CODA’s Innovative Approach is Bringing Electric Cars to Market

Growing up in Cleveland during the heroic era of hot rodding, I remember building a ’66 Chevelle with an open chamber head, big block rat motor with my brothers in our garage, tuning the suspension, setting the timing just right, and then blowing the doors off a high-priced, off-the-shelf Corvette on I-71 on a Friday night.

Today is different. Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’ blasting out of a quadraphonic eight-track stereo no longer contends with the music of Thrush mufflers. The Cleveland garage has given way to the Apple garage, and we believe in time, the CODA garage.

We have become globalized, technology-driven, and constantly connected. Nevertheless, American garage innovation remains, stronger than ever. By this I mean that small teams of highly-creative, can-do people who are passionate about what they design and build and are willing and able to compete – anywhere, anytime and with anyone – still thrive. This is exemplified by the approaching battery electric vehicle era and by our company, CODA Automotive.

Using 21st century, American garage innovation, CODA plans to bring to market the first safe, affordable, and useful all-electric sedan. How do we do this in an industry of tremendous scale with a fixed asset business model that, for over a century, has been focused on gas combustion engines? How do we create something that is human-sized, progressive, and adaptable? We do it by structuring our business model to focus on efficiency and innovation rather than bureaucracy and antiquated processes.

At CODA, we’ve focused our energy and capital on the battery system, the key enabling technology. We have a bureaucracy of one – me – making timing, cost, and performance decisions. We have a relatively small internal team of experienced, decisive automotive and battery engineers who require project transparency to enable cross-functional contribution and involvement. Our internal team works seamlessly to incorporate global technology partners during the design and manufacturing processes, while still maintaining control of the battery system intellectual property. We use a global supply chain and assembly to control costs and reduce capital expenditures, which allow CODA to be flexible, dynamic, and quick to market. We then couple that with great branding, marketing, and company culture. In a nutshell, that is the CODA garage model.

While our model is global, our core electric drive and battery system engineering partners and suppliers are based primarily in California and Michigan, and the CODA chassis has been fully tested and safety engineered by CODA and a supporting group of U.S. engineering partners. Thus, the core engineering and technology of the CODA is all-American. However, without our global partners, we couldn’t do what we’re doing by 2010.

For instance, CODA and our battery system partner, Lishen Power Battery, co-own a China-based joint venture manufacturing facility, LIO Energy Systems, enabling us to combine the most advanced battery technology with low cost volume manufacturing. By accelerating adoption of electric cars through the large-scale production of affordable, automotive-grade battery systems, this JV is good for both the U.S. and China. We share common engineering mindsets and values with all our partners and find our collaborative model to be immensely stimulating and productive. As technology entrepreneurs who believe small and focused is a way of life, we can’t exist and succeed without being smartly interdependent and collaborative with our U.S. and international partners.

American garage innovation is alive and well and CODA is working to reconnect that innovation with balanced development and jobs. We believe working on a global level to accelerate adoption of needed clean energy and transportation technology, while building new industries and jobs in the U.S. and other countries, is truly the biggest win-win. The result will be even cooler than the music of a big block, open chamber rat motor screaming from a ’66 Chevelle.

Kevin Czinger is President and CEO of CODA Automotive, an innovative emerging automaker that’s introducing a new electric car to market in 2010.