Chevy’s Spark minicar is becoming an electric vehicle come 2013, which is GM’s first full EV since their EV1. The Spark EV joins Chey’s growing electric vehicles that includes the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.

Chevy plans to start out the new EV model of the Spark with limited production offering in select countries with the American market being one of the chosen few. The advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs that will power the Spark EV will come from A123 Systems. These batteries supposedly utilize nanoparticles to increase the battery cell’s storage surface area, facilitating quicker storage and release of electrons. No information on its driving range, recharge time, battery size or other performance specs have been announced yet, with details being released closer to the launch date GM executives mention.

GM is also keeping a tight lip on details like pricing, where the new EV will be built and other interesting specs. However, by the looks of pictures, it seems that the Spark EV will have a some exterior styling differences than the standard spark, but, again, no real information has been released.

There are already many EVs on the market already, with Tesla and Nissan being the bigger names in the game, but electric vehicles from other auto brands like Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Kia are in the works. Looks like we’ll be seeing a battle of the EVs in the coming years!

Range Rover and Mercedes might have ‘dual view’ touchscreen displays, but I’ll tell you something they don’t have: glowing speakers that pulsate to to the beat.  It’s not clear if the Kia Soul will keep this feature when it arrives State Side, but since I just saw it in a US commercial I don’t see why not.  The light up speakers, which give the appearance of a red hot BBQ grill, have 3 settings:  ‘Mood’ which looks like the Macbook breathing, ‘Music’ which I already mentioned and ‘On’ which keeps the speakers lit up.   Also adding to the ‘lifestyle’ vehicle is glow in the dark upholstery.  Hit the video below to see the Soul’s speakers in action.