GM Touts Virtues of 2014 Spark Electric Vehicle

General Motors has announced that its 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV (short for Electric Vehicle) will offer "industry-leading EV power, outstanding driving range, and exceptional fast-charge capability." The Spark EV is due to arrive in California car dealerships next summer.

Spark EV's engineers took advantage of much of the expertise that GM has gained in constructing the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid vehicle introduced in the U.S. in late 2010. Spark EV uses many of the same components and systems as the Chevrolet Volt.

Spark EV's lithium-ion battery pack, with more than 20 kilowatt hours (kWh), has undergone over 200,000 hours of testing in GM's global battery systems lab, according to Larry Nitz, who leads GM's global electrification engineering team.

The vehicle, which can accelerate from 0-60 mph in less than eight seconds, was designed to be more fun to drive than other electric vehicles in an effort to attract more customers. 

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Harry Stevens is a Media Consultant for 3BL Media / Justmeans. After earning his Bachelors of Arts in international relations from the University of Puget Sound, Harry moved to Guatemala to do business development for Mercado Global, a fair trade fashion organization. Harry has written on social enterprise, sustainable finance, and fair trade for a number of popular blogs, including Justmeans and The Fair Trade Times. A serial road-tripper, Harry has been to forty-seven of the forty-eight contiguous states, and is actively seeking an excuse to visit Oklahoma. You can follow Harry on Twitter: @Harry_Stevens