# Coda Electric Test Drive



## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

I took my car out to AutoX it yesterday, and there was a Coda 4-dr electric sedan available for us to thrash. AutoX is a pretty intense thing to do a car, you push the limits of acceleration, cornering, and braking at normal driving speeds, with no coasting. You are "hot" 100% of the time.

First thing, the tires weren't up to the task. AutoX is full aggression. My Cadillac pulled 1.14 lateral G's and melted it's 12" wide high performance tires, the Coda was on 1/2 that much tire. Cadillac, 68 sec lap, Coda 74 sec lap. Not shabby for an economy car.

The Coda is heavy for a sportscar, but it is NOT a sportscar. It is even heavy for an economy car. No specifics on the weight, but you can feel it.

Instant power everywhere. Handling was good given the limits of the tires. Fit and finish of the car was excellent. 

The GoPro racing video did not work, so all I have is a walkaround video with a telephone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPWZH4UCzdg&feature=share


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

Found the video of the Coda with me driving:


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## PStechPaul (May 1, 2012)

Seems like a pretty cool car. I looked up some information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coda_all-electric_car

It says it has a 100kW (130 HP) motor, and I suspect that is how they get away with a single speed reduction drive. Did you look under the hood? Is it an AC motor?

This is cool:
http://app.codaautomotive.com/CarConfigurator

It's probably not a bad deal for $40,000, but that's more than I paid for my house, and ten times what I paid for my 35 MPG car. But lots of people spend that much on a spors car or fancy truck, so the EV is becoming a real possibility for more people.

Thanks for the videos.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

PStechPaul said:


> Seems like a pretty cool car. I looked up some information:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coda_all-electric_car
> 
> It says it has a 100kW (130 HP) motor, and I suspect that is how they get away with a single speed reduction drive. Did you look under the hood? Is it an AC motor?
> ...


It's 333 volts of LiFePO4 running an AC motor. It has a radiator and a HUGE freakin' controller under the hood. The batteries are temp controlled. If it had a gearbox, I never felt an upshift or downshift.

I would liken the performance to perhaps a base VW Jetta 4-dr?

I'll see if I took a hood shot.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

Here's a couple of hood shots:


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## tomofreno (Mar 3, 2009)

PStechPaul said:


> It says it has a 100kW (130 HP) motor, and I suspect that is how they get away with a single speed reduction drive. Did you look under the hood? Is it an AC motor?


 It uses a UQM motor and controller: http://www.uqm.com/


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## onegreenev (May 18, 2012)

McRat said:


> Found the video of the Coda with me driving:


Nice little drive video. Looks like it was fun. Have you driven the Leaf? If so how does the Coda compare?

Pete 

I am looking to drive the Electric Focus soon so I can compare it to my Leaf.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

onegreenev said:


> Nice little drive video. Looks like it was fun. Have you driven the Leaf? If so how does the Coda compare?
> 
> Pete
> 
> I am looking to drive the Electric Focus soon so I can compare it to my Leaf.


That was my first and only experience driving an EV of any kind. I'd like to thank the crew at Coda for letting me abuse their tires. A SCCA National Champion ran a 72 second lap in it earlier in the day.

I did not expect Saturday to be my first EV experience, but it was a blast.

I'm just starting to play with homebuilt EV technology, and haven't finished up a project yet. Soon I hope.


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## onegreenev (May 18, 2012)

McRat said:


> That was my first and only experience driving an EV of any kind. I'd like to thank the crew at Coda for letting me abuse their tires. A SCCA National Champion ran a 72 second lap in it earlier in the day.
> 
> I did not expect Saturday to be my first EV experience, but it was a blast.
> 
> I'm just starting to play with homebuilt EV technology, and haven't finished up a project yet. Soon I hope.


My My, I thought you already had a conversion. Wow. Well it had to have been a blast being your first electric drive. Mine was in a VW Bug but only as a passenger. Then an Electric Ranger as passenger then it was my first conversion, a 64 VW Ghia. Glad to hear you got your drive. Now I imagine your hooked. Love my Leaf and loved driving Jack Rickards 356 Speedster and 550 Spyder too. Both excellent builds. Both excellent performance. 

Now you need to go check out the Focus, Leaf and Tesla S. 

Any ideas what you might convert? 

Pete


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

onegreenev said:


> My My, I thought you already had a conversion. Wow. Well it had to have been a blast being your first electric drive. Mine was in a VW Bug but only as a passenger. Then an Electric Ranger as passenger then it was my first conversion, a 64 VW Ghia. Glad to hear you got your drive. Now I imagine your hooked. Love my Leaf and loved driving Jack Rickards 356 Speedster and 550 Spyder too. Both excellent builds. Both excellent performance.
> 
> Now you need to go check out the Focus, Leaf and Tesla S.
> 
> ...


I found a cheap 2001 Honda Insight that I'm going to remove the ICE engine out of. 

And, since I always take on too much at a time, me and the kids are doing a solar car project for their science fair. That will be finished soon. Just needs finally assembly now.

And then there's the Trials motorcycle ....


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