Coda Automotive's Electric Vehicle Has An Uphill Climb Ahead - 24 volt lifepo4 battery pack

Kevin Czinger, chief executive of electric vehicle maker Coda Automotive, arranged work for him.
Later this year, he will start selling an unverified technology under a nameplate that few people have heard of, most of which are assembled in China.
It will be much more expensive than its main competitor, Nissan Leaf, which is one of the world's largest automakers.
The car is wearing extremely ordinary pieces of metal.
The car will not be delivered before the red carpet;
This is not a car for the Tesla crowd.
Czinger gave me a ride yesterday.
(He won't let me drive because it's a prototype, not a production version.
) It works and feels like a little fourdoor sedan.
It fits right around Times Square and it has great electric-
The car accelerated.
But it will be at a low price of $40,000.
After federal and state kickbacks, the price is around $35,000, Czinger said.
This is roughly the same as the upcoming plugin
Chevrolet Volt, an oil-electric hybrid, up to $10,000 + full
Electric Nissan Leaf.
(Not to mention that it is almost twice the cost of the cheapest traditional hybrid, such as Honda Insight, which does not completely consume gasoline.
) Czinger, of course, dismisses these concerns as a public desire for a safe, reliable, normal
Cars that don't look like they use a drop of gasoline.
His car does have some technical data to boast about.
Its battery pack is better than that of the leaves (34-kwh v. 24-
Kwh), which is protected by a thermal management system that keeps the battery between 70 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit, says Czinger, which will ensure a better range of travel.
In addition, the Coda's battery charges much faster at home than the Leaf's because of its built-in capabilitiesin charger.
(Both cars claim they can charge 100 miles, but the range varies depending on how the car is driving, external conditions, and how many gadgets are in the car.
Volt will be fully charged for about 40 miles and it has a gas-
According to General Motors, the launched car "expanded its range by hundreds" of miles.
) Czinger plans to sell 14,000 Codas in 13 months from its initial listing in December to the end of 2011.
Half of that will be fleet vehicles sold to municipalities, utilities and other companies.
The other half will be sold directly to the buyer of the test.
Drive in a place like a shopping mall.
The car was made by Mitsubishi.
It will be assembled into modules in China and then shipped to a factory near Oxnard, California.
To complete.
In this way, the car will be called assembled in the United States, and Czinger can pay close attention to quality and safety ---
So far, the most important issue for a new car company is the company that sells new technologies.
Czinger said that after the first crash test in 2008, 80% of the cars were redesigned and that he would shoot four to five times.
When testing Star crash ratings again in the USS.
Coda sells 700 to 800 cars a month, which can break the balance of payments, he said. -
This number is less than 10,000 per year, which is very low for a car company.
The company, developed by Miles Rubin, a predecessor company called Miles Electric Vehicles, was designed around the battery pack.
Together with the Chinese partners, the company's factory in China will be able to produce 20,000-
Since 2011, there are kilowatt-hour battery packs every year.
The company hopes to set up a sister factory in Ohio with the help of a federal loan guarantee.
Czinger said the company could increase its battery capacity by 100 times (yes, 100x) in ten years and sell battery packs to other car manufacturers.
Responsibility for the rest of Coda--
Lower structure, motor, body, interior--
All of them are outsourced to auto suppliers.
This may be part of why even though there is an impressive power pack under the hood, the car looks so generic.
The problem is that one thing is not clear about the car: that is the price tag.
Czinger believes that the demand for the first batch of electric vehicles is large enough, which will not be a problem.
He then promised (predictably) that prices would fall.
He thinks that by 2013, a 150 car
Miles will be spent in the middle.
$30,000, excluding subsidies.
He thinks that by then there will be infrastructure that will allow drivers to be quick.
Charge their electric car in about 10 minutes.
He believes that the sharp rise in oil prices will reduce the overall cost of ownership of electric vehicles.
He believes that the public will become increasingly tired of paying for oil and sending money overseas, and it will become more comfortable to buy and drive electric vehicles.
He might be right, but if so
When the rubber finally hits the road later this year, these will be cleaned, he said.
"We need to put cars in people's hands," he said . "
"We need to tell the first 5,000 to 7,000 stories.