It’s been one series of problems after another for battery-car start-up Fisker Automotive. This time, the maker says it will have to replace potentially defective batteries in its Karma plug-in hybrid due to a manufacturing problem discovered by supplier A123.
Fisker itself plans to take steps to cover potential problems with the Karma, including offering owners an extended warranty.
The problem came to light earlier this month when a Fisker Karma delivered for testing to Consumer Reports magazine froze up and wouldn’t shift out of Park. It was quickly determined that the problem was the result of a short circuit in the battery that put the vehicle into failsafe mode.
Battery maker A123 now acknowledges that a manufacturing glitch at a plant in Michigan caused the problem – which also plagues five other battery car projects. The supplier won’t say who the other customers are, nor will it reveal the precise number of batteries impacted by the glitch but it announced the recall of potentially defective lithium-ion packs will cost A123 about $55 million.
(For more on the A123 battery pack defect, Click Here.)
That doesn’t include the potential damage to the supplier’s reputation nor to Fisker’s already tarnished reputation. The California battery-car company has struggled with a variety of issues, including delays in launching the Karma that, in turn, have forced it to renegotiate a $528 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
It is unclear if Fisker will be able to get the DoE to approve its revised business plan and, as a result, the company is now searching for private capital. It has had some success, raising more than $300 million in recent months. But it still hasn’t covered everything it needs and last month announced it would have to let go of more than 40 staffers and contract employees at its California headquarters and at a plant in Delaware where it intends to produce its next product, codenamed Project Nina.
Fisker Chairman Henrik Fisker recently told TheDetroitBureau.com that work on that program is moving ahead despite the DoE loan issue. Significantly, the maker plans to formally unveil the first model developed through Project Nina during a briefing prior to next month’s New York Auto Show. The vehicle is expected to cost less than half that of the $107,000 Fisker Karma.
The new plug-in hybrid is expected to appeal to a relatively mainstream audience, where Karma is targeting early adopters and celebrities who want to be seen as green-minded – such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the first to take delivery of a Karma.
But the “latent manufacturing defect” in A123’s battery pack “could result in battery underperformance and decreased durability,” Fisker announced today. As a result, it plans to replace any battery that might have the problem – and then to extend the warranty on the Karma to cover possible durability issues.
(Consumer Reports gets a working Karma, still has issues with plug-in hybrid. Click Here for more.)
Fisker Automotive’s eponymous founder last month gave up chief executive duties, former Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda stepping in to take over day-to-day oversight. Henrik Fisker will remain the company’s chairman.
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