Filed under: Budget, Hatchback, Chevrolet, First Drives, Electric

Side Effects May Include Grinning and Tire Chirping



For anyone who has yet to experience the joys of indoor go-karting, you're missing out. Electric karts race around the inside of former big-box retail establishments, warehouses and the like delivering more excitement than you typically get from those rickety old concession karts powered by lawnmower engines. Since we can't afford anything wearing a Tesla badge, these usually come to mind when someone mentions an electric vehicle that's fun. After driving the 2014 Chevrolet Spark, though, our mental association might just be out of date.

Thanks to their instant torque, an EV being a hoot to drive shouldn't come as a complete surprise, but Chevy's all-new Spark EV is making its bid to rise to the top of this growing class, a field that includes the Fiat 500e, Mitsubishi i-Miev, Nissan Leaf, Scion iQ EV and Smart Fortwo ED, and it's doing so with more torque, better efficiency and a lower price. With a name like "Spark," it would be easy to assume that this small car was conceived with an EV model in mind from the beginning, but that's not the case.

Even entering its third generation in 2009 (the first two weren't sold in North America), General Motors admitted that the Spark was not designed with an EV drivetrain in mind. Just four years later, though, the Spark EV is hitting America's roads - in California and Oregon - so we headed to scenic Portland, OR to check out Chevy's new battery electric vehicle (BEV) and the first EV for General Motors since the controversial EV1.Continue reading 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV [w/video]

2014 Chevrolet Spark EV [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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