CODA, a new car start-up, announced yesterday that it will be rolling 200 electric cars for purchase in California in 2010. The mix of backers for the car are a solid group of companies with proven experience in the battery game. This is a 220-volt plug-in with a projected six-hour charge time with a range of 90 to 120 miles. You can see a photo here. Definitely not for assistant proffies given that it carries a $45K price tag.

As a follow-up, the autosphere has been abuzz about what the GM bankruptcy means for the Chevy Volt. As I groused the other day, the car companie’s struggles give it a number of reasons for why it might delay or kill off the line. However, government ownership of GM under the Obama presidency might give them them a reason to hang tough with the $40K Volt even as it takes awhile to materialize. Keith Johnson at the Wall Street Blog takes up the issue as does Katherine Harmon with Scientific American. The latter link includes GM’s departing Bob Lusk’s appearance on David Letterman, with the production model and requisite blondes in dresses of dubious taste.