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First 2012 Coda Sedan Electric Cars Delivered To Paying Customers

 
2,884 views Mar 21, 2012
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First delivery of 2012 Coda Sedan, at Coda Los Angeles, to buyer "Carmen," March 2012

HI-RES GALLERY: First delivery of 2012 Coda Sedan, at Coda Los Angeles, to buyer "Carmen," March 2012

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You can add one more to the list of electric cars now on sale in the U.S., with deliveries last week of the very first 2012 Coda Sedan models last Friday in northern and southern California.

In publicized events at Coda dealers in both Los Angeles and Siicon Valley (south of San Francisco), dealer representatives handed over Coda keys to buyers who had registered for the cars--some as long as three years ago.


Buyer Randy Abraham, a pilot and technology fan who lives in Redwood City, California, took delivery of his silver 2012 Coda Sedan at Coda Silicon Valley in Santa Clara.

His car was actually the very first Coda that had rolled off the company's assembly line in Benicia, California, earlier in the week. 

He received his car from the company's executive chairman, Mac Heller, and Shaun Del Grande, president of the Del Grande Dealer Group--who committed to Heller that his dealership would sell more Codas than any other.

A few hundred miles south at Coda Los Angeles, buyer "Carmen" was joined by Coda CEO Phil Murtagh and dealership owner Dana Martin.

She's described as "an eco-conscious advertising executive" who spent three years on the Coda reservation list before getting her black 2012 Sedan. She was joined by Coda board member Daniel Weiss, whose electric sedan was white.

The Coda Sedan was initially planned to go on sale in the fall of 2010--ahead of the first Chevy Volt sale, in December 2010, and the first Nissan Leaf buyer the same month--but it was delayed by development issues and subsequent turnover in Coda management.

The car even missed its end-of-February on-sale date by 17 days, but the company is no doubt very relieved that it is now, finally, able to deliver running cars to paying customers.

The 2012 Coda joins the Leaf and the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i' as the third battery electric car now offered to retail buyers in the U.S. The first Mitsubishi 'i' was sold last December in Hawaii.

According to the company, buyers of the first 500 Coda Sedans will be given a numbered plaque for the car's console, a commemorative keychain, and other "limited edition features" to reward them for their prescience--and, we suspect, thank them for their patience.

At the moment, the 2012 Coda Sedan is only offered for sale in California, though the company plans a wider rollout over time.

The electric Coda is assembled using a battery pack assembled in the U.S. with lithium-ion cells from China.

The battery, electric motor, and other electronics are built into a rolling car body provided from China as well, though the Coda counts as a domestically assembled car--as did the Tesla Roadster.

Dealer Shaun Del Grande of Coda Silicon Valley discusses the delivery to Randy Abraham in the video below.

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Comments (15)

  1. fb_1001015277 avatar John Briggs Posted: 3/21/2012 5:57am PDT

    Well, nice to have choices, I guess.
     
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  2. fb_1001015277 avatar John Briggs Posted: 3/21/2012 6:28am PDT

    Wait, I forgot to ding them for their low efficiency of 73 MPGe compared with most electric cars being >100MPGe, or 37% better.
     
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  3. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 3/21/2012 7:38am PDT

    Well, they made it to production. Congratulations Coda I hope I get to see them in my part of the country some day soon : )
     
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  4. fb_678192717 avatar Jason Dunham Posted: 3/21/2012 3:29pm PDT

    This is great news, there is now officially an EV range battle, if the Coda gets anywhere near the expected range this could be a real selling point. Especially with that 6.6kw charger that puts 25 miles of range per hour (approximately).
     
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  5. fb_1001015277 avatar John Briggs Posted: 3/22/2012 7:10am PDT

    The Coda EPA range is now officially 88 miles. On the up-side that is better than the LEAF 73 mile range. On the down-side, this range would have been a lot longer but the CODA is extremely inefficient with only a 73 MPGe rating (compared to 99 MPGe for the LEAF).

    And that 6.6 KW charger will not put anything like 25 miles on the CODA in one hour due (partly) to the same inefficiency problem. 6.6 KW times one hour is 6.6 KWH. The vehicle is rated at 46KWH/100 miles so....

    14 miles added per hour.
     
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  6. fb_54604718 avatar Dallas May Posted: 3/21/2012 8:04pm PDT

    I just don't see how any company would release a Battery Electric Vehicle today without Level III charging. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Sure there aren't many L3 charging stations around RIGHT NOW, but there will be very soon. DFW, for example, will have 50 or more by the end of this year.
     
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  7. fb_606631802 avatar Edward Arthur Posted: 3/22/2012 1:54pm PDT

    I have just one question: who are these people?
     
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  8. fb_1470388190 avatar David Laur Posted: 3/22/2012 2:33pm PDT

    isnt the car a bit "bigger?" inside wise, plus bigger battery, etc. i think the more the merrier. at least they are putting out product. better than Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc, etc, etc...
     
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  9. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 3/22/2012 2:37pm PDT

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sns-2012-coda-sedan-priced-at-37250-20120322,0,4869895.story
     
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  10. fb_1001015277 avatar John Briggs Posted: 3/22/2012 4:20pm PDT

    That is cool, $37,250.

    http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2012/03/coda-all-electric-car-goes-on-sale-in-california-for-37250.html
     
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  11. fb_1001015277 avatar John Briggs Posted: 3/22/2012 4:25pm PDT

    Now I am confused. It looks like the smaller battery pack is the only option. So is the 88 EPA miles with the smaller 31 KWH battery pack or the bigger 35 KWH pack.
     
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  12. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 3/22/2012 9:59pm PDT

    john,

    i think this is true. i have read several coda customers say the same thing.

    i guess for their first outing, coda did not even want the higher price mentioned.

    at this point, price is by the biggest deterrent for all these evs.

    coda is not competing with tesla. if they had been, they would have gone with the bigger and more expensive.

    today, the only big competition for any ev is the leaf, and possibly the focus, if it starts to sell.

    everyone else is small potatoes. coda is already a bit more expensive, but they have extra goodies that they can sell against nissan. but with as big a name as nissan has, coda cant risk being too much more expensive.

    i think they are fine, for this year. but prices will go down for everyone.
     
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  13. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 3/22/2012 10:02pm PDT

    also, coda still plans to sell half its cars to rentals and fleets, i think.

    i think this is an excellent plan, in that it gets the car out to many more people, without them having to purchase it.

    not so important for a nissan or a ford, but for coda and fisker and other small guys, a lot more people can see how the car drives without a big purchase price.
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  14. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 3/22/2012 10:08pm PDT

    and a lot more people can be accustomed to an ev without a big purchase price.

    at the moment, the average person is barely aware of evs, and they certainly do not think of them as being like their ice car in the driveway.

    over the next few years, the changing of this mindset will occur, and really send sales booming, or at least as much as we can make.

    this needs to be controlled, sustainable change for the car companies. they make too many, and they may become sloppy with the manufacture process.

    and also gives them time to work out the bugs. there are some things that we will simply overlook.
     
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  15. fb_100001542310307 avatar Matt Loson Posted: 3/23/2012 10:28am PDT

    "Coda: the car for people who want some car" Can this thing be any blander?
     
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