Corbin Sparrow #149 for Sale

Corbin Sparrow #149 has been sold.
The following page was used to sell it.

Front	From low	Left	Back
Parks like Motorcycle	Back view	Cockpit	Dash
Seat	Rear Tire	Trunk with usual stuff	Breakout box in corner
Antenna ground plane wires	Custom trunk lock- works	Radio with animations	Radio faceplate
Yellowtops and regs	Breakout box uncovered	You get all this too!	Timer included

I'm selling my Corbin Sparrow, a fun fun fun three wheeled electric vehicle. Only 300 of them were ever manufactured by Corbin Motors (now bankrupt and out of business unfortunately). This is one of the best ones.

It is serial number 149, from the 2000 model year. This means that approximately 149 of them were manufactured before it, so when this was manufactured a number of improvements had already been made by Corbin like moving to wider tires, going to the hatchback design, and using Kilovac controllers. And this Sparrow had been back to the factory to have some other improvements made as detailed below.

Approximately 4500 miles on the odometer as of 10/03. I'm the original owner.
Brand new set of Optima Yellow Top batteries was installed at 3992 miles, and treated gently. The longer you drive before recharging the earlier the batteries will fail, and I've been very gentle on these batteries, mostly driving only 6-7 miles to or from work between charges. About 5 times I've driven 10-18 miles, and once I drove 34.9 miles under very carefully controlled conditions, checking battery condition along the way, to test the range of these batteries. In actual practice you would want to only drive 25-30 miles or less for best battery life; no Sparrow should be driven further than that without a charge because the lower you go on the batteries the more damage you can do. These batteries are at the prime of their life, broken in but practically new. The 13 Optima batteries in the Sparrow cost $110 sale to $149.99 list each, and installation of a full pack can take a whole day, so the value of a new full pack is between $1400 and $2000 not including labor.
"Ed Regs" installed. These are little electronic regulator modules designed by Ed Ang, an engineer and Sparrow owner. One is installed on each of the 13 batteries to protect it from overcharging. Having these installed is considered essential for long battery life, and unfortunately most used Sparrows don't have them. Ask any knowledgeable Sparrow owner or electric vehicle owner and they will tell you that regulators are necessary with sealed AGM batteries like those in the Sparrow. I'm including two extra "Ed Regs" as spares. Ed sells these regs for $30 each, so the set is worth $450.
120V Zivan charger installed, so you can plug into regular AC outlets.
Kilovac controller, the latest one. Corbin actually produced Sparrows with three different types of controllers: DCP, Curtis, and Kilovac. The Kilovacs are the latest ones. The DCP controllers were recalled by Corbin because some stuck on, although there are some who believe that DCP controllers can be safe.
Rear sprocket replaced (which connects the belt to the wheel) because the old one was beginning to "mushroom" or deform near the center hole. The new one from Corbin is very solid and shows no signs of any problems. Make sure you take a look at the rear sprocket of any Sparrow you might buy to make sure there are no cracks or deformations; many left the factory that way.
DC/DC replaced with a new one from Corbin. Corbin had accidentally shipped my Sparrow with the wrong voltage DC/DC, and it was causing instabilities in the electrical system. Now that we have the right voltage, everything works great.
Low squeal brakes were installed by Corbin after the sale. The original brakes in a Sparrow squeal really loudly in use. Corbin found a softer brake pad which doesn't squeal as much, and my Sparrow has those quieter brake pads installed. Honestly they still squeal every once in a while but it's rare now. The braking power is plenty strong.
Brake line insulation fix. The flexible brake line which runs through the front of the Sparrow battery compartment has a metallic jacket over it, and there is at least one maybe two or more cases where in other Sparrows that metal jacket has contacted a battery post causing arcing and a fire in the Sparrow. One of the last things Corbin did before going out of business was to recommend that people afix the brake line to the tub wall so it couldn't contact the battery. I went further, and completely covered that metal-sheathed brake line in a plastic sheath so that it is impossible for it to make contact with any of the batteries.
Spacers installed by myself to raise the seat slightly and allow the batteries under there more ventilation.
GFCI fix. Some sparrows cannot be used with outlets that have Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters due to the way they are wired internally with some leakage current through the ground. They pop the GFCI. This Sparrow is rewired so the ground doesn't have a leakage current, so it can be used with GFCI outlets.
Color Yellow. Some of the pictures above make it look a bit bluish or greenish but I think that is just from my digital camera getting confused in its attempt to make the color balance white. The "Left" picture above is closest to its true color.
New Pioneer CD Radio head unit, model DEH-P6400, cost nearly $300 plus labor. I installed this head unit because the no so high quality factory radio didn't get good radio reception, and I'm kind of an audio nut. It is XM satellite radio compatible if you install the outboard box and antenna for that. It has 50Wx4 power, built in parametric equalizer, built in sub crossover, Super Tuner III, and a really cool looking dot matrix display that shows animations. I'm not really into watching animations on my radio but it is very impressive looking and kids love it when you show off your Sparrow.
