Fisker In Gear ~ Karma

[twist]

Looks like Fisker is positioned for launch.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...tml?cmpid=yhoo

[Rooster]

I do like the looks of the integrated solar panel in the roof.

[solar_dave]

I do like the looks of the integrated solar panel in the roof.

Is about worthless IMHO, with efficeny in the 15% range it won't even put a dent in to the charging requirements.
The Volt on 120 charger draws about 1450 watts for a 10 hour charge time and that much surface area would produce about 300 watts max.

So figure 1450 X 10 is 14,500 and then divide that by 300 like 50 hours in full sun. Ah, but really you get about 4 hours of fully sun equivalent a day, OMG it would take weeks to charge it.

[DonC]

I love the design of the solar panel from the top but I don't know if you'd ever see it. As a practical matter it's not very useful.

I hope Fisker is a success but I'm just not sure how many $100,000 EREV's you can sell when the drive train from reports of test drives is not as refined as the Volt's. If you were going after this market I'd think that the Model S with a refined Voltec drive train would be the ticket. I'd think about that though at the end of the day I'd conclude that the Volt gives me 80% of the benefit for a fraction of the cost. On the other hand, a vehicle like that would blow away the BMW 7 series and the MB S series offerings. And there is a market for these cars.

[Steverino]

Tesla and Fisker have both raised cash in stock offerings recently.
"The two companies’ ability to raise funds despite bearish capital market conditions highlighted investors’ faith in the business prospects for a new generation of plug-in cars, despite doubts within the industry about how many consumers will buy them."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffc24862-8...#axzz1OPqxVOMB

[WVhybrid]

Maybe the solar panel will trickle charge the 12 volt battery, so the *(&()) thing will never die with door locked (like my Prius did last month.)

WVhybrid

[Rooster]

Is about worthless IMHO, with efficeny in the 15% range it won't even put a dent in to the charging requirements.
The Volt on 120 charger draws about 1450 watts for a 10 hour charge time and that much surface area would produce about 300 watts max.

So figure 1450 X 10 is 14,500 and then divide that by 300 like 50 hours in full sun. Ah, but really you get about 4 hours of fully sun equivalent a day, OMG it would take weeks to charge it.

Hey, if I can afford a $100K car, what do I care? It looks cool. :-)