1. Follow us (@CODAautomotive) on Twitter

2. Tweet your own Earth Day pledge, and be sure to include @codaauto

3. Pick up your t-shirt and sign CODA’s pledge wall at the Santa Monica Earth Day on the Promenade event between 10 am and 7 pm this Saturday.

Event Details:  CODA Automotive will be on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade (booth #3, entrance off of Wilshire Blvd) from 10 am to 7 pm this Saturday showing the CODA, the all-electric car from the all-electric car company.

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.

We get it.  It’s new and it’s unfamiliar.  So there’s a lot to think through, but that doesn’t mean you should discount them so soon.  In his October 20^th post, Gas2.0 Editor Nick Chambers points out a compelling statistic:  according to the 2001 US Department of Transportation National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), the average person drives their personal vehicle less than 23 miles a day, which is more than covered by the CODA’s minimum 90 mile range.

Still, the questions persist, “What if I want to go on a road trip over the weekend? Or what if an emergency comes up and I need to drive further than I normally do?”

These concerns are understandable, but perhaps a bit irrational.  Nick may have put it best, “So, if the average person drives a quarter of the distance an electric car is capable of going in a given day, why do people still say that they aren’t practical? It certainly isn’t a feeling based in how people actually use their cars. No, it’s more of a feeling based on our obsession with risk aversion—trying to avoid potential problems even if those problems don’t crop up during 95% of the rest of our lives.”

Our solution?  A hybrid garage.  No, we don’t mean a garage of hybrid vehicles.  What we mean is a garage with a CODA electric car for every day commuting and a conventional car (that gets high gas mileage, please) that will get you where you need to go on those rare occasions when you need more than your 90-120 mile CODA range.  And since most US households (92%) already have two vehicles, the idea of having two different cars for different purposes shouldn’t be news to anyone.