Here’s some data that will—forgive us—shock you. The battery-powered CODA travels up to 120 miles¹ between charges, but research shows that you may seldom go that far. Many of us frequently drive significantly fewer miles at a stretch, which means if you were driving an electric vehicle, you might be hard pressed to notice what you’re paying at the plug. And you’d soon forget all about spending a lot of money for oil.

Studies show that nearly half of all Americans drive 20 miles or less per weekday, and over two-thirds of us drive 20 miles or less on weekend days. A CODA driver trying to figure out those minimal demands on an electricity bill—as we have in the chart below—would come to the conclusion that driving an EV can be nearly as inexpensive as turning on the lights.

Electricity rate based on national average of 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour (2008).

———-

Destination: Work

Distance (roundtrip): 20 miles

Electricity required to recharge CODA: 7.5 kilowatt hours (kWh)

Cost: $0.85

Household equivalent:

Less than the sum of powering your kitchen appliances on a typical day: Refrigerator 5.8 kWh; microwave 1.1 kWh; dishwasher 2.4 kWh (9.3 kWh total)

———-

Destination: Work

Distance (roundtrip): 10 miles

Electricity required to recharge CODA: 3.75 kWh

Cost: $0.42

Household equivalent:

Watching your plasma TV every night for a couple weeks (.336 kWh/day x 14 days = 4.704 kWh)

———-

Destination: Shopping

Distance (roundtrip): 14 miles

Electricity required to recharge CODA: 5.25 kWh

Cost: $0.59

Household equivalent:

Drying one big load of laundry (5kWh)

———-

Destination: Taking your kids to school

Distance (roundtrip): 12 miles

Electricity required to recharge CODA: 4.5 kWh

Cost: $0.51

Household equivalent:

Working on your computer at home for nearly a week (1.18 kWh/day x 4 days = 4.72 kWh)

———-

Destination: Friend’s house

Distance (roundtrip): 22 miles

Electricity required to recharge CODA: 8.27 kWh

Cost: $0.93

Household equivalent:

Cooling your house with  an air conditioner for one warm day: :  7.73 kWh

————————————————————-

SOURCES:

—America consuming nearly 19 million barrels daily

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/country_energy_data.cfm?fips=US

—Approximately $3,600 spent annually on gasoline: p. 9, “Electrification Roadmap,” available from the Electrification Coalition:

www.electrificationcoalition.org/

—Statistics indicating that nearly half of all Americans drive 20 miles or less per weekday/nearly three-quarters of us drive 20 miles or less on weekend days: p. 123, “Electrification Roadmap,” available from the Electrification Coalition:

www.electrificationcoalition.org/

—2008 national average electricity rate:

www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_factors_affecting_prices

—Destinations and distances based loosely on National Household Travel Survey Summary of Travel Trends (2001); p. 15/table 5:

http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/pub/STT.pdf

—“Household equivalent” figures: http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/appliances/index.cfm/mytopic=10040 and www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-2.htm (for personal computer). Air conditioner data from www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2001/enduse2001/enduse2001.html–although Update: The 2005 stat on average A/C usage in the U.S.: 2,822 kWh/year, or 7.73 kWh/day.

—Other supporting sources:

US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Omnibus Household Survey (2003): www.bts.gov/publications/omnistats/volume_03_issue_04/html/figure_02.html

Long term, this announcement means we will be able to mass manufacture CODA’s battery system to help other companies join the electrification movement. And finally, it means we can move forward with our plans to develop battery systems for utilities looking to store renewable energy.

To wrap-up, I want to add some color on our partnership with Lishen. As one of the top Lithium-ion battery producers in the world, Lishen makes the battery cells for some of the top electronics companies, like Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Vodaphone and others. We partnered with Lishen for a few reasons, but the decision really came down to chemistry (no pun intended). What we found in Lishen was a partner ready and willing to work collaboratively with CODA engineers to quickly bring a transformational product to market. And together, we’ve done something neither could do alone: create a disruptive technology that will catalyze a movement to forever change the transportation and renewable energy sectors.

Off to work.

-Kevin

It’s not a question of when; all electric, green cars are coming this year.  It’s a question of how.

How do we, as an industry, help consumers overcome the price barrier that exists with this technology so that we can accelerate the widespread adoption of all electric cars?

CODA Automotive conducted extensive consumer insights research and analysis, which indicates that one of the highest impact ways to answer that question and move America into the electric car era is to change the $7,500 Federal tax credit program that is already in place for plug-In vehicles to an instant cash rebate program.

