CODA Electric Cars Sets Up Shop in Century City

Having seen just about all there is to see in my temporary ‘hood of Culver City, I held my breath and took the plunge into L.A.’s public transportation system.

So I stumbled out of my friend’s apartment and in a rare stroke of luck, a big green bus was grumbling up to the curb on cue.  I got on and rode it to the end of the line; a place full of monolithic office buildings and parking garages called Century City.

Not having enough cash for another leg of bus travel, I was directed to the curb and set out to find an ATM.  The obvious choice was the massive commercial establishment to the north, so I crossed the street and proceeded to get hopelessly lost in what I would later learn was the Westfield Mall.

Spacing out at a Victoria’s Secret banner it wasn’t long before I walked straight into a parked car.  A bit of a surprise, but not as much as the fact that it was a model I couldn’t identify.

Sitting static in the pedestrian pathway was a small, white poky-looking sedan called a CODA.  Further inspection revealed that was a full-electric vehicle, and was on display to attract shoppers to the company’s adjacent storefront.

We’ve all seen car dealers, but this was the first time I’d seen a mall shop selling cars.  And yet here was CODA, peddling petrol-free propulsion between Banana Republic and Armani Exchange.

I went inside and chatted up the salesman, who gave me a rundown of CODA’s operation.

The company’s primary interest is battery development.  The car itself is designed by Mitsubishi, built in China, then powered by a massive lithium-ion phosphate juicebox developed in Southern California.

The car is fully electric with no gasoline engine on board whatsoever.  Range is an impressive 150 miles per six hours of being plugged in to a standard residential powerpoint.  That’s plenty of room to get to work, the gym, and whatever nerdy-organic grocery store CODA drivers will undoubtedly frequent.

Performance?  Despite an impressive 135 horsepower and very impressive 221 foot/pounds of torque, the CODA is governed to 85 MPH.  Enough to get the attention of L.A.’s finest, but you probably won’t get a second look when you roll up on Vin Diesel in his RX-7.  CODA didn’t want to comment on acceleration numbers, which is fair enough- these cars are designed to spend their life in stop-and-go traffic and 0-60 times are completely irrelevant.

Pricing is a bit complicated, because the tax credit scheme for alternative energy cars varies state to state.  But from what I gathered the CODA can be had for between $30,000 and $40,000.  Value for dollar varies from state to state as well… with electricity costs being dramatically different across the U.S., the price of kilowatts/hour where you live is going to make a massive impact on dollars/mile of operating a CODA.

Hmm… might be a tough sell in a town obsessed with image, when you can get a used S-Class for that kind of money.  But of course, these cars are the anti-S-Class.  They’re targeted at cashed up commuters who like the idea of “passing the pump” every day.  I was about to say environmentalists but surely that lot will be wise to the massive ecological impact involved in mining lithium ion and transporting car parts across oceans.

The CODA guy claimed they’ve taken payment and arranged delivery of over thirty cars in the few months they’ve had their store going, and will commence delivery next year.  So next time you’re star spotting on Rodeo/Santa Monica, keep your eyes open and see if anybody pulls one of these out of the trunk of their Maybach.

Full specs of the CODA can be found here on the company’s official website.