Coda's All-Electric Sedan Revs Up U.S. Auto Market

Sliding into the driver's seat of Coda's electric sedan for the first time, I looked around for clues. Here's 100 years of automotive history, reinvented -- what's different? No gear-shift, just a knob that engages the car's two speeds, forward and reverse. A battery-life gauge. Not much else. Then I pull into midtown Manhattan traffic and hear the road noise, the thrum of passing air. They were always there, but now there's no engine roar to drown them out. The Coda's motor barely whimpers as it speeds into a new market for cars with no gas and no exhaust.

In the fall of 2010, the Coda sedan will become the first mass-produced all-electric sedan to hit the roads in the United States. About the size of a Honda Civic and 15% more than a fully loaded Toyota Prius -- $37,500 after the $7,500 government rebate -- it has five seats, six air bags, a 90- to 120-mile range on a single charge, and a top speed of around 80 miles per hour. Says Coda CEO Kevin Czinger: It's an "all-electric car for everyone," a 21st-century Beetle born of private capital and American enviro-guilt.

For further information: Fast Company