Fisker

Fisker

Fisker

Fisker

Fisker

Fisker

Do you remember Fisker? The brainchild of designer Henrik Fisker, the company was a very high-profile electric vehicle startup that benefited from a $529 million Department of Energy loan in 2010 before it all came tumbling down in 2013. Well, it's back. On the eve of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Fisker unveiled its new battery EV, the Fisker Ocean, which is slated for production in 2022.

The car is aimed squarely at the mainstream—Fisker says the Ocean starts at $37,499 (before the $7,500 IRS tax credit), with flexible leases from $379 per month for terms as short as a single month with no long-term contract. (Leases will also require $2,999 down before delivery, but Fisker says it will have a "$0 drive-off" option that finances that $2,999 deposit.) Other improvements to the ownership (or leasing) experience will include having your vehicle picked up and dropped off when it needs maintenance, which is scheduled through a smartphone app, as is (or will be) "hassle-free" insurance.

In common with just about every recent EV that isn't a Tesla, there's a DC fast charging system with Electrify America for those long road trips that everyone cites as a reason they can't have an electric car. By the time the Ocean reaches those chargers, the ISO 15118 "plug-and-charge" protocol should be up and running, meaning the car will handle authentication and payment at the charging station without the user having to swipe a credit card or wave an RFID fob at anything. Although the press kit doesn't say anything about the Ocean's electrical architecture, there's a possibility that it may use an 800V approach like the Porsche Taycan, as Fisker states that the Ocean should be able to use Electrify America's 350kW chargers, which it says will take the battery from a 15 percent state of charge to 80 percent in 30 minutes.

Fisker says that the Ocean will be the world's most sustainable vehicle ever—presumably not counting bicycles made from bamboo or the like. The roof is a full-length solar panel, which it claims will generate power equivalent to 1,000 miles (1,609km) of range each year. The interior is free of animal products, and the carpets are made from nylon recovered from abandoned fishing nets. Fisker says it's even going to use discarded rubber left over from tire manufacturing to avoid that material ending up in landfills. (Note: it's not proposing to use that discarded rubber to make its own tires.)

Although the Ocean's technical specs haven't been published yet, Fisker says it will come in single or dual-motor configurations, and it's targeting a range of between 250-300 miles (402-482km) from a battery pack that's around 80kWh. (Fisker is also working on solid-state battery technology, but the Ocean will use lithium-ion cells.)

If that sounds ambitious, Henrik Fisker says that the company has "secured a global supply chain and manufacturing capacity that will result in projected production of more than 1 million vehicles between 2022 and 2027." More manufacturing details and specs are due at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

Listing image by Fisker