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Winter charging concerns


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I have very recently purchased a new-to-me 2015 Spark EV. It's a great car, but I've been reading the manual and wondering if, come winter time, I'll be running into charging problems.

 

I live in an old apartment building with no charging facilities and no parking -- so my car needs to be parked on the street and charged at a public fast-charge station nearby. I'm in Vancouver, BC, where winter temperatures can sometimes drop below zero celsius, especially at night. The Spark manual says that in sub-zero weather, the car should be kept plugged in when not in use, even if it's fully charged. I won't be able to do this. I can maybe rent an (unheated) indoor parking space for the cold months, but there wouldn't be charging facilities.

 

How serious a problem is this likely to be?

 

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Edited by Elvis
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Trade in for a gasoline powered 2017 Spark. Seriously, I bought one 2 years ago and couldn't be happier. Many positives (gas mileage, handling, acceleration, quality, lack of problems, comes with spare, love the rear camera, quiet running engine, great visibility all around, etc). Only negative is road noise inside the car at  freeway speeds.

Edited by Bobby MSME
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  • 6 months later...

I'm wondering about the status of this? I'm going to pony off this Q because mine is similar.  I just got a Spark EV (2016) and though I have a garage, I'm wondering about the "plug in all night" thing?  I could heat my garage if necessary (I prefer not to due to cost) and am wondering if I'll really have to plug it in all night every night?  Just when it's really cold?  What if it never gets below freezing in my garage?  Isn't the goal to keep the battery at 80% - how does plugging it in to 100% work with that?  Any input?  And yes, I know I can just figure it out when it comes but it's my #1 concern and this will either help me prepare or help me sleep better at night...

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  • 2 years later...

We’re in the Kootenays and are often below zero at night.  Our 2016 Spark EV is great but we’re trying to balance keeping the batteries warm for charging yet also not reducing battery life by charging to 100%.  I’ve emailed Chev main office a few times and don’t get any information that helps.  My husband is building more EVs (truck conversion and tractors) and understands lithium batteries very well.  He realizes that charging below freezing will damage the batteries.  Keeping them fully charged or fully discharged reduces their longevity.  The conundrum for us is that we have to charge the battery before we use the car at sometimes ambient temperatures of minus 10 - 20’ C.  We would like to know if this causes more battery degradation than leaving it fully charged and plugged in during cold weather.  After plugging in the car at below zero temps, does the battery thermal management system warm the battery sufficiently prior to the charging process starting?

 

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