glad to see they are out and about…
For those interested, here’s a good read about the A123 bankruptcy (after getting $132 million in taxpayer money) and how their manufacturing was responsible for the Karma recall since this car used their batteries:
I still like these cars:
Hmm… they expanded the Fisker Dealership here and broke away from their Aston Martin showroom. It’s still under construction.
Their sales are strong here. I see them all the time now! So somebody loves them.
From the article…
“Brilliant scientists can develop the chemistry and the engineering behind these cells, but manufacturing them is a completely different thing,” AutoPacific’s Kim said. “That requires a completely different set of expertise. Just because there were some very brilliant minds that developed the cells, that didn’t in any way guarantee that they would be manufactured to the proper standard, and obviously they weren’t.”
I love how scientists are desribed as brilliant twice but manufacturing people (you know the ones who have to fix all of the design flaws on the fly) will never get their deserved credit.
Sincerely,
Manufacturing Guy 
fyi 1, these phosphate-based cathodes have to be calendered to a much thinner thickness than the competing cathode active materials. I’m not sure if that is related to the manufacturing defect, but I’d suspect that it makes it more difficult to produce.
fyi 2, the powder plant (where LFP is made for these batteries) is in China, whereas cell assembly is in Michigan.
fyi 3, they have way too much production capacity. The writing has been on the wall for at least two years now, and I’m no expert…
Well, well, well…
I wonder if they will be allowed to participate in the energy storage research hub at Argonne.
^it’s interesting: their folly with Fisker was not in the design aspect but production. And the main motivator behind their decline? Chevy initially promised them the contract for the Volt, then declined because overseas manufacturing was cheaper, sending them into a tailspin. Even prior to that they were originally promised the contract for the Saturn VUE hybrid which went defunct as Saturn did, then Chevy Volt which also went down the tubes.
With Obama’s sustainable energy research investment, their initial buyout by the Chinese company was dissuaded in favor of American ownership to protect the government’s investment. Ironically, it was American companies’ outsourcing that put them in the awful financial situation they are in.
This (battery technology) is the way of the future. American businesses just fucked over American business.
Hmm. I don’t think the Volt contract found the chink in A123’s armor. LG Chem won that project and their Michigan manufacturing site is sitting in standby mode right now.
We don’t actually know any of the specifics behind why A123 was not given the Volt contract. Supplier quality is such a huge issue that I’d guess GM wanted a supplier with an actual track record.
It is anyone’s bet which chemistry will prevail for powering EVs. Lithium-ion might gain implementation in hybrid and plug-in hybrid applications, but driving the energy density higher might require multivalent batteries and new electrode configurations.
Bob Lutz can fix anything, just throw a V8 in it
ZR1 powered Karma
Oh really? :mpd:
Yay… :pedo2:
China’s Geely currently looks best positioned to profit from U.S. government largesse by buying beleaguered and DOE-funded plug-in car maker Fisker
In 2009, Fisker received a $528.7 million conditional loan from the DOE. After drawing down $193 million, the credit line was frozen, following a series of scandals surrounding other DOE recipients. Production was shut down in summer of 2012 while fresh capital was sought. The financial troubles of Fisker’s battery supplier A123 gave Fisker another reason not to restart production. A123, another recipient of DOE largesse, was sold off to China.
Which is where DOE recipients appear to get outsourced to.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/18/us-china-auto-idUSBRE91H05G20130218
So founder Henrik Fisker has left the company and they need money…
When Henrik Fisker left last week, all we knew was that he “disagreed on business strategy” with the management, code for “board-room brawl, founder leaves in a huff.” Now we know where the disagreement was. It was whether to ask Uncle Sam or Auntie Zhang for money.
According to Reuters, Fisker and CEO Tony Posawatz could agree that the company needs money, lots of it.
Now for the hard part: Where to get the money.
Posawatz, a former GM man, was for hitting up the Department of Energy again to unlock access to a $529 million federal loan. DOE had blocked the loan, supposedly due to the delays in the launch of the Karma, but ostensibly because those loans became a hot potato.
Fisker, says Reuters, “was opposed to relying on additional federal funds.” The article did not say where Fisker wanted to get the money from, the guess is China. With Geely out of the running, the only Chinese suitor seems to be Dongfeng. If Dongfeng gets Fisker, effectively the Chinese government would give the money. Donfeng is owned by China’s central government.
Both strategies smell of desperation. The formerly generous DOE does not want to get caught in the cross-fire again. The Chinese are tight with money and usually buy when the company gets bust, see A123 etc.
They just fired their whole PR team and many other employees
Henrik Fisker is going in front of Congress today, along with a few others involved. Should be interesting.
How long do you guy think before these cars are worth nothing? And I can buy one for pennies and swap in a V8… 
one was parked next to the caddy at the regal on elmwood last night when i got out of the movies
… And if it caught fire, your car would have been the first victim!
Yeah I wonder what Lutz company would offer for the design and tooling to build the bodies.
Someone should do it. They’re beautiful looking cars in person. They’d sell no matter what engine was under the hood.