CODA Automotive Back From Bankruptcy With Energy Storage Solution

Energy storage has become an exciting area, both as a new business and as an enabler for the continued rapid growth of renewable energy generation. While it’s true that Amory Lovins has claimed that it is possible for renewables to continue to grow without a massive investment in storage, he acknowledges that it would be helpful. This was the path chosen by the California’s Public Utility Commission when they decided last year to issue a set of goals intended to jumpstart the storage market. This led two of Elon Musk’s enterprises, SolarCity and Tesla to join forces to produce commercial energy storage systems, using refrigerator-sized batteries produced by Tesla Motors. Sales will be driven by the ability to reduce demand charges, via the operating software called DemandLogic. The program will be piloted in California, Connecticut and Massachusetts, markets with particularly high demand charges.

Another player has now entered the market, one that also has some history in the EV market.

CODA Energy was formerly known as CODA Automotive. The company, which had spent four years trying to enter the EV market, filed for bankruptcy last spring after selling approximately 100 cars. Now they are back trying to leverage their battery technology in the energy storage market. The product is a 40 kWh commercial-industrial storage system called CORE. Do they have a compelling value proposition? I spoke with John Bryan vice president, sales and marketing at Coda Energy to find out.

Triple Pundit: Can you give me a little background on Coda Energy?

John Bryan: The company was founded in 2001 by Peter Nortman as Energy CS, which did some preliminary development on the first plug-in Toyota Prius hybrid, though they also had a background in grid storage. That company was acquired by Coda Automotive, which also made batteries for hybrid-electric trains. Now, after Coda Automotive’s demise, the company was acquired by the Fortress Investment Group, which primarily owns buildings. They see energy storage as a way of reducing their operating cost. They say that every dollar saved in operating cost increases the value of the building tenfold.

3p: So now you are making batteries for buildings.

JB: That’s right. We came out in February with a commercial-industrial size battery. It’s now UL-certified, and we have been deploying ever since. We now have them operating in six states.

3p: What do you consider your most exciting or important application?

JB: It justifies itself with peak shaving, thus reducing demand charges, but it can also keep critical services running in the event of an outage. It can keep the elevators going, it can keep telecommunications operating. These systems are all turnkey financed, mostly on an internal basis, but we also expect to announce additional third-party financing options shortly.

3p: Will there be other development groups like Fortress, investing in their own buildings?

JB: In some cases yes, but some will also be looking outward to finance projects in other people’s buildings as well.

3p: So what makes your product offering unique?

JB: Our product is built to scale. There are very few moving parts and they are small enough that they can be placed under a stairs or in an elevator room. This turns out to be economical from a siting perspective. At the same time, the units are modular and can operate in parallel or in pairs within a facility. We received UL certification directly from UL (not a third party). We are also the first company to receive ISO certification for our system. We have what we call a multi-tower power controller, which offers a lot of flexibility in configuring the system.

3p: So at 40 kWh, your product is too big for home use.

JB: That’s correct. We’re focusing on the industrial-commercial market because that’s where the economics make sense. It’s our ability to help reduce demand charges, which typically don’t exist in the residential market, that makes our offering attractive today.

3P: What else do you feel it’s important for readers to know?

JB: With today’s technology, there is no need for the kind of impact that an event like Hurricane Sandy had on the power grid. We have equipment today that can detect an interruption in the grid and disconnect itself within four milliseconds. That’s fast enough to avoid the kind of collateral damage that we saw with Sandy.

3P: How do you differentiate yourself from Tesla’s partnership with SolarCity?

JB: They are vertically integrated down to the point of sale, making their own battery cells. We see these things as commodities. We produce energy storage systems that integrate purchased components. We add value in both the architecture and the control system. We are also uniquely positioned relative to commercial real estate. SolarCity is combining rooftop solar systems along with storage. That is not something we’re doing at the present time, though that could change in the future.

Coda Energy  just announced a new installation of their CORE energy storage system at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, California which is also the home of Nightbird Recording Studio.

Images courtesy of Coda Energy

RP Siegel, PE, is an author, inventor and consultant. He has written for numerous publications ranging from Huffington Post to Mechanical Engineering. He and Roger Saillant co-wrote the successful eco-thriller Vapor Trails. RP, who is a regular contributor to Triple Pundit and Justmeans, sees it as his mission to help articulate and clarify the problems and challenges confronting our planet at this time, as well as the steadily emerging list of proposed solutions. His uniquely combined engineering and humanities background help to bring both global perspective and analytical detail to bear on the questions at hand.

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