Fisker Owners Need Parts. The Company Planned On It Being ‘Perfect’ Instead

[ZLoth]

From Inside EVs:

Fisker Ocean Owners Need Parts. The Company Planned On It Being 'Perfect' Instead
Scarce replacement parts forced Fisker to poach components from its factory and disassemble cars, former employees told InsideEVs.

Fisker had grand plans to become the next Tesla. The electric vehicle startup touted an Apple-like business model that would allow it to outsource manufacturing while focusing on technology and design. And Fisker actually got its debut vehicle—the sleek, Range Rover-esque Ocean SUV—out to thousands of paying customers, something many EV upstarts die trying to do.

But according to several former Fisker employees who spoke with InsideEVs on the condition of anonymity, the startup was never really ready to sell cars in the first place. Fisker did not plan for a proper stockpile of replacement parts in the U.S. for repairs, for example. The resulting scarcity of parts has sometimes left Ocean owners high and dry when they've needed basic fixes. And it's forced Fisker to source components in unconventional ways, like from disassembled cars, former employees said.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[Max Rockatansky]

Fisker was dumpster fire several times over. 

[mgk920]

"You will buy and use our cars and you will love them!"

Mike

[ZLoth]

From TechCrunch, originally from Jalopnik:

Inside EV startup Fisker's collapse: how the company crumbled under its founders' whims

An autonomous pod. A solid-state battery-powered sports car. An electric pickup truck. A convertible grand tourer EV with up to 600 miles of range. A "fully connected mobility device" for young urban innovators to be built by Foxconn and priced under $30,000. The next Popemobile.

Over the past eight years, famed vehicle designer Henrik Fisker suggested his electric vehicle startup would deliver on all of these promises.

None came true.

Instead, Fisker Inc. is on the brink of bankruptcy after having delivered just a few thousand electric Ocean SUVs. As the company grasps for an improbable rescue, employees who spoke to TechCrunch say the blame largely rests on the shoulders of two people: the husband-and-wife team whose name is on the hood.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[SectorZ]

Watching a company fail catastrophically twice, with two distinct eras in a little more than a decade, is kind of sad. I feel bad for the rank and file there that work for such incompetent boobs.

[formulanone]

For every successful auto brand, history has hundreds of short-lived marques. Agree or disagree with Tesla and their products, but is truly one of the few brands to stick around.

What's the last "new" brand to enter and stay in the US domestic market for a decade...Kia? (RAM doesn't count.)

[GaryV]

Fisker makes something besides scissors and pruning tools?

That might be part of the problem, that people don't recognize the company name.

[ZLoth]

Agree or disagree with Tesla and their products, but is truly one of the few brands to stick around.

I still have my doubts about Tesla and electric vehicles in general. How much does it cost to replace the battery pack anyways? Plus, any new vehicle I would get needs to have Android Auto compatibility, which Tesla is a holdout on.

Then again, the earliest that I can afford a new vehicle is the beginning of 2030.

[Max Rockatansky]

Much like hybrids the battery sled cost will probably come down with time. 

Regarding Tesla my concern with their brand is that their cars have uni-body designs that aren't built to be easily repaired.  A lot of seemingly minor collisions lead to them being totaled out.

This article touches on what the problem I'm speaking of is regarding the Model 3 specifically:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-body-structure-steel-aluminium-composition/

[mgk920]

The market for straight battery-electric vehicles has been tanking BIG TIME lately and those places that have made them mandatory will have to rethink those rules.

Mike

[SectorZ]

The market for straight battery-electric vehicles has been tanking BIG TIME lately and those places that have made them mandatory will have to rethink those rules.

Mike

I guarantee you they won't rethink the rules, even if the EV market starts approaching zero.

Source: lives in one of said states and knows how it thinks

[Max Rockatansky]

A couple thoughts:

-  A lot of you are calling these mandates "EV" when they are just as much if not more "PHEV."  While I'm not a fan of mandates in general there is a difference between EV and PHEV.
-  I tend to look at the early EPA emissions stuff as an analog for how future mandates will go.  The EPA stuck firm to their initial emissions reductions in the 1970s even though it probably seemed absurd at the time.  It led to the Malaise Era sure, but catalytic converter as we know it now did come out of it.
-  California has a history of sticking to the rules CARB sets.  Let's not forget, there is a lengthy history of cars being sold here with CARB emissions compliant engines as required equipment.
-  And yes, I'm aware that the two above items led to a spike in new car prices.  I unfortunately fully anticipate something similar to happen again with PHEV stuff. 

