People are used to driving their cars long after the empty light turns on – most people could even tell you exactly how many miles they can go before their tank completely runs dry.  The idea of charging up a car instead of filling up is foreign to most people, so it’s natural to be concerned about what happens in an electric car when the juice runs out.

These concerns are understandable, but running out of charge in a CODA is very similar to running out of gas in a gas-engine car.  In both instances there are many warning signs before the car’s wheels stop rolling.

The CODA is engineered to maximize the life of the battery by not fully draining the battery every drive cycle.  However, if you are in a situation where you simply forgot to recharge, the CODA has a system in place to maximize range (miles per charge) as the state of charge (SOC) nears zero.

When the CODA gets to about 15% SOC, a three-stage, orderly reduction of power begins which helps to maximize range and avoid high power draws from the nearly empty battery.  In the first stage, the driver can continue driving at maximum speed (80 mph) but acceleration is limited, meaning the car may feel a bit sluggish when trying to speed up.  In the second stage, acceleration and power are limited, allowing a top speed of ~60 mph.  In the third and final stage, acceleration and power are limited, allowing a top speed of ~35 mph.

With each stage lasting ~5 miles, the driver has ~15 miles to get out of traffic and pull over to safety.  At each stage, the CODA’s telematics and in-dash screen alerts will help to indicate to the driver that they should pull over.  The moral of the story is that drivers should plug-in regularly to avoid this situation, but they do forget there is ample time to find a suitable place to pull off to the side of the road.

Why wait for the perfect solution when a good solution with the room to grow into the perfect solution is already here?

The Reuters story quotes Jared Cohon, the chair of a National Research Council report dubbed “Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use,” as saying, “For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed.”

We don’t dispute that the use of cleaner technologies is better, but what is missing from Reuters’ assessment is the fact that this ball is already rolling.  In California, for instance, only about 18% of the total electricity system power comes from coal plants and nearly 82% comes from a combination of large hydro, natural gas, nuclear, and renewable sources.  Today, coal-fired plants contribute less than 50% of the Nation’s electric power.

Even if the fuel production process for a gas car versus an electric car (refinement of gasoline and production of electricity) are net neutral in terms of total carbon emissions produced, we think driving an electric car is still a better option.   The total greenhouse gases created from charging and driving a battery electric car are less than those created from fueling and driving a gas engine car because electric motors are inherently much more efficient than internal combustion engines.  You see, the CODA electric motor is about 95% efficient while the typical internal combustion engine is about 20% efficient.   With only 20% efficiency, most of the gasoline burned in an internal combustion engine vehicle is emitted from the tailpipe rather than used as propulsion energy.  Less efficiency means more pollution.

So, while there is room to improve the level of upstream greenhouse gas emissions created when generating electricity, electric vehicles are still the cleaner solution.