – which one grass-roots calculator estimates is the E.V. version of 121 miles per gallon – on a 1.6-mile course. The test drive included some speeds typical of urban traffic and one neck-bending jackrabbit acceleration. The Spark EV weighs about 3,000 pounds and goes from zero to 60 miles an hour in under 8 seconds. Unlike the Nissan Leaf, which was designed from the ground up as an electric car, the Spark EV is adapted from a gasoline model. Engineers say they made it more aerodynamic with adaptations like block-off panels where the grille used to be. The panels are stamped in a grille-like pattern without actual openings, because the car does not need the air flow through the compartment. Under the grille, the Spark EV has an air intake with louvers that automatically close at high speed to reduce drag. The Chevrolet Spark EV will be introduced this summer in California and Oregon. Company officials predict modest sales. Whether a $12,995 gasoline-powered minicar assembled in Korea can be turned into a strong-selling battery-powered electric at nearly twice the price remains to be seen; G.M. said the Spark EV would sell for less than $25,000 after tax incentives. What is certain is that the electric vehicle industry is in its infancy, meaning many of its facets are still in flux. Which mode of charging will emerge as the dominant one – public or private, 110 volts or 220 volts, A.C. or D.C., American- or Japanese-spec – is far from settled. [© 2013 The New York Times Company] ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772#Combined_Charging_System CCS http://www.plugincars.com/slowly-safely-combo-plug-coming-127067.html New Combo Plug For Electric Cars Slowly Comes to Europe The universal combined charging system for multiple levels of electric car charging was unveiled last May, with backing from American and German automakers. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/25/fast-charging-chevy-spark-ev-most-efficient-retail-ev-in-us/ Fast-Charging Chevy Spark EV Most Efficient Retail EV In US The new Chevy Spark EV, a compact electric vehicle, has a combined city/highway efficiency of 119 MPGe, according to the EPA — a record. Chevy Spark EV. http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/is-gm-really-making-the-cleanest-car-in-america.html/ Is GM Really Making the Cleanest Car in America? General Motors said that its redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV will be the most efficient electric vehicle on the road... Apr 24 2013 [image http://images.wallstcheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/chevrolet-spark-e1366819701111.jpg chevrolet spark ] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Electric bus charges up BARTA EVLN: Electric Street-Racing Coming to Downtown Los Angeles, CA EVLN: Leaf & Tesla-S lead top 10 green Kelly Blue Book cars EVLN: 'Weirdest part of the Leaf is how normal it looks underneath' EVLN: CA Bill To Cut EV Sales-Tax & License Fees + EVLN: EVs exempt in London's new congestion charge {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Spark-s-AC-L2-or-DC-L3-ccs-charging-Cleanest-Car-in-America-tp4662743.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
