Henrik Fisker Launches EV Company

Henrik Fisker, the car designer whose Fisker Automotive Inc. startup hybrid car company went bankrupt in 2014, is launching a new venture to develop and produce electric vehicles and next-generation batteries.

The new California-based company—Fisker Inc.—has been operating in “stealth” mode for about two years and plans to unveil images of a premium EV in mid-2017, Fisker tells Bloomberg News. He says the company's first EV will be a “spiritual successor” to the Fisker Karma hybrid sedan that Fisker Automotive launched in 2012.

Fisker claims the upcoming EV, which hasn’t been named yet, will use a new battery technology that will enable a 400-mile driving range. Developed in part by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the battery chemistry is lithium-based but different than current lithium-ion cells, according to Jack Kavanaugh, who heads up Fisker Inc.’s Nanotech battery division. This includes unspecified lightweight materials and new packaging methods.

Fisker Nanotech is working on prototypes of the new batteries, which also are said to have a longer life than conventional lithium-ion designs, and hopes to eventually market the technology to other carmakers. 

Fisker didn't say when the new EV will debut. But he tells Bloomberg the company already plans a followup mass-market model priced below $40,000.  

Most of the original Fisker Automotive’s assets—but not the Fisker brand—were acquired two years ago by China’s Wanxiang Group. Wanxiang has relaunched the business in Costa Mesa, Calif., as Karma Automotive and reportedly has applied for a permit to build a factory in China with capacity to build 50,000 extended-range hybrids.

Karma Automotive says it will introduce the Revero, an updated version of Fisker Automotive’s original Karma hybrid sport sedan, later this year.