Malcom Bricklin, your ride is here.
… and the fortune reads, “You will soon embark on a foolish misadventure.” Could that misadventure involve selling a Hafei Saibao 3 with electric bits inside for $45,000 to Californians? Click the jump to read more about this strange trans-Pacific mess.
A Hafei Sei Bo 3. Separated at birth?
Kevin Czinger, president and CEO of Coda (and the related Miles EV) claims the Coda sedan is a mainstream vehicle with real-world capability, and ready for American consumers. With a claimed (let me emphasize: claimed) range of 90 - 120 miles, and a 6 hour recharge time (on 220 volt), it sounds good. Here’s some fine print, that you won’t find in the mainstream coverage of this car: it’s a car made in China, converted to electric drive by a Chinese company. Despite the company’s claims that it’s been re-engineered to be “five-star” crash compliant, we’ll believe it when we see it. The Chinese have come a long way in a very short time, but they’re not producing mainstream-quality vehicles yet. The smart money (all $45,000 of it) is on the Hafei Seibo EV … er, should we say, Coda, not measuring up to the hype. Still, we could be pleasantly surprised. Autopia drove the car and seemed to like it, so maybe there’s some hope yet.
[Source: Autopia]
The car sports a 33.8 kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery that Coda says provides a “real world” range of 90 to 120 miles. Plug it into a 220 volt, 30-amp socket like the one that powers your dryer and it will recharge in six hours. You can plug it into a standard 110 volt socket, but you’re looking at 24 to 30 hours before you’re good to go.
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