7aMoDi Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 From the September/October 2024 issue of Car and Driver. Starting a successful car company is hard, as Henrik Fisker well knows. After working at BMW and Aston Martin, the talented designer struck out with Fisker Coachbuild (the Fisker Tramonto and the Latigo CS), Fisker Automotive (the Karma), and VLF Automotive (the Force 1 V10). The latest endeavor, Fisker Inc., produced the Ocean electric. We sampled the Ocean One, a limited-production launch edition equipped with everything on the top-of-the-line Extreme model, plus a few unique features. That means two-motor all-wheel drive, a total of 564 horsepower and 543 pound-feet of torque, a 106.5-kWh battery promising 360 miles of EPA range, and solar cells on the roof. This two-row electric SUV is a little longer and wider than a Volvo XC60. It looks aggressive, with plenty of bumps and grinds in the bodywork and a high kickup toward the rear of the beltline. We encountered a number of passersby who were smitten by the Ocean's looks, perhaps taken by its matte Big Sur Blue paint and 22-inch F6 Vortex wheels. The interior is comfortable enough for four adults, though the rear seat cushions are a little low and short. Fisker is big on sustainability, and the upholstery in our car consisted of Mali-Blu microsuede, with various recycled and synthetic materials on other surfaces. The overall effect doesn't feel rich, though it is functional. In general, the Ocean drives decently. The steering is accurate, and the brake feel isn't bad. But ride comfort could be better on rough roads, and with a 70-mph sound level of 69 decibels, the Ocean lacks the hushed interior of many EVs. In the mildest of the Ocean One's three drive modes, Earth, accelerator response from rest is sluggish and generally inconsistent. Even keeping up with normal traffic seems difficult, which is ridiculous for a car that can hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 12.5. In Fun mode, the Ocean is livelier and generally behaves as we'd expect. It's no sports car, however. The undefeatable stability-control system limits the Ocean's cornering grip to 0.79 g. And stopping distances are lengthy, with the SUV requiring 173 feet to halt from 70 mph and 350 feet from 100. Fisker enhanced the Ocean with a number of novel ideas. California mode, for example, opens the four main side windows, the tiny and visually useless "doggie" rear quarter-windows, the liftgate window, and the large glass sunroof with a single button press. The Ocean's 17.1-inch infotainment touchscreen can rotate from vertical to horizontal in the One, letting you watch videos while parked. When you press what looks like a glovebox release button, a small "taco tray" extends from the dashboard. A second mini table unfolds from the central console. On our top-trim example, the solar cells embedded in the glass sunroof can provide a claimed 2000 or more miles of driving per year, assuming you don't regularly park in a shaded lot or a garage. In fact, on our test car, this sunroof powered about 10 percent of the miles driven. In our 75-mph highway range test, the Ocean delivered a solid 290 miles. Unfortunately, many of the controls are odd. For example, the cruise control uses a thumb-wheel and a couple of opaque buttons. Annoyingly, Fisker buries the odometer in the menus of the touchscreen. And while the Ocean offers an electronic display of the rear camera feed in the rearview mirror, it requires that the driver change eye focus when shifting from the road to the display—this quickly grew tiresome. And there were several quality issues. The liftgate frequently failed to open fully when its external button was pressed. Sometimes the climate-control system wouldn't produce enough heat; at other times it seemed too cold. A paired phone wouldn't automatically connect after a restart, even though the car showed the phone on the list of paired devices. After each start, the car operated with low regen, even though the settings menu showed that high was selected. During acceleration testing, the launch-control mode stopped working after a couple of tries. And this SUV has the world's loudest turn-signal clicks. All of this suggests that Fisker rushed the Ocean's development and production started prematurely. Resolving such glitches is not glamorous work, but it appears Fisker won't get the chance. Obituary: Fisker Inc. Fisker Inc. of Los Angeles died on June 17, 2024. It was seven years old. Fisker Inc. was born on October 3, 2016, to famed automotive designer and serial entrepreneur Henrik Fisker and his wife, Geeta Gupta-Fisker, who was responsible for finance and operations. In 2020, the company unveiled its first vehicle, the Ocean electric SUV, to be built by Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria. Intended to be the first of a multivehicle lineup, the Ocean wound up being the sole model Fisker produced. The first U.S.-spec vehicles were delivered to customers in June 2023. The good news for Fisker ended soon after. Following a grim earnings call this past March, the company announced it would pause development of the Pear SUV and the Alaska pickup while also laying off roughly 15 percent of its staff. Hope for a major cash infusion fizzled, leaving Fisker scrambling for capital. The bad news compounded, resulting in a pause in Ocean production and price cuts of up to $24,000. On June 5, Fisker issued a recall of 6864 Ocean SUVs—believed to be all the vehicles in public hands in the United States—over a control-unit defect. On June 17, the automaker's operating subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively sealing the company's fate. As part of the bankruptcy filings, Fisker agreed to sell the remaining 3231 vehicles in its possession along with "all relevant source code" to a New York–based leasing firm as it liquidates its assets. —Jack Fitzgerald Specifications 2023 Fisker Ocean One front- and rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon PRICE Base/As Tested: $71,437/$79,212 Options: Big Sur Blue paint, $4500; 22-inch Vortex black wheels, $1450; tow hitch, $1200; recycled floor mats, $250; retractable cargo cover, $375 POWERTRAIN Front Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC Rear Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC Combined Power: 564 hp Combined Torque: 543 lb-ft Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 106.5 kWh Onboard Charger: 11.0 kW Peak DC Fast-Charge Rate: 250 kW Transmissions, F/R: direct-drive CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: struts/multilink Tires: Bridgestone Alenza Sport A/S Enliten 255/45R-22 107W M+S FSR DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 115.0 in Length: 188.0 in Width: 78.5 in Height: 64.1 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/50 ft3 Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 32/17 ft3 Curb Weight: 5389 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 3.9 sec 100 mph: 10.1 sec 1/4-Mile: 12.5 sec @ 110 mph Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 4.2 sec Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 2.2 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 2.5 sec Top Speed (gov ltd): 129 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 173 ft Braking, 100–0 mph: 350 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.79 g C/D FUEL ECONOMY AND CHARGING Observed: 79 MPGe 75-mph Highway Range: 290 mi Average DC Fast-Charge Rate, 10–90%: 96 kW DC Fast-Charge Time, 10–90%: 57 min EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City/Highway: 92/99/84 MPGe Range: 360 mi C/D TESTING EXPLAINED https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a62068406/2023-fisker-ocean-one-test/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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