[SectorZ]

Max I know I've discussed this before with you. My state follows your state, but has not at any time made an exception for PHEVs. As far as the law states, we go 100% EV in 2035. I highly doubt the current party in power is going to change the rules from when Charlie Baker signed this into law.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-electric-vehicles-in-massachusetts/

[Max Rockatansky]

Yikes, I had forgotten about that one with MA. 

[SectorZ]

It's OK Charlie Baker is off ruining the NCAA now after he ruined Massachusetts.

[vdeane]

Max I know I've discussed this before with you. My state follows your state, but has not at any time made an exception for PHEVs. As far as the law states, we go 100% EV in 2035. I highly doubt the current party in power is going to change the rules from when Charlie Baker signed this into law.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-electric-vehicles-in-massachusetts/

Do they specifically say that PHEVs would not count, or specifically mandate BEVs?  I know when most people think of EVs they think of BEVs, but PHEVs are considered EVs too (as are HEVs, for that matter).

EV = Electric Vehicle
BEV = Battery Electric Vehicle
HEV = Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
PHEV = Plug-in Hybrid

[Scott5114]

Fisker makes something besides scissors and pruning tools?

That might be part of the problem, that people don't recognize the company name.

That's Fiskars. Fisk means fish in a few Scandinavian languages. Fiskars is named after a river they were originally located near, called Fiskarså (Fishes River), and Fisker was started by some guy named Henrik Fisker (Henry Fisher).

Henrik Fisker seems like a bit of a scam artist. This is actually the second failed EV company he's started.

[LilianaUwU]

Henrik Fisker seems like a bit of a scam artist. This is actually the second failed EV company he's started.

"Average smalltime car manufacturer has 1.2 failed EV companies" actualy just statistical error. Henrik Fisker, who had 2 failed EV companies, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

[SectorZ]

Max I know I've discussed this before with you. My state follows your state, but has not at any time made an exception for PHEVs. As far as the law states, we go 100% EV in 2035. I highly doubt the current party in power is going to change the rules from when Charlie Baker signed this into law.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-electric-vehicles-in-massachusetts/

Do they specifically say that PHEVs would not count, or specifically mandate BEVs?  I know when most people think of EVs they think of BEVs, but PHEVs are considered EVs too (as are HEVs, for that matter).

EV = Electric Vehicle
BEV = Battery Electric Vehicle
HEV = Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
PHEV = Plug-in Hybrid

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-climate-report-card-transportation-decarbonization

As far as I know, it's just EV-only in 2035. There is no carve out for something else (like California has) so unless I see that there is, I assume there isn't.

[vdeane]

Max I know I've discussed this before with you. My state follows your state, but has not at any time made an exception for PHEVs. As far as the law states, we go 100% EV in 2035. I highly doubt the current party in power is going to change the rules from when Charlie Baker signed this into law.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-electric-vehicles-in-massachusetts/

Do they specifically say that PHEVs would not count, or specifically mandate BEVs?  I know when most people think of EVs they think of BEVs, but PHEVs are considered EVs too (as are HEVs, for that matter).

EV = Electric Vehicle
BEV = Battery Electric Vehicle
HEV = Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
PHEV = Plug-in Hybrid

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-climate-report-card-transportation-decarbonization

As far as I know, it's just EV-only in 2035. There is no carve out for something else (like California has) so unless I see that there is, I assume there isn't.

My point is it might not need a carve-out.  While the general public tends to equate EV = BEV, in actuality policy makers and people "in the biz" tend to view EV = PHEV + BEV + HEV (ie, encompassing ALL of them).  So without more word on what Massachusetts specifically means by "EV", it's hard to say.

[SectorZ]

Max I know I've discussed this before with you. My state follows your state, but has not at any time made an exception for PHEVs. As far as the law states, we go 100% EV in 2035. I highly doubt the current party in power is going to change the rules from when Charlie Baker signed this into law.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-electric-vehicles-in-massachusetts/

Do they specifically say that PHEVs would not count, or specifically mandate BEVs?  I know when most people think of EVs they think of BEVs, but PHEVs are considered EVs too (as are HEVs, for that matter).

