FIRST DRIVE FISKER KARMA:THE FISKER Karma is simply one of the most anticipated cars of the year in the motoring world. Well perhaps not in recession-hit Ireland, but certainly in the wider global market.
It is the first luxury extended-range electric vehicle to hit the market, and the first car from an extraordinary new US car firm.
So before we tell you what it’s like to drive, it’s worth a brief examination of how it works, and what it will mean if it all works out.
Henrik Fisker is a Danish car designer. He worked at Ford, BMW and Aston Martin, where he created the gorgeous DB9. But he wanted to put his own name on the nose of a car. Freed from the sad tendency of big corporations to dilute great design, he knew he could make it beautiful. But it also needed a green powerplant, and he found the answer in a system developed by a US company for a vehicle designed for the stealthy transport of special forces.
An extended-range electric vehicle, or ER-EV, solves some of the problems of regular electric cars. To match the range of a petrol or diesel car, an EV needs a huge, heavy, expensive battery. The Karma’s battery is smaller and cheaper and it will only travel 80km after an overnight charge. But that’s enough for the average daily needs of most drivers.
If you do need to drive further, the Karma’s General Motors-sourced 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine cuts in, but it doesn’t drive the wheels. Instead, it acts as a generator, charging the battery and allowing you to drive as far as you like, stopping for petrol every 400km or so. If your commute is less than 80km, the petrol engine might never need to start.
Henrik was getting ready to start building the Karma when the global financial crisis struck. But instead of wrecking his plans, it supercharged them.
He had already designed the next Fisker, a smaller ER-EV codenamed Nina and likely to cost around €35,000 when it comes to Europe.
He got nearly half a billion dollars in low-cost loans from the US Federal program designed to aid the ailing automotive industry, which he’ll use to prepare Nina for production, and he bought a factory in Delaware shuttered by GM in the downturn. But that’s to come. Now is the time for Karma.
The car itself looks sensational. It’s a four-door, four-seat saloon with supercar proportions; long, low and wide. Inside you sit low and snug and the view down the long hood, unlike many modern cars, is sensational: a little vignette of the Karma’s beauty to keep you going until you can stand outside and admire it again.
It’s simple to drive. Hit the start button, then press “drive” on the central console. A paddle behind the steering wheel selects either stealth mode, in which propulsion is purely electric, or sports mode, in which the petrol engine runs to maintain the battery’s charge. This allows you to choose when to use your electric range.
Coasting away in stealth mode, the Karma is eerily refined; the noise and vibration you take for granted with a regular engine are simply, oddly absent. It isn’t entirely silent though; there’s a little road noise from the huge tyres and you can occasionally hear the strange, metallic hum that’s being played to pedestrians to alert them to your presence.
Like other electric cars, the Karma delivers all its huge torque instantly, with a seamless, addictive surge of acceleration. At around 2,500kg, it’s a heavy car, so it can’t deliver supercar pace to match the looks, but a 0-100km/h time of 5.9 seconds compares well to the faster saloons from BMW or Mercedes. As does every other aspect of its dynamic performance; the Karma’s steering, ride, handling and braking are all amazingly accomplished.
Criticisms? The boot is tiny, the rear seats a little cramped – though the car isn’t intended to compete with chauffeur-driven Mercedes S-Classes – and the noise of the petrol engine can be intrusive. Oh, and there’s the attention it gets. Even at a sedate pace through the centre of Milan, we got pulled over by a couple of motorcycle-mounted, car-enthusiast carabinieri. Pity stealth mode doesn’t make the Karma invisible.
Factfile
Engine2 x 145Kw AC motors, total 1,330Nm torque, 260PS petrol engine
Rangeelectric – 80km; petrol – 400km
0-100km/hsports mode – 5.9 secs; stealth – 7.9 secs
Max speed(limited) stealth – 153km/h; sports – 200km/h
Pricefrom €100,000
Technology
Solar roofA concept car feature that's made production, it really stands out and is useful too, powering the air-con and audio and giving up to 320km of extra electric driving each year
Exhaust speakersThe speakers that pipe the Karma's synthesised soundtrack to pedestrians have been made to look like exhausts: a visual joke from Henrik. The real exhaust is smaller, and exits by the front wheel
CabinA glass panel in the centre console lets you see the lithium-ion battery built into the car's "backbone". Also, concentrating the mass in the centre of the car improves handling. The wood trim is all "reclaimed", either from old logs sunk in Lake Michigan, or from trees damaged in the Californian wildfires. An "eco-chic" animal-free trim is an option.
WheelsThe colossal 22-inch alloy rims are standard, and another concept-car feature that a mainstream automaker would have dialed out for the production model. Goodyear has designed a bespoke, high-performance tyre.
BadgeThe Fisker badge represents a fiery California sunset over the Pacific Ocean; the firm is headquartered in LA and Fisker says he couldn't have pulled this off anywhere else.