CODA Electric Car

[OriEri]

Initial delivery of first CODAs in the bay area covered on the local segment of NPR news this morning. I was also surprised about the stuff under the hood. I guess they have to put transformers and such someplace. I also have no idea where the battery pack is physically located. Maybe it is under there too.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

If I'm not mistaken the battery is under the floor of the car (and the trunk).

[DelS]

Day two, neither one of us wants to drive the hemi. The power delivery feel on this beast is like the best from BMW but no sound(and not quite the power of course, but still extrememely satisfying. After a half day of errands this yesterday, woke up this morning, the gauge read 77 miles on it(Leaf territory). Though I drive the dang thing like my magnum-- lead foot forward. But no longer with the petro angst!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76242540@N05/

And it is #2 out of the first batch of 500

[OriEri]

What was the charge percentage both before and after your errands and how many miles did you put on? I am curious how your range stacks up against the somewhat disappointing EPA predictions. (77 city, I believe).

The pics are nice. I wonder if #1 is the car I test drove a week earlier?

[herm]

Congratulations, I believe the first one went to a Coda executive.. so what range are you getting

Very spiffy looking!

[OriEri]

I heard from the dealer a week or two ago. They again offered me a 125mi (31kwh) version and let me know the 150mi version (36kwh, I think) now won't be shipping until March of next year. I asked if they understood the low DOE efficiency rating. The sales rep said it had to do with the battery active thermal management system and that it was tested in summer in the DC area so it took a lot power just to cool the battery as it charged. That may be true . . . but 25%? Possible, I suppose but it seems like a lot. Makes me wonder if the thermal system can be turned off except for maybe an hour after and while using the car. Li Iron Phosphate batteries are supposed to be more resistant to thermal stressing in terms of battery life.

I forgot to ask the dealer what kind of distances they are getting out of their CODAs. That is what I really care about. If they are still getting well over 100miles with the 31kwh during normal use, I am happy. If that 77MPGe translates into significantly reduced range then I am going to reconsider and maybe get a plug-in hybrid or something.

[herm]

How much power it takes to keep the battery cool depends on how well insulated it is, supposedly the Volt uses 200Wh for that. You should not see much expense in California, its a moderate climate. On the other hand 31 Leaf owners have premature capacity loss, most of them in Phoenix.

[herm]

http://www.torquenews.com/1075/uqm-w...codas-survival

UQM writes off Coda, piling on doubts of Coda's survival

UQM makes motors and inverters, a highly respected company in this field

[OriEri]

Thanks for the link, Herm. Looks like it could be waiting quite a while for that larger battery pack version of the CODA Friend recently said she saw one on the road somewhere. Probably should kiss my $99 deposit goodbye also. Darn it all! Oh well, maybe I'll get a Rav4.

[OriEri]

A somewhat more detailed article focussed on CODA. Also Equally disturbing.


http://www.plugincars.com/coda-autom...13-125774.html

To me, I thought their big discriminator against vehicles like the was the longer range battery. A nominal 150 miles. I was mystified when they chose to delay that offering, and reading between the lines of the article below, it looks to me like decisions such as that are made in a void by a very few without listening to consumer or employee opinions.

It is disheartening. Considering they originally were promising delivery of my longer range car early last year, shifted to fall of last year and I have heard nothing from them in months, I think it is time for me to ask for my $99 deposit back. I'll let you know how that goes.