RCA brand front speakers mounted below the dash with Monster brand mounts. Getting good quality in the Sparrow is a challenge, and I tried all kinds of speaker arrangements including seperate tweeter/woofer combos in lots of different places. These RCAs turned out to produce the best imaging, most natural sound. In order to avoid damaging the dash in any way, I found mounts designed for mounting surround speakers on the wall, and mounted these speakers to the heavy firewall. This required a very beefy mount because of the geometry since the speakers had to be held out by the mount rather than hanging below it. The only mount up to these standards was a $100 Monster brand mount.
Volkswagen type antenna installed. The factory radio didn't really have an antenna, so you couldn't get decent radio reception. The antenna I installed in the trunk of this Sparrow looks cool and provides decent reception. One issue that has prevented others from installing antennas in the Sparrow is that the body is fiberglass which doesn't provide the ground plane that a metal body does. I solved this problem by running white ground plane wires in the inside of the trunk at close to the ideal 45 degree angle.
Infinity Kappa 692.3i 6x9 speakers in boxes in the rear. These speakers provide the low bass sounds and fill out the audio, and provide a very powerful sound. This is a very high quality speaker. The factory speakers in the back of the seat are disconnected because they were poor quality. Cost was around $200 for the pair.
Breakout box. The connections to each battery are available in the breakout box that I installed. This is a custom built box that allows the batteries to be checked and individually accessed without the danger of sticking probes or clips in the battery compartments where they could contact metal frame parts and cause a dangerous short circuit. This breakout box is safe because all the wires have ATO type fuses near the batteries themselves. There are fourteen female probe sockets which accept voltmeter type test probes. I will also include a 12V battery charger that I've modified with probe ends to plug into the box. That charger might be useful when the batteries get old for "topping up" low batteries. I am also including two Y adapters that let both the charger and a voltmeter plug onto the same battery simultaneously from the breakout box. Keeping track of individual battery voltages is important for maximizing your battery life and making sure you aren't depleting the batteries too much with your trip length. The breakout box makes this easy. It is on a "stalk" of wires such that it can rest in the trunk when not in use, but can be easily accessed from the cabin compartment too. The parts for this breakout box and wire harness totalled around $150, and there was a lot of labor in installing it.
Nearly perfect condition overall. I've maintained the paint by waxing it regularly and this Sparrow has always been parked in either my well shaded carport or in a parking garage at work. I've seen other Sparrows that had significant rain/sun weathering even in a few years, and this one really looks like new. I've used Armor All regularly on the tires and interior vinyl so they are in great condition.
TMRW CAR license plate ("Tomorrow Car"). This is a California customized plate, and if you buy the Sparrow and want that plate, I'll transfer it to you.
California EV parking sticker next to the license plate. This sticker from the DMV allows you to park in EV only spaces. This sticker is probably a collectors item in that it is serial number 8.
Trunk lock replaced with one that actually works. This was a custom project that I did because the factory trunk lock was completely ineffective; even with the trunk in the locked position you could still open the trunk by using just a little more force than necessary. I replaced the trunk lock with one that locks solidly; it required some custom metal bending to make the catch. It has been reliable for years of use.
Digital clock added on dash. I got a digital clock and attached it to the dash with "yellow tack" so that there will be no damage if it is removed.
Battery temperature probe. I have installed a battery temperature probe with a display that can be read from the cabin. This provides one more piece of information to evaluate the health of your batteries.
"V9" charger chip. This is a later revision of the Zivan charger software chip. Most Sparrows came from the factory with the V8 chip, which was harder on the batteries. I installed the V9 chip in my Sparrow. The V9 chip is the most recent software release, developed in association with Zivan, Optima, and Corbin. The two main improvements are that it is better at preventing "thermal runaways" where the batteries overheat during charging, and it implements a float charge after charging to keep the batteries in their optimal state until the next use.
E-meter with proper settings. The E-meter is the set such that when it reads 0 percent, that is the furthest you should drive the vehicle. Some Sparrows have their E-meter set so that it reads 20 percent at the point where the batteries are discharged to the manufacturer-recommended limit (80%DOD). Some users of those Sparrows have driven past that point thinking they could to go zero, and caused great harm to the batteries because of it.