Similar to the 2009 Cash for Clunkers (CARS) program, which resulted in nearly 700,000 new vehicles sold during its eight-week run, a $7,500 instant cash rebate would be paid to retailers at the time of sale.  This would provide immediate price relief, reducing the upfront cost to the buyer.  While the concept behind the current program (making electric cars more affordable to more people) is a good one, it doesn’t work as a tax credit.

Most Americans think in short term, monthly payments.  A tax credit is not something they would see immediately and doesn’t help if they’re financing the car.  For instance, with the tax credit program a consumer who finances a $40,000 electric car over a 5-year term, would pay about $150 more per month and accrue nearly $1,300 more in interest payments over the course of their loan than if the program gave them an instant cash rebate.  That’s $10,300 more a consumer would pay over the course of five years.

Plug-In Vehicle Finance Transaction (60 Month Term)

*California will likely apply sales tax before deductions

Based on CODA Automotive’s extensive consumer research, restructuring the current Federal tax credit program to be an instant cash rebate would nearly triple demand for all electric cars in 2010-2011.  This would also allow CODA Automotive to price its all electric car, with touch screen navigation, on-board telematics, Bluetooth connectivity, and satellite radio capabilities, in the low $30,000-range or below, or simply put similar to a fully loaded Toyota Prius.  We believe this lower upfront price, coupled with electric cars’ lower total cost of ownership, will attract a broader range of customers and quickly spur the adoption of all-electric vehicles.

While others (including Darryl Siry and former New York Governor George Pataki) have pointed to the benefits of changing the tax credit to an upfront rebate, we believe it is the manufacturers’ responsibility to advocate for this change.  That’s why CODA Automotive is actively meeting with legislators to explain the real benefits of changing the basis of the plug-in vehicle tax credit program to one that is truly beneficial to consumers and a catalyst for initial sales of all-electric vehicles.

In the article, veteran auto industry analyst Maryann Keller said in response to DOE’s announcement, “We’re pouring $1 billion into two companies without a future.  The economics of the industry favors large companies.”

The idea that smaller companies can’t be successful and therefore won’t lead the revolution in alternative transportation is what we take issue with.  Within the past year, two of the three big, domestic auto companies went into bankruptcy and dealer sales tanked.  If that doesn’t say the auto industry needs a fresh breath of air from smaller players with disruptive models that aren’t confined by the bureaucracy of large corporations, then we don’t know what does.

Between rising carbon emission-related environmental degradation, Americans’ anti-oil sentiments, and the lack of alternative options, the market desperately needs innovative, nimble companies, like CODA Automotive, that can move quickly to shift expectations and get electric cars on the market that meet drivers’ needs and are better to the environment.

It’s hard for us to believe that one of the industry giants will do this – especially considering their businesses were founded on and  are still concretely rooted in the production of internal combustion, gas guzzling vehicles.

Sliding into the driver’s seat of Coda’s electric sedan for the first time, I looked around for clues. Here’s 100 years of automotive history, reinvented — what’s different? No gear-shift, just a knob that engages the car’s two speeds, forward and reverse. A battery-life gauge. Not much else. Then I pull into midtown Manhattan traffic and hear the road noise, the thrum of passing air. They were always there, but now there’s no engine roar to drown them out. The Coda’s motor barely whimpers as it speeds into a new market for cars with no gas and no exhaust.

In the fall of 2010, the Coda sedan will become the first mass-produced all-electric sedan to hit the roads in the United States. About the size of a Honda Civic and 15% more than a fully loaded Toyota Prius — $37,500 after the $7,500 government rebate — it has five seats, six air bags, a 90- to 120-mile range on a single charge, and a top speed of around 80 miles per hour. Says Coda CEO Kevin Czinger: It’s an “all-electric car for everyone,” a 21st-century Beetle born of private capital and American enviro-guilt.

The battery challenge for Coda is “to move for the first time to a complex system.” — CEO Kevin Czinger

Other car companies are hot on Coda’s heels. Besides the forthcoming Tesla four-door that has gotten most of the press, Nissan, Detroit Electric, and Wheego all have highway-speed electric sedans close to production. But Coda may have the best shot at mainstream success. Nissan’s Leaf falls into the age-old electric-vehicle, or EV, trap: It’s an alien-looking buggy with small wheels and no nose that won’t look like a real car to American buyers. Toyota and Honda, which have EVs coming in 2012 and 2015, respectively, will need big numbers to be profitable, while Czinger says Coda will be profitable with sales of 6,000 to 10,000 vehicles a year. Coda has a year’s head start on Tesla’s sedan and more cash than startups like Wheego. But Coda’s biggest advantage may be that it has already learned to navigate the parts market in China and made smart deals with suppliers.

