What do you think of the CODA electric sedan?

^^^^^^ I agree. But at this point in time, the more of these cars come into the market, the better it is for everyone, including Fisker.

-- Fab.

AnOutsider said:

Agreed, it's a great first step. I do think the bland styling may do it a disservice though. People already see EVs as quaint appliances.

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Maybe, but the interior fittings and styling looks pretty good for a car of this price range. I guess the thinking is that you don't really look at the outside of your own car very much anyway, so they spent their time and money on the inside of the car.

-- Fab.

smoothoperator said:

Saw this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CODA...6297948?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4ac1a380dc

I never realized how unfinished the CODA looks. Is there a cover missing under the front bonnet? I wonder if CODA has the same cold weather range issues as the Model S due to the batteries being built into the floor the vehicle. We may never find out as they have only sold very few of these cars and chances are none of these owners live in cold weather climates. Does anyone know anyone who has bought one of these?

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I have seen one in person. They should have called it The COMA. On the other hand, an EV does not need to be glamorous to be useful, so someone would buy it an use it.

smoothoperator said:

Looking at the spec sheet the car has some nicely spec'd components; in particular the 6.6kw charger. This should be a standard feature on all EV's.

The 2 star crash rating was probably the dagger for CODA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEzux0rTgJA

After watching the video it is pretty scary to see that the driver is basically launched into the steering column after impact. It seems as if the seatbelt tensioners did not work properly?

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Most other EVs do have a 6.6KW OBC which is why Level II charging points are typically rated at 30 AMPS. Fisker just went with a super-anemic OBC for reasons no one has been able to articulate.

Regarding the crash video, pretty much every car's crash test video looks like that. The idea is not to keep your body rigidly in place while your head whips back and forth like a bowling ball glued to a Twizzler. As I understand it, the whole restraint system and the car's design all work together to slow your entire body down from the impact speed down to zero as safely as possible, which means they have to let everything move forward while being slowed down gradually, all at the same time.

Here's the crash test video of a MB, for example, that looks remarkably similar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CwSHdRdBs94#t=2s

I understood that CODA was primarily a battery company that threw a car together from existing parts to showcase its battery technology. It does not seem like there is much inner beauty to counter the outer ugliness and the CODA is turning out to be an electric Yugo.