Coda

November 3, 2009

Chinese Oil Company Considering National Battery Swap System for EVs

One of China's major oil companies - already a partner in the joint venture that will supply lithium-ion batteries for California-based Coda Automotive's upcoming electric sedan - is now considering a network of battery swap stations in China, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

China National Offshore Oil envisions a national network of stations where motorists can swap discharged EV batteries for full charged packs. "We can't build" electric cars, "but we can supply the energy," the oil company parent's strategy director told the newspaper.

Such a program, if it were to be launched, its success would be predicated on a number of Chinese automakers building their electric cars with swappable batteries.

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A Renault EV prototype sits on battery exchange platform in Better Place demonstration, while machinery pulls new battery pack from storage.

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The company is thinking along the same lines as California's Better Place, which plans national networks of battery exchange stations in Israel and Denmark for EVs to be built and sold in those countries by the Renault-Nissan Alliance starting in 2011.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell November 3, 2009, 9:24 AM
Categories:: Batteries, China, Coda, Energy Companies, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: Battery Charging Stations

September 8, 2009

Chinese Automakers Team Up For Home-Market EV After Helping With U.S. Model

(Note: Article updated 9/8/09 at 8:41 am to correct misidentification of Coda Automotive in all references after the initial paragraph.)

The Chinese automaker that will build Southern California-based Coda Automotive's upcoming electric sedan, reportedly has signed a deal to with a Chinese advanced autmotive R&D consortium to jointly produce alternative-fuel vehicles, including EVs, for their home market.

Harbin Hafei Automobile Industry Group, whose Saibao sedan (left) will be the basis of the new Coda EV, will combine forces with Qingyuan Electric Vehicle to jointly develop alternative-fuel vehicles, IHS Global Insight reports, citing the Xinhua news agency as its source.

Qingyuan, based in Tianjin City, is majority owned by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center. It first associated with Harbin Hafei in 2007 to develop an EV- version of the Saibao.

Coda is using a heavily reengineered version of the car for its own EV, slated to go one sale in California in mid 2010.

Harbin Hafei also supplies Miles Automotive Group, from which Coda sprouted earlier this year, with low-speed electric carts and trucks for the U.S. commercial market.

The two Chinese companies are hoping to take advantage of the Chinese government's intent to transform the nation's private transportation system by providing incentives for alternative-fuel and electric vehicles.

Analysts for IHS Global Insight note that with the government's promise of financial support, larger and better-established Chinese auto companies are also are preparing to launch EVs and hybrids and that competition might dampen Harbin Hafei's chances.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell September 8, 2009, 8:01 AM
Categories:: China, Coda, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: Coda Automotive

September 3, 2009

BorgWarner, UQM Team Up On Turn-Key Electric Powertrain For Automakers

Colorado's UQM Technologies and Michigan's BorgWarner have tied the knot in an agreement to integrate UQM's proprietary electric propulsion system with BW's electric drive single-speed transmission for use in gas-electric hybrid and all-electric passenger vehicles.

First up on the customer list is Southern California-based Coda Automotive, which has announced plans to introduce a battery-electric, five-occupant passenger sedan next summer.

The Coda, to be built in China and based on a heavily reengineered Chinese sedan, will use the QQM-BorgWarner electric powertrain, which mates UQM's 134 peak horsepower electric motor with Borg Warner's 31-03 eGearDrive tranmsission.

The 102-pound, 125 kilowatt motor delivers peak torque of 221 ft-lbs, magnified by the transmission's 6:5:1 gear ratio to 1,440 ft-lb at peak output.

That's sufficient, says Coda CEO Kevin Czinger, to give the $45,000 (estimated) car a 0-60 launch time of under 11 seconds - on par with the Chevrolet Malibu hybrid.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell September 3, 2009, 12:33 PM
Categories:: Coda, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: BorgWarner

August 20, 2009

Upstart Carmakers Face Long Odds in Wresting Energy-Efficient Niche From Giants

The Washington Post published an interesting electric-vehicle story on August 8 that nearly escaped our radar detection. Nearly but not quite. Here's how it starts:

Coda Automotive employs 41 people. It has a headquarters in Santa Monica, California, but it doesn't have its own factory. It doesn't have its own dealer network. It doesn't have a coterie of designers. Its chief executive, Kevin Czinger, a one-time college football star and former assistant U.S. attorney, has spent most of his career working in finance.

Yet Coda claims it will beat General Motors and other companies to market with an affordable, all-electric automobile built for the average American. This may not be a completely wild-eyed idea. Czinger was recently driving one of the prototypes - a plain-looking but smooth-running sedan [pictured] - around the streets of Washington.

Inspired by the prospect of a new market for electric cars, Coda and other small entrepreneurial companies are tapping into the expertise of others in bids to launch new vehicle brands featuring technology they say will leapfrog the major manufacturers.

The end-around premise of the story isn't something all of us haven't thought of on our own. But if that lead doesn't inspire you to click on the link above, we encourage you to check your pulse, place a 911 call if necessary, and then click on the link to read the rest of the story.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 20, 2009, 1:19 AM
Categories:: China, Coda, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: China. Electric Vehicle

July 28, 2009

Coda Automotive Raises $24 Million for Battery Development, EV Launch

EV-builder Coda Automotive said this morning that it has raised $24 million in a Series B private investment round and intends to use the cash for its battery manufacturing venture in China and for further development of the electric car it plans to launch in the California market next year.

The car, called the Coda, is a five-seat sedan based on a Chinese-market sedan but heavily reengineered to meet U.S. safety requirements and redesigned for U.S. market expectations.