EV = Electric Vehicle
BEV = Battery Electric Vehicle
HEV = Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
PHEV = Plug-in Hybrid

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-climate-report-card-transportation-decarbonization

As far as I know, it's just EV-only in 2035. There is no carve out for something else (like California has) so unless I see that there is, I assume there isn't.

My point is it might not need a carve-out.  While the general public tends to equate EV = BEV, in actuality policy makers and people "in the biz" tend to view EV = PHEV + BEV + HEV (ie, encompassing ALL of them).  So without more word on what Massachusetts specifically means by "EV", it's hard to say.

Well for now other states (like California) have specified a specific amount of cars that can be sold as PHEVs. Massachusetts has not, and doesn't even reference their existence in any language about the ban, therefore it can only be assumed it is EV only until they say otherwise. That was the law as written. A PHEV still emits CO2 and NOx, and the law only allows zero emission vehicles, which the government states is EV and hydrogen fuel cell only.

[ZLoth]

(Note: These are similar articles.)

From CNBC:

EV slump, Hertz fire sale take used Teslas to 'no haggle' $25,000 price

The race to the $25,000 EV in the U.S. car market has been won, but not in the way the auto industry wanted.

Since January, Hertz Global Holdings has been in Tesla sales mode, with 20,000 electric vehicles from its global fleet, representing nearly a third of the rental-car company's existing EV inventory, on the dealer lot. The move, viewed as a stumble in Hertz's EV strategy — in 2021, it heralded plans to order hundreds of thousands of Teslas, Polestars and battery-electric GM models — also reflects a sobering up of the electrification hype within the U.S. auto industry, which has run into a consumer in 2024 spurning at least the expected pace of the transition away from gas-powered cars.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

From Fortune:

You can now buy a used Tesla for just $21,000 thanks to Hertz's fire sale

Hertz's failed bet on EVs is turning out to be a great thing for the savvy used-car buyer.

Thanks to an ill-fated plan that included buying a fleet of 100,000 Teslas right after emerging from bankruptcy, car buyers can now find various EVs below $30,0000 through the rental car company's Hertz Car Sales division, including Teslas for as low as $21,000.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[formulanone]

EV rentals are fine for some people who stay within the same region, but much less so for travelers who drive all over the place. The two times I've been offered an EV rental, I've had to drive three hours from that airport rental location, so there's no way I was going to get it 75% charged before returning it to the airport without changing my work day to accommodate that. Might work better for leisure travelers.

[vdeane]

Well for now other states (like California) have specified a specific amount of cars that can be sold as PHEVs. Massachusetts has not, and doesn't even reference their existence in any language about the ban, therefore it can only be assumed it is EV only until they say otherwise. That was the law as written. A PHEV still emits CO2 and NOx, and the law only allows zero emission vehicles, which the government states is EV and hydrogen fuel cell only.

OK, so probably just BEV and HEV then.  Sounds like they are confusing everyone by using colloquial language rather than the technical terms.  A hydrogen fuel cell car is really just another type of electric vehicle, just like battery electric vehicles.

EV rentals are fine for some people who stay within the same region, but much less so for travelers who drive all over the place. The two times I've been offered an EV rental, I've had to drive three hours from that airport rental location, so there's no way I was going to get it 75% charged before returning it to the airport without changing my work day to accommodate that. Might work better for leisure travelers.

They should just install chargers in the parking lot.  Plug in, and it will be charged by the time the next person picks it up.  Easy, and no need to "get it to 75%" or anything like that before returning.

[JREwing78]

Agree or disagree with Tesla and their products, but is truly one of the few brands to stick around.

I still have my doubts about Tesla and electric vehicles in general. How much does it cost to replace the battery pack anyways?

Much like hybrids the battery sled cost will probably come down with time.

One critical issue is the dearth of available repair facilities/technicians/parts that are able to repair the battery packs rather than replace them outright. Frequently it's just a small portion or a component in the battery pack that requires replacement, and they could be cost-effectively repaired if given the opportunity.