2016 Chevrolet Spark EV To Be Sold At Retail In Canada2016 Chevrolet Spark EV To Be Sold At Retail In Canada

It may not have too many more years to live, but the Chevrolet Spark EV will be sold in some new markets starting with the 2016 model year: three Canadian provinces.
While General Motors had offered the Spark EV for fleet purchase in parts of the country, it wasn’t available to retail buyers–individuals who walked into a dealer and asked for Chevy’s only battery-electric vehicle.
DON’T MISS: 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV Switches Battery Cells; 82-Mile Range Remains (May 2014)
Chevrolet will offer the 2016 Spark EV for sale in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, the three provinces that offer purchase incentives of various sorts for plug-in electric cars.
As always, given the Spark EV’s 81-mile (131-km) range rating, Chevy suggests the car is for “city residents whose transportation needs can be met with an all-electric vehicle.”
2014 Chevrolet Spark EV – First Drive, Portland, July 2013
In its release, the company says the Spark EV “builds on Chevrolet’s proven electric motor and battery development programs from the Chevrolet Volt” range-extended electric car.
The Spark EV is also notable for being one of the very few low-volume battery-electric vehicles to offer DC quick charging as well as conventional 240-Volt charging.
GM Canada did not say exactly when the 2016 Spark EV would be offered to retail buyers in the three provinces.It noted that the car’s price “will be available at a later time.”
ALSO SEE: 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV To Go On Sale In Maryland This Spring (Jan 2015)
Still, the availability of the Spark EV to retail buyers is good news for Canadian electric-car fans and advocates in its three most electric-car-friendly provinces.
Quebec has an aggressive plan to boost sales of plug-in cars in the province, with purchase rebates and other incentives as carrots–and a few sticks too.
Next January, buyers of vehicles with large-displacement internal-combustion vehicles will pay an additional premium on top of the normal registration fee.
2014 Chevrolet Spark EV
At the start of this month, British Columbia reinstituted purchase rebates for electric cars, which had been allowed to expire last spring after allocated funds were used up.
An analysis by this website showed that the province’s rate of plug-in car purchase fell after the expiration of the rebates.
The 2016 Chevrolet Spark EV is the third model year for the Spark minicar converted to battery-electric propulsion.
MORE: British Columbia Brings Back Electric-Car Purchase Rebates
While a new 2016 Chevrolet Spark was launched at the New York Auto Show two weeks ago, the electric Spark will continue for at least one more year in the previous-generation vehicle.
It will be replaced by a production version of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt concept car shown at January’s Detroit Auto Show.
GM CEO Mary Barra said while introducing the Bolt Concept that the production model would have a range rating of 200 miles, and a price before incentives of $37,500.
Chevrolet Bolt EV concept, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
The Bolt-derived vehicle is expected to go into production late next year at GM’s Orion Assembly plant, just 30 miles north of Detroit, where the related next-generation Sonic subcompact will be built.
Through last month, a total of 2,040 Spark EVs had been sold in California and Oregon.
[hat tip: Yvéric Patry]
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