I am including some other gear with this Sparrow as well:

Two brand new belts. These are exact replacement Gates brand belts, valued at $100 or more each. Unfortunately the belt on the sparrow does seem to break every few thousand miles, and having a replacement makes life much better.
Battery Charger. This is a standard 12V automotive unregulated 2A/6A charger, with custom plugs for the breakout box. This can be useful to "prop up" old batteries to extend their life. You shouldn't need it for a long time with these batteries though.
Custom Y adapters to allow two things to plug into the same battery on the breakout box.
Extra fuses for emergencies. The breakout box wires use the same kind of fuse as the Sparrow fuse box for easy compatibility.
Extra dome light bulb.
Outlet tester with neon lights. This is useful for testing public outlets to see if they are live.
Rain-X interior and exterior. The Sparrow wiper isn't designed to reach the whole windshield, so using Rain-X helps visibility. Rain-x antifog helps keep the interior window from fogging up.
Rubber gloves. These are useful for working on the batteries to protect you from shock. If you do work on the batteries you should press the big red button and disconnect the big anderson connector in the controller compartment on the side first to "defang" the sparrow so that contact between the frame and a battery terminal won't be dangerous.
Fire extinguisher. Several other Sparrows have had electrical fires, so you want to be prepared.
Radio faceplate case
2 custom built Adapters for different styles of outlets. These let you plug into 120V outlets with different connectors than the normal ones.
Corbin charging cord. This plugs into a regular 120V outlet (you should have nothing else plugged in on the circuit or your breaker might blow). The other end plugs in the "gas cap" socket on the side of the Sparrow. It's about 8-10 feet long.
Extra long charging cord (not shown in pictures because it was at work). This is an extra long charging cord with the special gas cap connector on one end and standard 120V plug on the other, just like the standard charging cord. It is made of a high quality "Carol Roughhide" green color cable for exta durability. It is approximately 25 feet long to let you reach outlets further away.
Outdoor weatherized timer. This is helpful for starting the sparrow charging late at night to get the cheap electricity rates. Also if you have driven a lot, it's a good idea to let the batteries cool down before charging.
VIN number 1C9TS1200YH737149 in case you want to pull a carfax or other report to verify that the record is clean on this car.

My experiences driving a Sparrow

I have absolutely loved being a Sparrow owner. This thing is just so much fun to drive, knowing you are helping the environment and simultaneously driving a very unique and cool car. People wave and give thumbs up wherever you go. You overhear people on the street saying "Look at that" in excited tones. This car is and has always been about fun. But recently I had a near accident while driving it. I was accelerating from a stop, making a left turn, when the rear wheel lost traction due to a slick on the road, and the rear wheel slid out, and tended to tip. The left wheel was off the ground a foot or so, and I felt like it might tip over. As it slowed down the left wheel came down on the ground and all was fine. No scratches, no damage, no harm. This process of having the rear wheel lose traction and slide out, then tip, is a pattern that has led to accidents with other Sparrows in the past. I believe this kind of incident is avoidable by using a very light touch on the accelerator when going around turns and when driving in slippery conditions. Yet I'm a bit concerned for my safety knowing that only 300 of these were built and that they probably didn't do much crash testing, and part of why I'm selling is because I am realizing how much I value the stability and safety of a car. That and the new 2004 Prius hybrid is coming out and I need to sell the Sparrow to afford that. Certainly my Sparrow is just as safe as the other Sparrows on the road if not safer, but in general you should know that Sparrows need to be driven more conservatively than cars. By maintaining my Sparrow in top condition, I think you can have confidence that you are buying a safe Sparrow.

Results of battery testing.

I wanted to see what the range of these new batteries was. Normally I would not suggest that anyone push the range of their batteries unless they really know what they are doing, because taking them too low can be dangerous to the batteries. But I was monitoring voltages carefully throughout to make sure I didn't damage them.

