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Started 2 years ago by Walker
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Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Hadn't seen them brought up yet, and doing some reading this morning about the company.

Via Wikipedia:

Coda AutomotiveÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s first production vehicle will be an all-electric, 4-door 4-passenger sedan based on the Hafei Saibao with new front and rear fascias. The company anticipates the vehicleÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s range to be 90Ã¢â‚¬â€œ120 miles (based on US06 cycle on the low end and the UDDS cycle on the high end) depending on individual driving habits and is electronically limited to 80 mph (130 km/h) for peak performance. The cost of charging the vehicle based on electricity kilowatt-hour averages across the US is estimated at $0.03 per mile. The sedan charges at a standard 110 or 220V outlet and is powered by a $13,000 333V, 33.8 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery from Lishen Battery Co.

Thoughts?

http://www.codaautomotive.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coda_Automotive

Posted 2 years ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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You mean, aside from it's overall ugliness? Sorry, channelling my inner Jeremy Clarkson there....

I think the 90-120 miles is a little disappointing, and I'm definitely wondering about overall cost. I think for a vehicle that gets such limited mileage, taking an existing used car and converting it to electric is probably the more cost effective thing to do.

Posted 2 years ago #
drew

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At least judging by the press release, it sounds pretty similar to most of the electric car projects in the works. Love the idea of 'em all, but I really am starting to think that the electric vehicle is a tough nut to crack... it'll take many years of ownership (or a drastic spike in gas prices) to recoup the cost of $13k worth of batteries.

The group that I've been watching most closely is Aptera. Aside from aesthetics, I think they have the right idea... and they've had a hell of a time getting things off the ground.

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I don't think its overly UGLY... looks pretty standard to me. Perhaps a bit bland if anything.

But yeah, I can't see too many people rushing out to buy a $45,000 car with a 120 mile distance limit.

I'm still excited nonetheless because I can imagine the fourth or fifth generation of this (and other) electric vehicle getting the price down and the battery life up to something more widely appealing.

Posted 2 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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The price of the Coda sedan is estimated to be 40,000 (zero options) pre tax incentives. For that price point, I think people will be disappointed in the overall quality of the car. By comparison, the Nissan Leaf starts at 33,000. Tesla will be offering an optioned vehicle at 40,000. The Chevy Volt is also expected to be around 40,000.

The Coda IS being made in China. Even though this is a U.S. company lead operation. After seeing the Chinese coming out of China up front. They are still downright scary. Their website says they are "anticipating" 5-star NCAP scores.

I think this car is a dud.

There are going to be better options available from the established auto manufacturers. All of which are working on electric vehicles.

Posted 2 years ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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I always love when I hear these touted as the next thing in transportation in response to high gas prices and/or public transportation.

$40,000 and 90 miles on a charge?

Posted 2 years ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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1) You have to start somewhere
2) This is a bad start

Posted 2 years ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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For the cash involved, I'd rather take a used Hyundai Accent and retrofit it with golf cart batteries. I've read it's between $5-7K to do such a retrofit - so that would be an electric car for about $10K.

The issue with all of these cars is for those of us who actually enjoy The Drive. Tesla wins this contest hands down, but all their previous offerings have been WAAAAAYY out of the average consumer's reach.

Posted 2 years ago #
rus

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lifeontwowheels wrote >>
I always love when I hear these touted as the next thing in transportation in response to high gas prices and/or public transportation.
$40,000 and 90 miles on a charge?

Indeed.

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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Twixlen wrote >>
The issue with all of these cars is for those of us who actually enjoy The Drive. Tesla wins this contest hands down, but all their previous offerings have been WAAAAAYY out of the average consumer's reach.

Agree with this on all counts.

Incidentally, Tesla has done what I fully expected them to do eventually: team up with a larger established player. They are now getting a major equity investment from Toyota and will be taking over a factory in California that Toyota was going to abandon in order to manufacture their first high-volume production car. I wish both of them the best of luck.

Tesla was the first major luxury player in the market and had star power with Elon Musk (and, to a lesser degree, Martin Eberhard, now no longer with the company) behind the venture, but there are others in there serving as competition for now, too. Whether they last long term remains an issue, but small-time player Fisker Automotive has a luxury-range competitor to the Tesla Roadster, the Karma (which it describes as a "premium plug-in electric hybrid," so not fully electric like the Roadster, but close). In addition, as mentioned, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt will be in production soon, so the competition in the electric segment is actually about to get much fiercer much faster in the electric market than most hidebound defenders of the gas-is-the-only-way status quo could possibly believe.

I'm fully aware that at least one, and possibly more than one, of the Tesla/Toyota, Chevy, Nissan, and Fisker products is likely to flop. So what? For competition to work--and for public perceptions and the mass understanding of the limits of the possible to expand--does not require *every* market entrant to succeed. It only requires some.

Oh, and while my proletarian little '01 Altima has a fair amount of life left, I fully expect that it will last to 2013--and that I'll be in the electric market myself at that point, at least assuming that that market has managed to expend, via at least one vector, to Akron by then.

