No one said it would be easy for CODA Automotive, the California-based startup that makes all-electric cars and battery systems.

Two months ago, CODA delayed the introduction of its first car and said that its dynamic chief executive,  Kevin Czinger, was stepping down. Even before then, pundits wondered whether the company could survive (here and here).

When, after all, was the last time a U.S.-based startup broke into the capital-intensive automobile industry?

But, while CODA has a tough road ahead, it turns out that some smart money is betting on the privately-held firm: Last week, CODA announced that it raised another $76 million and brought in two new venture investors, Harbinger Capital Partners and Riverstone Holdings. Previous investors include Hank Paulson, the former treasury secretary and CEO of Goldman Sachs; Thomas "Mack" McLarty, Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, whose family owns auto dealerships; and John Bryson, the former CEO of Edison International.

The company has now raised about $200 million, and hopes to raise another $50 million soon, says Steven "Mac" Heller, an investor, co-chairman of the board and now the company's interim CEO. Heller spoke today (on a panel with GE's Jeff Immelt) at the Brookings Institution, and we sat down afterward to talk about CODA.

Heller, who worked for 20 years as a top investment banker at Goldman Sachs, said the company  plans to introduce its CODA sedan in California during the second half of 2011, by which time it should have a new CEO. "I'm not a candidate," he said flatly. Heller lives in Greenwich, Ct., while CODA is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

The company isn't dependent on sales to consumers, Heller explained. It has agreements to sell cars to Hertz and Enterprise, and also hopes to sell to fleets run by utility companies, governments and corporations. More important, CODA makes lithium-ion batteries, both for the automotive and utility-storage makers; it's in a joint venture with Lishen Power Battery, a Chinese firm owned in part by  China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Last year, CODA applied for a U.S. Department of Energy loan to build a battery manufacturing plant in Columbus, Ohio.

Electric cars are all about the battery–that's where the costs are, and where the key design decisions must be made–and it's CODA's battery pack that will ultimately give the company a competitive edge, Heller told me.