I drove mosly on a flat frontage road about .8 miles long, driving out and back, stopping and turning around at both ends. Speed limit was 35 and I drove about 30-35 mph. The first few miles and last few miles had stop signs and traffic lights every couple of blocks. Ambient temperature was about 85 degrees.

The test started after a full charge. 172 Volts on the pack, E-meter reading 100% and 0 Ah. Odometer 4446.3 mi.
After driving a half mile the individual voltages were:

13.16
13.19
13.18
13.19
13.18
13.16
13.13
13.12
13.15
13.17
13.15
13.15
13.07

After having driven 34.9 miles, the E-meter read 0%, 34.4 Ah, and 155.5V at rest. Odometer 4481.2 mi. During the drive the voltage never got below 140V total, and I was using less than 50A current. The individual battery voltages were:

12.10
12.10
12.06
12.10
12.04
11.99
12.05
12.07
12.02
12.01
12.09
12.08
11.93

These voltages indicate that the pack is very well balanced. Note that battery 13 is lower because that battery was brand new installed a few hundred miles after the other ones, and probably hasn't gotten as broken in as the others yet.

Drivability:

I have relied upon this Sparrow to get to work for years and it has yet to let me down. The only times it has been undrivable have been when the belt broke twice (luckily on my way home).

Problems:

I believe in honest disclosure, so I will tell you the issues that you might notice on this particular vehicle if you were to carefully inspect and test drive the car in person.

There is a slight dark scuff mark on the left front bumper where I accidentally tapped some concrete while parking it once. You probably wouldn't notice it in person, and you can't even make it out in the pictures above which is why I mention it. It's just on the surface, not a dent. Other than that, the body is exactly like it came from the factory. You could easily tell someone this was a brand new car and they would believe you.
There is a scratch on the steering wheel below the middle on the metal. Again, not a big thing. That was actually there when the car was delivered to me.
The light on the analog amp meter doesn't work, so you can't read amps at night. There is an easy workaround for this; just put the e-meter into amp mode and you can read amps digitally at night.
The brakes do sometimes sqeal. It mostly happens when the car hasn't been driven in a few days and it probably is related to dust on the rotor. After pressing the brakes a few times they're quiet.
The windows make a loud squealing noise when you roll them down. Applying rain-x to the windows temporarily reduces this problem, which is caused by the rubber wipers inside the window frame. Many Sparrows have this issue.
The belt sometimes squeaks when driving it. Again, this is a general problem that many Sparrows have. It absolutely does not indicate any mechanical problem; it's just due to the way the Sparrows were designed without a belt tension adjustment. The amount of belt squeak in this Sparrow is much less than others I have heard.

Service:

There is an EV tech who focusses on servicing Corbin Sparrows. Her name is Clare Bell, and she worked for Corbin and designed parts of the Sparrow so she knows her stuff. She is also a dedicated electric vehicle enthusiast. She is based out of Northern California but frequently travels. If you ask me I'll give you contact info to get in touch with her (I don't want to post it on the web).

Community:

There is a yahoo group mailing list where Sparrow owners share their wisdom for enjoying and maintaining their Sparrows. There are a lot of very knowledgeable folks who are very willing to help. Some of them meet in the Bay Area at lunch meetings, and of course you can meet other Sparrow owners at electric vehicle events like the annual EV rally in Palo Alto.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sparrow_ev

Pricing:

I'm asking $11,300 for this Sparrow, and I feel that is a very reasonable price considering the better than new condition, and many upgrades. Just the parts for the new batteries, regulators, stereo system, and other upgrades would be significantly over $3000 if you were to do it yourself. If you were to add in the labor to get a "from the factory" sparrow as reliable as this one that would add thousands more. If you want a reliable sparrow you will want to do most of these upgrades anyway, so buying this sparrow saves you not only the hassle of getting them done but also some money.

I have maintained it as if I would keep it forever. I have a degree in electrical engineering and working on the Sparrow has been a fun way to put that knowledge to use since I work in computer software as my day job. I believe in honesty so I've disclosed issues here that others might not have disclosed.

Contact:

The Sparrow is based in San Carlos, California, about 40 minutes south of San Francisco. I will be happy to coordinate with buyer-paid shippers, but I would guess that with all the cool people here in the Bay Area I'll find someone local to buy it. I'm happy to offer test drives.

You can contact me, Tom Morrow... #### Sparrow is sold, do not contact #####