Fisker Auto flashes look at sporty electric sedan
Fisker Automotive took a prototype of its planned $80,000 electric sedan for a spin on a track in California, giving gawkers the first first look of the luxury sedan in action.
The photos, which were thought to be "spy photos," were actually taken by the company's PR firm and distributed to the media, according to published reports.
The Fisker Karma luxury electric sedan. Click on the image to see photos of a prototype on a test track.
(Credit: Fisker Automotive)In any case, the photos show the Karma, a plug-in hybrid sedan that Fisker says it will deliver in the fourth quarter this year, manufacturing 15,000 a year.
Fisker is now embroiled in a legal suit with its rival Tesla Motors, another luxury electric car maker. Tesla has accused Fisker of stealing car designs and trade secrets. CEO Henrik Fisker called the suit "nonsense."
Tesla opened up its first showroom earlier this month and is taking orders for its two-door Roadster. It plans to make an electric luxury sedan, called the Whitestar, as well.
Fisker first unveiled the Karma at the North American International Auto Show in January. Click here for a video of the Karma at the Auto Show.
The car is being designed to go 50 miles on its batteries before recharging. An on-board generator, which charges the battery, runs on a liquid fuel.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin.
My vote...let the big 3 go under. Anyone who works for them should be ashamed. These companies have triple-handedly sucked the life out of this country, and are currently throwing that dependence in our faces!!! Maybe the complete downfall of the auto industry, as it currently exists in this country, would be just the wake-up call people need to get motivated into doing the right thing!
While I'm on this soapbox, another thing I'd like to mention is that these manufacturers have been allowed to dictate the progress (or lack therof) regarding efficiency of current fuel consumption. We had cars in the early 1900's that were providing well over 25 mpg. Now, 80+ years later, this is still considered a high-mileage vehicle. Give me a freakin' break. go ahead and click on the Chevy "Gas-friendly to gas free" links all over this page. The best mileage vehicle is 37 mpg.. Not only is this an insult to our intelligence, but it's pretty obvious that there are other forces holding this technology back.
What gives??....does anyone else here smell the stink of energy cartel money???? US automakers were making electric cars in the early 1900's. OK, so they didn't go that fast and were a pain to keep charged. One would think that in the span of 80+ years of technology advances, that oil products as a main source of transportation fuel should have been replaced by the early 1990's. It's a known fact that we could have already converted almost completely over to CNG by now. Not only is it over 100% more efficient to burn as a fuel, but it produces MUCH less emissions, we wouldn't have to re-tool factories to build them, we have abundant supplies of the fuel, and we have an infrastructure in place for re-fueling.
To close, I only have one more thing to say. Regarding the bail-out loan plans for the big 3 automakers. Forget them. Give the 25 billion to Tesla, Fisker, Aptera, and other green auto companies that are actually proving that technology has the right answers TODAY! That way, the cost of producing their vehicles could be brought down to a more manageable number. In turn, making it more affordable for the consumer.