Coda Sedan it begins selling throughout California in December, and it came in where Coda always hinted it would. The federal EV tax credit cuts the price to $37,400. Add in the California zero emissions vehicle rebate and you’ll pay $32,400 for a nicely equipped electric vehicle that suits most people’s needs.

Trouble is, that’s roughly $12,000 more than you’ll pay for the Nissan Leaf, another nicely equipped electric vehicle that suits most people’s needs. The Leaf will cost $20,280 in California after federal and state incentives. Company CEO Kevin Czinger doesn’t think that’s a problem because, he said, the Coda is a better car with superior range, a bigger, more reliable battery and faster charging.

“Price is not the decisive factor in electric vehicles,” he said during a conference call today. “Unless you offer a car that meets consumers’ daily needs, is dependable and is convenient, then it won’t be successful.”

The Coda is a fine car with a lot going for it. And in some small ways, the technology underpinning it outflanks that of the Leaf. Whether consumers will think that justifies the price remains to be seen.

The Coda Sedan looks and performs like pretty much any compact sedan from Japan. It isn’t fancy, but it’s well-appointed. Coda never set out to build anything more than a reliable, comfortable electric vehicle you could drive every day, and it appears to have succeeded.

Building a car takes loads of time and money, two things Coda Automotive didn’t have, so it focused on developing the huge 33.8 kilowatt-hour lithium-iron phosphate battery and went shopping for the rest. The chassis is from Mitsubishi, the bodywork — based on the Chinese-market Hafei Saibo – was tweaked by Porsche Design and many key components come from top-tier U.S. suppliers.

The result is an electric vehicle with a claimed range of 90 to 120 miles, a zero to 60 time around 10 seconds and a recharge time of 5.5 to 6 hours. Most of the car is built in China, under close oversight from Coda, by Hafei Automotive. But Coda installs the electric drivetrain and tests the cars in Northern California. The entire process is very similar to how Tesla Motors builds the Roadster. Czinger says the Coda meets federal safety regs and performs as well as a BMW 3-Series in crash testing.

Coda will offer the car only in California to start but plans to roll it out in Hawaii by the third quarter of next year. The Pacific Northwest will follow in 2012 and as many as 20 more markets nationwide are slated for 2013. The company chose to start in California because it is based in Santa Monica and “California is an EV hotbed,” said spokesman Darryl Harrison.

Czinger, obviously aware that he’s asking a lot for an electric car from a company no one’s heard of, says the Coda offers three advantages over the Leaf. First is superior range. The Coda is good for up to 120 miles on the US06 cycle, which some say is a more accurate reflection of real-world driving than the LA4 cycle Nissan used in determining the Leaf’s maximum range of 100 miles. (Nissan says the LA4 is the standard adopted by the California Air Resources Board and most consumers can expect 80 to 115 miles.)

Second, the Coda has active thermal management of the battery, using a fan to move cool (or warm) air over the pack optimize performance in extreme weather. The Leaf uses a passive system that relies upon ambient air to keep its 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery cool. Still, both companies offer 8 year / 100,000 mile warranties on their packs, so Nissan clearly has confidence in its technology.

Third, the Coda uses a 6.6 kilowatt onboard charger compared to the 3.3 kilowatt charger in the Leaf. This means the Coda can charge faster, gaining 20 miles for every hour it’s plugged in compared to the Leaf’s 10. But on the other hand, the Leaf offers, as an option, Level 3 “quick charging” capability right now so if and when such infrastructure is available you’re good to go in 30 minutes. Even when using a conventional 220 line the Leaf charges in seven to eight hours. Harrison said the Sedan doesn’t have level 3 capability because so far there’s no standard for the technology, but the car is ready for it should one be adopted.

Czinger raises several solid points, but it probably won’t matter to consumers because they’re very specific — and relatively arcane.

“They’re completely talking over most people’s heads,” said Chelsea Sexton, a longtime EV advocate and consultant to several automakers. “No one is going to know what any of that means. We’re lucky if the average person knows how many amps are coming out of their wall.”

Czinger says another selling point for the Coda is its approach to selling it. The company is opting for small shops with highly personalized service. He likened it to visiting the Genius Bar at an Apple store. Coda will own its stores — it hopes to have 17 throughout California by the end of next year — and consumers will have a personal “Coda Valet” who will help with everything from buying the car to having it serviced. If the car ever needs anything, Coda will pick it up and drop it off. The company’s retail and service model is similar to that of Tesla Motors, which also owns its stores and employs “Repair Rangers” who make house calls.

But in the end, you have to wonder if, as Sexton said, “there isn’t enough value-added content to make up the difference in cost” over the Leaf.

If there isn’t, you can’t blame Coda. The Coda Sedan appears to be, by any measure, a solid EV. We haven’t driven a production model, but we spent some time in an early prototype and were impressed. Had the car hit the market last year, Coda undoubtedly would have sold every one of the 14,000 cars it plans to build in its first year of production.

But Nissan has thrown a wrench into everyone’s business plan by pricing the Leaf at $32,780. Add in the federal EV tax credit and the California rebate and you’re driving home in an electric car for $20,280. If General Motors couldn’t match that price with the Chevrolet Volt, there was no way Coda ever would. It simply doesn’t have the volume, or the muscle, to compete with Nissan on price.

The market will decide whether it can compete with Nissan on value.

Photos: Coda Automotive

See Also:

• It’s Official: Chevrolet Volt Will Cost $41000
• Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle Is Surprisingly Affordable
• Coda Automotive Enters the Battery Business
• Unknown Automaker Coda Automotive Could Build The First Electric Sedan
• Audi’s Testing a Volt of Its Own

Authors: Chuck Squatriglia

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