Editor's Pick
JUNE 4, 2009 2:00PM
Rate: 9
American Coda-EV, a giant turd or innovation?
Meet Parisian Smera's American big sister, Coda. It is Miles EV's first American-ish E-car, coming to California late 2010.On the face of it, the vehicle is similar to Smera in many attributes. It is electric. It can zip up to 80MPH, the range is about the same on one charge, with the caveat that all things that plug in to recharge often fall way short of the maximums given! Park near electrical outlets!
However, the biggest difference, is well, biggness. Where Smera has a tiny footprint and is meant as a commuter car, the Coda (or Turd) looks like a tank. Miles EV fails to describe how, in fact, with a chassis that large, and with the number of people and things one can load into the vehicle how it can match the Smera for distance and speed. The Coda battery is larger than Smera's, but not by all that much.
The odd thing about claiming that Coda is the first all electric mainstream vehicle made in the United States, is that car will actually be manufactured in China. It has the chassis of a Hafai Saloon car with Chinese components. In fact, the battery is made by a Chinese company, Lishen. Miles EV is calling this a Global Venture. So now, rebranded, designed in America and manufactured in China means global venture. Really?
I leave you to ponder the irony of that.
Just know that in the later half of 2010 you can have the basic
Comments
off to the feed.
ok ... who's driving? Phoebe? Great post on the Tur... Coda!
you crack me up!!!
and I rated again without reading a word ... I want to put the girls in funny little cars on my posts too!!!
you crack me up!!!
and I rated again without reading a word ... I want to put the girls in funny little cars on my posts too!!!
this is funny. Do Lulu and Pheobe have gig at Car and Driver?
Actually, there's an engineering case for making electric cars big. The aero drag increases like frontal area, but the space available for batteries goes like the volume. So scaling everything up, all else equal, will *increase* the range. Following this, many DIY electric conversions are based on a truck or van chassis. If you want to make a very small car, you need high density in your energy storage, so you end up with something like the Smart, powered by gasoline or diesel.
Ha!
(I'm currently rooting for teletransportation.)
(I'm currently rooting for teletransportation.)
The price is a little steep and I don't like the look of the car. They automakers have a lot of work to do. Good Post
is that car smiling at me?
Ann - Phoebe is driving. That is why the are yelling at each other. Phoebe got her license mail order from South America.
OE- nope, but they should. Someone around here enjoys photoshop a little too much....
T - wouldn't mind if the design was a little more, not so turd like. And why not small? At least Smera can do 0-80 in about 5-6 seconds. This one gets up there halfway to work at 11 seconds or more. Not great for navigating a highway.
Connie - yeah, me too. but with all parts reassembling correctly!
John Jacob - agreed!
MM- indeed it is. Scary, eh?!
OE- nope, but they should. Someone around here enjoys photoshop a little too much....
T - wouldn't mind if the design was a little more, not so turd like. And why not small? At least Smera can do 0-80 in about 5-6 seconds. This one gets up there halfway to work at 11 seconds or more. Not great for navigating a highway.
Connie - yeah, me too. but with all parts reassembling correctly!
John Jacob - agreed!
MM- indeed it is. Scary, eh?!
The big question in Oklahoma is -- can the car withstand 80 mph winds? Even when I drove a Toyota Corolla, I could barely keep the car in the lane on a windy day!
Steve - my very first thought was, humm....80MPH winds....perhaps if we could capture it in a zip lock and attach it to the tail pipe of the Turd, oops, Coda - it might provide a little more zip? Seriously? I am guessing it would. I think the thing is a tank.
Does it look big with humans inside, or are L&P the spokesdogs because of their small size?
do not want
Kent - hard to say. no pics with humans in it on their website or in the Register article. But the Saloon is about the size of a small sedan like (I'm guessing) a hyundi or corolla, so I think humans would look normal. L&P fit in the Smera.
Vac - yeah, me too. Not yet.
Vac - yeah, me too. Not yet.
There's no reason why these cars should be retailing for more than $7,000 or $8000 dollars. Oh, wait, yes there is; because the public will pay it, just as they have bought all that overpriced Detroit crap in the past. Cars are still a bone job for the public.
Until the general public demands less expensive cars, there is really no point in making them eco friendly. (you still have disposal issues with the batteries...and they are expensive to replace.)
Until the general public demands less expensive cars, there is really no point in making them eco friendly. (you still have disposal issues with the batteries...and they are expensive to replace.)
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