“They have not only the financial wherewithal but also the access to top-notch engineering and suppliers,” says Wheego CEO Jeff Boyd, formerly CEO of Miles Electric Vehicles. “I believe Coda’s sedan is going to come to fruition.”

Curiously enough, one of Coda’s strengths is five years of experience making shoddy electric vehicles in China. The Coda brand emerged this past June from the wreckage of Miles Electric Vehicles, founded by environmental entrepreneur Miles Rubin. That firm’s low-speed electric cars, or LSVs, still tool around university campuses and retirement communities, but quality problems alienated dealers; the company now sells direct to fleets. “Miles chose an inferior chassis, inferior Chinese components, and built a really cheap car,” says an industry source. “They had no choice but to change the name and everything else.”

To pump new life into his business, in March 2008 Rubin brought in Czinger, a well-connected former Goldman Sachs banker and principal in Silicon Valley startup Webvan who had been a first-round investor. With Czinger as CEO, $24 million more poured in from the likes of ex — Goldman Sachs investment-banking head Steven “Mac” Heller, now Coda’s cochairman; former Clinton chief of staff Thomas “Mack” McLarty; John Bryson, former chairman and CEO of Edison International; and former Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson.

That cash gave Czinger a solid base, but not nearly enough to buy high-quality electric-propulsion parts — the battery pack, wiring, cooling system, and charger, none yet available off the shelf. So Czinger negotiated an innovative joint venture to reduce the price of the most expensive single component: the lithium-ion battery pack.

With no domestic lithium-ion battery producers ready to scale automotive-grade batteries, Czinger headed to China — 14 times — and hammered out a joint-venture partnership with China’s state-owned lithium-ion battery company, Tianjin Lishen, which supplies companies such as Apple and Motorola. A team of Coda engineers, led by senior vice president of China operations Mark Atkeson, was installed at Lishen to do much of the R&D. Because Coda developed the battery-pack design, the company owns the intellectual property. For its part, Lishen gets to develop the infrastructure it will need to mass-produce electric cars once they become popular in China. Even with Lishen’s experience, the process was daunting; the battery pack for the Coda sedan has 728 cells, while computers and phones have just a few. “You have to move for the first time to a complex system that is going to serve an automotive duty cycle,” says Czinger. “There is a huge gap between those two things.” Bridging that gap took cooperation — and supervision.

Atkeson has worked in China for 15 years for engine companies like Pratt & Whitney. “With electric,” he says, “there’s a lot more pressure to get it right.” Lithium-ion cells can be volatile and susceptible to the overheating the industry calls a “runaway thermal event.” His engineers had to accommodate a cooling system that could monitor the temperature, state, health, and charge of each individual cell without driving up costs. The solution: a pack with space between the discrete cells so heat could radiate evenly. Then engineers devised two distinct air-conditioning systems — one for the cabin and the other for the battery.

Czinger also worked out co-engineering partnerships with other high-quality suppliers — American companies such as UQM Technologies and BorgWarner for the motor and drivetrain; Hafei Automobile Group in Harbin, China, for the chassis (also supervised by Atkeson); and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America for cooling and air-conditioning systems. The parts will be assembled by Hafei.

The initial production run of 1,600 vehicles will be shipped first to California, where the infrastructure is ready and waiting, according to Bryson: “There’s no question the system can keep up,” he says. Back in the 1990s, Edison International launched a startup that built a series of charging stations for plug-in EVs; about 1,000 of the stations have been maintained for scooters, Segways, and other electric vehicles. Since most EV owners are expected to charge their batteries in the evening, Bryson says that EVs mean greater efficiency for the grid — and more revenue for utilities, which will be able to sell what is now excess off-peak capacity.

The Miles legacy lives on in Coda’s direct sales. According to the company, about 500 people are on a waiting list at CodaAutomotive.com; sales through the site began this fall. New vehicles can be driven to customers by a valet service.

There are still challenges. Among them: expanding to areas with less charging capacity, and reducing the weight of the battery pack; at just over 700 pounds, it helps make the Coda almost 800 pounds heavier than a Honda Civic.

Czinger says he has no intention of letting up once the sedan is launched: “I would not do this — my wife and kids would not allow me to do this — if they didn’t think it had a greater purpose.” The reward for his life as a “business monk,” he says, is the energy independence that could come with electric cars. “The only way to catalyze adoption of electric cars is to focus on at-scale, automotive-grade vehicles, and get them on the market as soon as possible,” he says. “I think that’s what we need to transform the old oil regime into something much cleaner.”