Goodbye Coda Automotive, hello Coda Energy
Californian startup Coda ditches electric vehicles for power storage systemsCalifornian EV specialist Coda Automotive has filed for bankruptcy just a year after launching its first product in the US.
After recruiting CEO Phil Murtaugh from the ranks of GM China, Coda launched its Chinese-sourced five-seat compact sedan in California in 2012.
Hailing from China’s existing petrol-powered Hafei Saibao, which in turn was spun off a late 1990s Mitsubishi Lancer, the plain-packaged Coda stood in stark contrast to the glamourware coming from fellow Californian EV startups Fisker and Tesla.
The company was pinning its hopes on a $US37,250 pricetag (with Federal and Californian tax rebates bringing it well under $30K) to garner interest in a market that was baulking at the price of other EVs.
In its year on the market, the car garnered just 100 sales.
When the company was launched in 2009, EV makers with promising business plans were having no trouble drawing investor attention. Coda raised $300 million from several heavy hitters including former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
By 2012, with the full reality of the EV’s limitations dawning on early adopters and its car caught up in a safety recall over airbag problems, the money was running out and top-ups were hard to find.
A bid to raise $150 million stalled at $22 million, and Coda pulled out of an application for federal loans of $334 million.
Not that the company is disappearing. Rather, it has announced plans to restructure its business around energy storage systems, modifying and redeploying the technology it developed for its vehicles for the purposes of energy utilities and building owners.
Coda diversified into energy storage in 2011, adapting the power packs, proprietary battery management and thermal management technologies from its EVs for commercial, residential and industrial energy storage systems.
The restructure will see ownership shift to a consortium of lenders for just $25 million plus debtor-in-possession financing. This will give the company room to operate while it overhauls its business, keeping its 40 active employees recalling 50 more from temporary redundancy.
The company claims this side of its business is in good health, with a solid base of installed product and a “robust pipeline” of new customers.
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