The US electric car manufacturer Fisker is considering setting up European production for its second model, the Pear. Currently, according to CEO Henrik Fisker, many options are still being examined – such as whether to build from scratch, alone or with partners, or even take over an existing plant.
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Fisker has appointed Alpay Uguz as Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing with immediate effect. Prior to joining the electric car manufacturer, Alpay Uguz worked at BMW’s Spartanburg plant in South Carolina as general manager for the brand’s SUVs.
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Fisker Inc. founders Henrik Fisker and Geeta Gupta-Fisker have been commissioned to design a Popemobile for the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis. The vehicle will be based on the Fisker Ocean electric SUV.
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Henrik Fisker has joined the advisory board of Motec Ventures, an innovation platform based in Berlin and funded by German Automobile and Mobility consultancy e&Co and the Austrian venture capital firm Venionaire Capital.
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Fisker had been working on their comeback for some time and had got the industry talking when they first announced their EMotion would utilise solid-state batteries before later backing off, saying they’d resort to Li-ion cells by LG Chem. Now the story took another turn, this time on the executive level.
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Fisker has officially introduced its EMotion in Las Vegas. The sedan model with wing doors features a 575 kW motor and is said to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than three seconds. Maximum speed is at 250 km/h.
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Fisker will take the wraps off its electric-powered luxury model at January, 9th, at CES. Ahead of the presentation, the company is showing now new teaser photos that are focussing on the so far quite unknown wing door concept of the car.
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“We are working on this new charging, which is a different type of charging. It’s not a cable, and it’s not inductive charging. […] think this could be a new standard where you actually don’t even have to get out of the car to charge the vehicle.”
This is Henrik Fisker making promises but this time, things seem to have moved as he added his company is working on prototypes for this new type of charger with ABB.
autoblog.com
“A liquidity situation in China would not have an impact around FF. We are a completely separate company.”
Faraday Future CFO and COO Stefan Krause tries to reassure potential and much needed investors by distancing the start-up from crisis-shaken LeEco, which he positioned as just a “supplier.”
cnet.com
“I think we may see some surprising things from the next administration. We don’t think they will be negative on fossil fuels… but they may also be positive on renewables.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is part of Donald Trump’s team of advisors, seems to know something we don’t. Apparently, the U.S. President-elect could have some (renewable) surprises up his sleeve.
electrek.co
“We need that to be a super success. It’s been proven – not by us, but by others – that there are premium customers that not only accept, but they love, driving an electric car.”
Rich Steinberg, manager of product planning and strategy for BMW North America, explains why the carmaker is pausing the development of its i-brand, putting all its eggs in one basket – the iNext, scheduled for 2021. Since it is said to appeal to many, the iNext will most likely be a family-friendly crossover of SUV.
theglobeandmail.com
Henrik Fisker, who hopes to celebrate a comeback with Fisker Inc. and the EMotion, won’t commit to a date or show at which he’ll unveil his EV with graphene technology – but says that they are already producing cells at a low volume.
newatlas.com
“I firmly expect that. It’s not the sentiment within the company that it’s been a failure — absolutely not at all.”
BMW i3 project manager Heinrich Schwackhoefer expects a second generation of the electric car even though sales of the i3 have been below expectations. “You can count on a successor to the i3, but I cannot say when that will be,” Schwackhoefer said.
autonews.com
Henrik Fisker remains tight-lipped about the new graphene-based battery technology to be used in his upcoming 400-mile high-end electric car EMotion (we reported).
stuff.co.nz
“Developing lithium-ion batteries for both hybrids and plug-ins will enable us to also produce all-electric cars in the future. It makes sense to have a range of batteries to suit different powertrains.”
Koji Toyoshima, chief engineer for the Prius, explains why Toyota switched to Li-ion batteries – with one reason being the possibility of an all-electric Toyota.
reuters.com
Henrik Fisker is back and has big plans as he presented Fisker Inc. that projects superiority on all levels.
topgear.com
“We are seeing strong demand for EV batteries not just from Tesla but various other automakers. We see the rechargeable battery business as the biggest growth driver. So we are aggressively making upfront and strategic investment here.”
Panasonic’s strategy is set, says CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga, with the Gigafactory being just one such investment in the future electric car era.
fortune.com
“We have set for ourselves a target five years ago to become the number one car premium manufacturer. That was supposed to be reached in 2020, but it seems that we are awful close already. So we can set a new target to ourselves and that is equally to be the leader in electric premium vehicles as well. This includes not just our current competitors, but new entries as well, including Tesla.”
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche is most satisfied with his firm’s progress and considers electrification the next segment to take a lead in, or where to go head to head with Tesla. It is EV premium he is talking, naturally.
insideevs.com
Henrik Fisker is certain who he considers his biggest competitor. However, as Tesla is moving further into autonomy, Fisker does not “believe that it makes any sense for an automaker to develop autonomous driving.”
businessinsider.com via insideevs.com
“The sharing economy is one of the shining economies. That, in cities, might be the direction. But it’s also a difficult business model to make work, because at the end of the day, whether somebody is sharing or using it, somebody has to pay for it. The asset must be funded. It’s an interesting business model but not an easy one.”
Says Toyota’s European President & CEO Johan van Zyl. He also mused on the electrification of the compact Aygo that Toyota produces together with PSA as EVs could definitely play a part in the urban sharing economy.
insideevs.com
“The uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles is too low to meet the UK’s climate change targets at the lowest cost to the public. Air quality targets that were supposed to be met in 2010 won’t be hit until 2020 at the earliest.”
