By Emily Khaykin

Approximately 30 students went to the Los Angeles Auto Show to see a Coda Automotive exhibition of its new all-electric car and learn about the company’s philosophy on sustainable energy on Nov. 23.

Students attended the event free of charge. Tickets were provided by Kevin Czinger (Lukas ’13), CEO of Coda Automotive.

“We got to go to a presentation on sustainable energy and hear Coda Automotive talk about their car design and philosophy,” science teacher Dietrich Schuhl said.

This past month AP Environmental Science classes studied ways in which society can implement more sustainable ways of living.

“We went up to this lecture room with some students from other schools and listened to some Coda representatives discuss their car’s engineering and how the batteries worked,” Alejandra Reynoso ’12 said.

“They used lithium-iron phosphate battery cells,” Reynoso said. “These particular cells are really cool because they are relatively low cost, making the car itself low cost, all the while having a high energy output.”

“I actually took notes,” she said. “I thought it was really interesting.”

The Coda car features its own thermal management system that helps keep the car at a specific temperature at all times so that the batteries run at optimal efficiency. Reynoso said that the system also increases the safety of the car.

“The car only needs about six hours to fully charge, but after that it can go about 120 miles without stopping.”

The car show ran from Nov. 18 to Nov. 27. Most students went with Schuhl and science teacher Karen Hutchison on Nov. 23, but some students got tickets to go by themselves at another time. After Coda’s presentation, Schuhl said the students could wander around to see the rest of the show.