Fisker karma- a new take on the hybrid

robtri

a new take on the hybrid....
its a full on electric car... huge litium batteries, 100km range... plug in over night at home to charge....

but it also has a small 4 stroke petrol engine, but the best thing is this engine does not transfer power to the wheels it s for charging the batteries on long runs... heard that they have an official mpg of over 100mpg

and it looks nice....

Max_Damage

Looks.... Long!

FreudianSlippers

IMO it looks very... phallic :eek:

JerCotter7

Looks nice in an ugly way

mickdw

I like the idea of keeping the simplicity of just having the electric powertrain while also having the flexibility of having an onboard engine for generation purposes. Im not quite sure if the figures will stack up in relation to carrying around a petrol engine which might be seldom used.

robtri

mickdw wrote: »

I like the idea of keeping the simplicity of just having the electric powertrain while also having the flexibility of having an onboard engine for generation purposes. Im not quite sure if the figures will stack up in relation to carrying around a petrol engine which might be seldom used.

its a nice set up alright, figures look good for carrying the engine....

Alanstrainor

Why make it "plug in" at all if it's going to have a generator to charge the batteries. I'd see it more as an electric car with a generator with an optional charging socket.

robtri

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Why make it "plug in" at all if it's going to have a generator to charge the batteries. I'd see it more as an electric car with a generator with an optional charging socket.

I think the idea behind it is that on normal day to day low mileage use you use the plug in, techincally lower CO2 than using the petrol engine.

The petrol engine is only there as a reserve or for long journeys.... long journeys, which have been the bane of the electric cars so far...

Ghost Estate

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Why make it "plug in" at all if it's going to have a generator to charge the batteries. I'd see it more as an electric car with a generator with an optional charging socket.

Cheaper to run. although having a huge set of Li-ion batteries doesn't help with the 4-15% annual capacity loss.

For another (more affordable hopefully) take on this concept http://www.carsession.com/car-news/audi-a1-e-tron-specs.html

Alun

mickdw wrote: »

I like the idea of keeping the simplicity of just having the electric powertrain while also having the flexibility of having an onboard engine for generation purposes. Im not quite sure if the figures will stack up in relation to carrying around a petrol engine which might be seldom used.

It's the same principle as the upcoming Chevy Volt / Opel Ampera.

Ghost Estate

Alun wrote: »

It's the same principle as the upcoming Chevy Volt / Opel Ampera.

I'm not sure is it. the Chevy is more of a traditional hybrid than their marketing drones are comfortable with. Over 70mph it needs the engine to help it along and it's more of a Prius than an electric car with a genny in the boot

alias no.9

I like the proportions, I doubt they'll ever be realised in a production ready model, but sexy none the less,

robtri

alias no.9 wrote: »

I like the proportions, I doubt they'll ever be realised in a production ready model, but sexy none the less,

it is in production.... it not a prototype

poggy

I may be wrong but i think that the petrol engine is only to recharge the batteries if there is no available plug, if its using a high power electric motor and a low power petrol engine the electric motor is going to be able to drain the batteries faster than the petrol engine can generate it.

The car will have to either wait for the petrol engine to recharge the batteries or operate in a low power mode until plugged in. "In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics"

Ghost Estate

robtri wrote: »

it is in production.... it not a prototype

Not quite in production. You know how it goes with electric cars or anything that might be good for the consumer or save you money. It seems harder to get one of those yokes to leave the factory doors than it does for the Pint to leave Brian Cowen's hand

Fisker Automotive began accepting pre-orders in the U.S, and Europe and initially schedule sales of its Karma PHEV by the fourth quarter of 2009 in the US, and import into Europe starting in 2010.[15] Fisker Automotive received 1300 orders for Karma in Europe and the U.S. by May 2010, and after re-scheduling the Karma launch to September 2010, the company again re-schedule production to February 2011.

fairly typical of electric cars - tons of hype but just try getting your hands on one. when the thing does go into production it will be a thousand or less and the first lot will be re-called as with the Tesla

robtri

poggy wrote: »

I may be wrong but i think that the petrol engine is only to recharge the batteries if there is no available plug, if its using a high power electric motor and a low power petrol engine the electric motor is going to be able to drain the batteries faster than the petrol engine can generate it.

The car will have to either wait for the petrol engine to recharge the batteries or operate in a low power mode until plugged in. "In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics"

petrol engine running it is capable of doing over 100MPG... not need to wait...

robtri

Ghost Estate wrote: »

Not quite in production. You know how it goes with electric cars or anything that might be good for the consumer or save you money. It seems harder to get one of those yokes to leave the factory doors than it does for the Pint to leave Brian Cowen's hand



fairly typical of electric cars - tons of hype but just try getting your hands on one. when the thing does go into production it will be a thousand or less and the first lot will be re-called as with the Tesla

cheers for that, i thought it was out already, production moved again:(

alias no.9

robtri wrote: »

it is in production.... it not a prototype

I'm used to prototypes referring to multiple thousands of parts until things are production ready. I work with lower value products.

Bobjims

Just read an article in the Sunday Times about this car today. €104 annual road tax for a car with over 400 bhp and a 300 mile range! Sounds like a dream car to me at around 70000 sterling, would be very interested if I had the money.