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CODA Electric Now in Motion

by Ron CoganJune 1, 2012
CODA Automotive has been selected as one of 40 businesses to be profiled in The GOOD Company Project, a collaboration between the integrated media platform GOOD and IBM. The GOOD Company Project highlights 40 businesses for their positive contributions toward economic and social improvement. Over the past few months, CODA has delivered its first fleet vehicle […]

CODA Automotive has been selected as one of 40 businesses to be profiled in The GOOD Company Project, a collaboration between the integrated media platform GOOD and IBM. The GOOD Company Project highlights 40 businesses for their positive contributions toward economic and social improvement. Over the past few months, CODA has delivered its first fleet vehicle to AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), as well as electric cars to three California customers.

It’s been a long time coming for CODA. Three years ago today, the Southern California electric car company announced its spin-off from Miles Electric Vehicles, marketer of low-speed electric models sourced from China. At that time, CODA said it planned to offer its first all-electric vehicle to California buyers in fall 2010 at a cost of $45,000. Like electric car manufacturer Tesla, it missed its initial launch date, but by a much wider margin. Who said it’s easy to be an emerging auto manufacturer?

On a bright note, the manufacturer’s suggested retail cost for the CODA sedan has not edged upward, as has been the case with electric vehicles from some emerging automakers that have found it necessary to increase an announced MSRP – sometimes substantially –by the time they make it to actual sales. Three years back, CODA identified a target price of $45,000 with a bottom line cost to California buyers in the mid-$30,000s after federal and state incentives. Today, its actual MSRP is $7,750 less than that original target.

The CODA sedan is assembly line built by automaker Haife in China and based on an existing gasoline model. The four-door, five passenger sedan has been modified to fit American tastes and re-engineered to electric drive. Power is supplied by a lithium-iron phosphate battery pack featuring an active thermal management system that keeps the batteries at an optimum temperature in hot and cold weather. The batteries come with a 10-year, 100,000-mile limited warranty. A full charge is achieved in about six hours at 220 volts with the car’s 6.6kW onboard charging capability. While the EPA assigns an official estimated driving range of 88 miles, CODA Automotive says drivers could get up to 125 miles on a charge depending on driving habits.