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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CODA Automotive to open Central Ohio Plant:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/coda-automotive-to-open-central-ohio-plant

Posted 2 years ago #
groundrules

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Walker wrote >>
I don't think its overly UGLY... looks pretty standard to me. Perhaps a bit bland if anything.

man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that...

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Incentive for Coda battery plant headed to council
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
BUSINESS FIRST OF COLUMBUS

Up for emergency consideration at Columbus City CouncilÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Monday meeting is a three-part incentive package valued in the long-term at up to $32.6 million for Lio Energy Systems, a joint venture between Santa Monica, Calif.-based Coda Automotive Inc. and Lishen Power Battery of China. That includes a 10-year, 75 percent property tax break on improvements; a 12-year, 65 percent Jobs Creation Tax Credit; and an eight-year, 35 percent Jobs Growth Incentive.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2010/09/13/daily23.html

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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Coda sedan's sticker price: $37,400
Project to make car's battery in Columbus gets support from city council
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 12:49 PM
BY DAN GEARINO
The Columbus Dispatch

The all-electric Coda sedan will have a sticker price of $37,400, including a federal tax rebate, the company said today.

"We think that at that price, there will be very, very strong demands for what we think is the first real, usable electric car that meets people's day to day driving needs," said Kevin Czinger, Coda's CEO, in a conference call.

...

The company would invest $657 million and hire 1,000 people at its proposed Columbus battery plant. Almost 90 percent of the jobs would pay annual wages just shy of $35,000. Other salaries would range up to $97,000.

READ MORE:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2010/09/21/coda-electric-sedan-pricing-set.html?sid=101

Posted 1 year ago #
Tigertree
771 N. High St.
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@Twixlen, glad you caught that, don't know how I didn't get to remark about how awful this thing looks before, especially those led running lights. Gross.

I know, like the last crappy looking electric car thread, people will jump on me fore being form over function. I just don't know how so much engineering and millions of dollars of development can go into creating something with so little attention paid to design. It's not engineered with a fish tail or anything to make it super aero-dynamic, so if you are just going to make a standard fare car, why not try a littler harder? That looks like a hyundai to me. Either make something decent looking or make it purposefully standout. The Prius, while hideous, at least makes a statement.

Posted 1 year ago #
bababoohi

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Tigertree wrote >>
@Twixlen, glad you caught that, don't know how I didn't get to remark about how awful this thing looks before, especially those led running lights. Gross.
I know, like the last crappy looking electric car thread, people will jump on me fore being form over function. I just don't know how so much engineering and millions of dollars of development can go into creating something with so little attention paid to design. It's not engineered with a fish tail or anything to make it super aero-dynamic, so if you are just going to make a standard fare car, why not try a littler harder? That looks like a hyundai to me. Either make something decent looking or make it purposefully standout. The Prius, while hideous, at least makes a statement.

They didn't design this car, which seems very strange to me. The aero aspect of the hyper "fuel" efficient cars is pretty important, hence the odd and similar looks of a lot of the hybrids out now.
The article says the following:
Coda AutomotiveÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s first production vehicle will be an all-electric, 4-door 4-passenger sedan based on the Hafei Saibao with new front and rear fascias.

Posted 1 year ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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The Coda CEO is speaking jibba jabba!

Those $7,500 federal rebates are going to get used up. And when this $45k clown car hits the streets, I don't know anyone who is willing to pay that, or even $35k, for one. Would any of you? At this point, you'd be hard pressed to find an auto manufacturer that doesn't have electric in the works.

I hope for Columbus that they get their loan and that their battery facility really would be as advanced as their CEO claims it will be. Battery production will be important, even if Coda fails.

Posted 1 year ago #
pez

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Not sure where it would make any sense to invest that kind of money to make batteries when there are plenty of real battery companies both here and abroad that can make batteries. If they do have some great technology they'd be better to license it out.

Sounds a lot like to promises of a Kelpie truck plant in Toledo about 20 years ago.

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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Proposed Columbus battery plant would employ 2,000 -- double earlier estimate
Strickland optimistic carmaker Coda will get needed federal loan
Monday, September 27, 2010 12:34 PM
Updated: Monday, September 27, 2010 02:24 PM
BY DAN GEARINO
The Columbus Dispatch

Coda Automotive's proposed battery plant in Columbus will employ more than 2,000 workers, the company has told Gov. Ted Strickland.

That's double the number that had been widely reported since the automaker in May announced its intentions to open a plant locally.

"It is huge, not just in terms of the specific numbers of jobs, but the kind of jobs. These are cutting-edge technologies," Strickland said in an interview today.

Coda has applied for a federal loan to help pay to develop the plant, which would build batteries for all-electric cars. The loan application says the company would employ roughly 1,000 workers from 2011 to 2013, and then enter a second phase in 2014 that would add 1,100 workers.

READ MORE:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2010/09/27/coda-battery-plant-jobs-doubled.html?sid=101

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Third Frontier gives $2M to Coda battery plant
Business First
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010

The California company looking to build a $657 million battery-making plant in Columbus can add a $2 million state grant to its list of incentives.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2010/10/18/third-frontier-gives-2m-to-coda.html

Posted 1 year ago #