Mary Creagh, Chairwoman of Environmental Audit Committee of the UK Parliament, wants to set a new goal for EV adoption. She wants to see two thirds of passenger vehicles and transporters to be all-electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030.
theguardian.com
Henrik Fisker, who is currently working on petrol-cars at VLF Automotive, is apparently not done with electric mobility. And he says that he is “very close” to a breakthrough in terms of battery technology.
detroitnews.com
“I’m concerned. It’s a very ambitious goal and would require – if you look at where we are today and where we need to go – a big change in what consumers are seeing and what they’re buying.”
Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, says that it won’t be easy getting all-electric cars to make up 15 percent of sales in the U.S. state by 2025. She added that regulatory changes could be needed to meet those goals.
reuters.com
“That’s good news. It’s an alliance car. We congratulate them on catching us. Renault is a bigger and more established brand [in Europe] than us. Our expectation is that combined with Renault we will be leaders of EV mobility in Europe.”
Nissan Europe Chairman Paul Willcox says that he is not sad about the Renault Zoe taking over as the most sold EV in Europe last year; a spot that had previously been occupied by the Nissan Leaf.
autonews.com
Henrik Fisker, the former CEO of Fisker Automotive, says that while he is not sure how Tesla plans to be profitable, it looks as though the EV maker is “sitting quite well in the market.” No new nor traditional carmaker has yet come out to challenge its position.
fortune.com
“It’s fantastic news. It opens people’s minds to the possibilities.”
Nick Sampson, head of the start-up Faraday Future, compliments the Tesla Model 3, saying that his company, too, is looking to build cars that excite the masses and push in “that same direction.”
techcrunch.com
“I personally believe the GenZe is an assault on one of the biggest, most virulent social problems we have today and that is the tendency of us, as individuals, whenever we are confronted by challenge to the community, to the commons, like the climate change problem, our reaction is it is somebody else’s problem to solve, that is not my problem to solve, and we look at government, we look at neighbouring countries, we rarely think of it as our problem.”
Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra, spoke at the launch of the GenZe electric scooter in Oakland. The city utilises the electric two-wheeler for its new scooter sharing system that features a solar charging station.
greenbiz.com
Henrik Fisker had a strange reply when asked why he moved away from electric super cars just to spoil the Fisker Karma with a V8 engine as VLF Destino. Bad karma.
caradvice.com.au
“If we have the chance to have a full electric vehicle which could have the same price and performance for an SUV, I would say let’s go for it. But this is not the case at this stage of technology.”
Lamborghini Chef Stephan Winkelmann is adamant that there will be no electric super cars from his stable – at least not at the current state of technology.
autoevolution.com
Oops!…I did it again? Henrik Fisker is looking to start a new venture, saying that connected cars may be the next big opportunity. He did not mention whether these cars will be powered electrically.
usatoday.com
Michael Dray is the technical operations manager of the first hydrogen fueling station in the U.S. to sell hydrogen by the kilogram and says that “these stations are delicate” and “complicated.”
hybridcars.com
“New targets will trigger innovation and investments, but we do not yet have a clear view on the timing and the winning technologies, for example how the shares of electric, plug-in-hybrid or hydrogen vehicles will develop.”
Miguel Arias Cañete, EU commissioner for climate action and energy, has full trust in EU’s regulative power defining CO2-emission targets – but not the means to achieve them.
ens-newswire.com
Danish car designer Henrik Fisker is eyeing India and says he is currently exploring JV opportunities there. More concrete news can be expected in three to four months, the former Fisker Automotive Executive announced.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
“We know that it hybridisation could give us more in terms of straight line performance. But it is not just about straight-line performance. It is about performance in the bends, how it feels as well. At the moment there are more negatives than positives.”
Stephan Reil, head of development at Audi’s Quattro division, slashes all hopes for high-performance RS hybrids anytime soon. He would not rule these out entirely though he described the next-gen batteries as “very interesting.”
topgear.com
Toyota sells Tesla shares: Following Daimler’s announcement that it sold its stakes (we reported), the Japanese carmaker cashes in on its Tesla shares. It is unclear whether Toyota sold all of its shares, leaving Panasonic as the only major corporate investor, or if it simply took advantage of recently high share prices. Also, Toyota now sold its factory in Freemont, California, to Tesla, which will become the assembly site for the Model X.
autoblog.com, greencarreports.com
New Fisker models in LA? Not Fisker, the carmaker that was taken over by Chinese Waxiang Group, but Henrik Fisker, the man who gave the company its name, wants to present two new models at the LA Auto Show. One project is dubbed the “Ultimate American Muscle Car,” indicating it will be very different from the Karma extended-range electric sedan.
greencarreports.com
Driving the Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid: Autocar and Telegraph got to take the petrol-electric SUV for a spin. The latter was not too keen on the model, giving it three out of five stars, also because of its high price. Funny enough, Autocar argues the opposite, saying the Porsche is a better deal than other hybrids in its class.
autocar.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk
Formula E gives boost: Four weeks ahead of the second ePrix race in Putrajaya, Malaysia, FIA’s re-opens its “FanBoost.” Fans can vote for their favourite driver and the top three will get a five second boost during the race, increasing power from 150 to 180 kW. This time, voting is available in Chinese and Japanese.
fiaformulae.com, racer.com