Coda said the investment round drew capital from a number of corporate executives as well as from Southern California clean-tech venture investor Angeleno Group; former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson and Thomas F.Steyer, founder and co-managing partner of Farallon Capital Group.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell July 28, 2009, 9:49 AM
Categories:: Coda, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: Coda Automotive

July 27, 2009

UQM to Supply Electric Motors, Controls for New Coda Automotive Electric Sedan

UQM Technologies said it has signed a 10-year agreement to provide its proprietary electric powertrains to Coda Automotive for the electric car Coda has said it will bring to market next year.

Coda, an offshoot of low-speed EV supplier Miles Electric Vehicles, has developed a $45,000 (estimated) EV sedan with a range of 90-120 miles. The as-yet unnamed car (left) is based on a Chinese sedan but has been extensively reengineered to meet U.S. safety requirements and fit-and-finish expectations, the start-up automaker says.

The deal with UQM calls for the Colorado-based developer and manufacturer of electirc motors and controls to supply up to 20,000 propulsion systems over the two-year period following the start of volume production - expected sometime late this year or early next. Coda has said it will begin sales - only in California at first - by the middle of 2010.

UQM's supply volume will increase as Coda begins marketing its cars out into other states.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell July 27, 2009, 1:53 PM
Categories:: Coda, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: Coda Automotive

June 8, 2009

Yardney, Coda Form JV to (They Hope) Produce Lithium-Ion Batteries for EVs

Connecticut-based Yardney Technical Products Inc. and California-based Coda Automotive announced today that they have entered into a joint venture, Coda Battery Systems LLC, to design, make and sell automotive grade lithium-ion battery power systems in the U.S.

Coda Battery Systems has submitted a proposal under the Recovery Act stimulus grant program to the Department of Energy for funding to build a manufacturing facility in Enfield, Connecticut, that would employ about 600 people.

Oddly, not a one of the four people authorized to discuss the announcement was available to answer some key questions, such as "how much money is the joint venture seeking?" and "what will become of the JV if it doesn't receive a grant?"

According to a statement issued by the JV, the 600-person workforce would develop a battery that could be used in the four-door, all-electric Coda Automotive sedan (pictured) that the company says is scheduled for delivery to the California market in the fall of next year.

If realized, the vehicle would be the product of a joint venture between Coda Automotive and China-based Tianjin Lishen Battery Co., one of largest suppliers of lithium-ion batteries in the world.

If Coda Battery Systems receives an Energy Department grant - and the department is expected to begin announcing recipients next months - the company will begin supplying the power battery system for the Coda sedan as soon as the new U.S. facility can be brought online.

"It is anticipated that Lishen, Coda's battery partner in China, will participate in the U.S. manufacturing joint venture," the statement said.

That China would benefit, albeit indirectly, for Energy Department money is OK under the Recovery Act. What's important for grant eligibility is that the jobs be located in the U.S.

Based in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Yardney has been providing batteries for the U.S. military since 1944. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Coda Automotive is said to be safety and durability testing its all-electric, zero-emissions highway sedan.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett June 8, 2009, 4:50 PM
Categories:: Batteries, China, Coda, Emissions
Technorati Tags:: Battery Manufacturing

June 3, 2009

Miles EV Founder's Electric Sedan Plan Spawns New Company, New Name

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Miles Rubin has carved out a nice little business, Miles Electric Vehicles, marketing low-speed electric vehicles to commercial and government fleets and now wants to begin selling full-size, full service EVs to you and me.

But not as Miles EV.

As we reported last month, that name will be reserved for the 5-year-old low-speed electric work truck business.

The new business - Coda Automotive - was announced today at a press conference at Coda's Santa Monica headquarters. The name wasn't derived from the Led Zepplin album of the same name but comes from the musical notation for an independent passage that sums up or concludes what came before it.

The company, which plans to start selling a $45,000 (before a $7,500 federal tax credit), 5-seat, mid-sized battery-electric sedan in the last half of 2010, also showed off a prototype of the car (above), which is based on a sedan built by Hafei Motor Co., a smallish Chinese automaker.

Coda chief executive Kevin Czinger also announced that the company has formed a "global" joint venture with its Chinese battery supplier to develop, manufacture and market lithium-ion batteries for transportation and stationary power storage uses and has applied for a federal grant in partnership with a so-far unidentified U.S. battery development company to build an EV battery factory in this country.

Price Matters

Entering the battery business will enable Coda to leverage its core expertise in battery systems design and create revenue stream that can help the company lower the admittedly steep price of its first car, Czinger said in an interview with Green Car Advisor.

Part of the company's marketing message, to help overcome the price, is that a battery-EV has far fewer part than a conventional car or a hybrid-electric car. It needs no engine maintenance, no oil changes and relatively little routine maintenance. Coda figures that will cost the average owner $3 per 100 miles to operate the EV, versus $17 per 100 miles for a 20 mpg conventional car.

The annual savings help lower the total cost of owning an EV, Czinger said, and should help make the Coda more competitive with other EVs such as the model to be launched next year by Nissan Motor Co., and with extended-range plug-in hybrids such as General Motors Corp.'s similarly-priced Chevrolet Volt when they begin appearing in the market in 2011.

Tier 1 Team

Acknowledging that start-up automakers face a tough battle in pursuing consumer acceptance, Czinger said that Coda's marketing strategy will stress its electric sedan's safety and heavy use of components and systems supplied by top-tier companies such as Delphi Corp. (power electronics), Borg-Warner (the single-speed transaxle), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (heating and air conditioning) and Continental (electronic stability control system).

The Coda's 333-volt battery pack, now supplied by the Tianjin Lishen Battery Co., a manufacturer of lithium ion batteries used in laptop computers, cell phones and power tools, will come from the new Coda-Lishen Battery joint venture.