tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875771813122616391.post1235279343660463423..comments2023-08-19T22:42:27.817-07:00Comments on chevy spark ev UNOFFICIAL blog: SparkEV, you are NOT a compliance carsparkevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04362518920979349841noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875771813122616391.post-17581283810433563672016-01-24T09:36:23.406-08:002016-01-24T09:36:23.406-08:00GM is selling outisde of compliance states makes i...GM is selling outisde of compliance states makes it not strictly for compliance. As I mention in the blog, they announced much wider sales in the beginning only to cancel them later. If only for compliance, selling them outside of compliance states makes no sense, especially for less in Mexico. As I write in the blog, SparkEV is probably more of a test car for EV tech than for compliance with compliance being a bonus.<br /><br />Now 500e is a compliance car. It's only in compliance states and nowhere else, not to mention that they announced that it loses $14K per car. No such thing from GM regarding SparkEV. In fact, Mexico pricing would suggest that they're making about 10% on SparkEV sales.<br /><br />Bolt with $37.5K would yield higher profit than $25K SparkEV even at same 10% profit. That would be one reason to hold off on SparkEV to save the tax credit for Bolt, especially when they'll be competing against Tesla model 3. Since it's expected that they'll run out of tax credit between Bolt and Volt (both > $30K car), it would make sense to "sacrifice" lower profit SparkEV for higher profit cars. They wouldn't save Bolt 1.0 for 2.0, because they both would yield similar profits. No such situation exist for other cars, especially not 500e.<br /><br />Besides, Bolt+Volt would probably exhaust tax credit in a year or two the way things are going. It would make no sense to have lower profit SparkEV eating into that. I suspect GM will lobby to have tax credit extended, but as long as SparkEV eats into finite number of tax credit for higher profit cars, I doubt they'll expand sales.sparkevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04362518920979349841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875771813122616391.post-10685277881022513782016-01-24T08:37:29.303-08:002016-01-24T08:37:29.303-08:00The obvious answer to why GM is treating the Spark...The obvious answer to why GM is treating the Spark EV like a compliance car is ... that it is in fact a compliance car, and its sales in the US are dictated by state regulations. California, Oregon, and Maryland have all adopted the CARB ZEV program.<br /><br />If dealers are sold out then demand exceeds supply; GM presumably has very low production targets for the Spark EV. One might guess that production costs are high - as with other low-run EVs - and so they are selling the minimum necessary to meet ZEV compliance goals, and only in states where the ZEV program has been adopted.<br /><br />That's the definition of a compliance EV; at least within the US.<br /><br />It doesn't make sense that GM would sell only a small number of Spark EVs in order to avoid exhausting the federal tax credit for the Bolt. Might as well argue that GM would sell only a small number of Bolt EVs in order to avoid exhausting the federal tax credit for the Bolt 2.0 ... or that Fiat 500e isn't really a compliance car, Fiat is simply saving its EV credits for future plugins like the Pacifica Hybrid.<br /><br /><br />Regarding Canada, Mexico, South Korea:<br /><br />Spark EV sold 22 units in Canada in 2014, 34 units in 2015. Nissan sold 1100 LEAFs in 2014 and 1200 in 2015, as a point of comparison. For 2014 and early 2015 Spark EV was only available for fleet purchase; the 2016 Spark EV was available for retail purchase in certain Canadian provinces (but still sold very few EVs).<br /><br />http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2016/01/canada-december-2015-draft-edition.html<br /><br />Spark EV sold 46 units in South Korea in 2014, and 60 units during the first 8 months of 2015. Nissan sold 30 LEAFs during December 2014, and 80 units through the first 8 months of 2015 .. so little better. Worth noting that except for the i3 and the LEAF, all the EVs sold in SK are largely built in South Korea .. the Spark is manufactured by GM Korea, though the powertrain including LG cells is largely manufactured and installed in the US.<br /><br />http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2015/01/south-korea-december-2014-draft-edition.html<br /><br />I can't find sales data for Mexico, but I do not expect high sales.<br /><br />I'm not sure why GM is selling a token number of Spark EVs outside the US. However, in these markets there are no fixed-unit tax credits to exhaust (as per the US), so we can safely discount that line of reasoning .. I assume as in the US sales are limited by supply not demand.protomechhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03823453004830376586noreply@blogger.com