Coda aims to sell 50,000 EVs by 2015
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - Electric car start-up Coda Automotive aims to sell 50,000 vehicles by 2015, mostly in the United States, chief executive Phil Murtaugh told reporters.
Coda, like Tesla Motors Inc and Fisker Automotive, is one of several new companies that are banking on mass-market adoption of electric vehicles. Major automakers including Nissan Motor Co and General Motors are also racing to launch electric cars.
Coda is making its first vehicle, the CODA EV, in China in partnership with Hafei, which is controlled by state-owned China Changan Auto, and is scheduled to begin selling it in the United States in the second half of this year.
It will be sold to fleet buyers in California initially and slowly expand into other states, Murtaugh told reporters in Beijing.
"Once we start selling to fleets and get a feel of how we are doing, we will start selling to consumers. Our plan is to go slowly," he said.
Coda has set a target to sell 10,000 to 14,000 units in the first 12 months after its launch.
The Santa Monica-California based company also has a battery joint venture with Lishen Battery Power.
The company had in January tapped Murtaugh, a former General Motors Co and Chrysler executive with extensive experience in China as its new chief executive.
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MONTREAL - Five people have been arrested in connection with an electricity theft ring alleged to have operated for five years.
The thefts were allegedly committed by the owners of rental properties who used stolen personal information to create accounts with Hydro-Québec.
The utility alleges that between 2014 and 2019, Mario Brousseau, Simon Brousseau-Ouellette and their accomplices defrauded Hydro-Québec of up to $300,000 worth of electricity. It was impossible for Hydro-Québec’s customer service section to detect the fraud because the information on the accounts, while stolen, was also genuine.
The suspects are expected to face 25 counts of fraud, conspiracy and identity theft.
Hydro-Québec…