A Fisker Karma with company founder Henrik Fisker.
So far, the Fisker Karma hasn’t exactly set the automotive market on fire – but there are conflicting reports on the cause of a fire in a suburban Houston garage that destroyed one of the plug-in sports cars and several exotic vehicles, with one official pointing to the Karma.
The May 3 fire in Sugar Land, Texas seriously damaged a garage containing a Karma, Mercedes-Benz SUV and an Acura NSX. While the lithium-ion battery on the Fisker appears to have been intact, the initial investigation pointed to the plug-in.
Robert Baker, the head of the Bend County fire department’s investigating team told Auto Week magazine that he believed the Karam “was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don’t know at this time.”
The news would be a major setback for the California start-up, which has faced significant delays in its roll-out of new products, including the Karma, with its next model, the Atlantic, indefinitely delayed. Named for Danish auto designer Henrik Fisker, the firm has had a federal loan withdrawn and is racing to line up private equity to keep going.
But perhaps the most troubling issue concerns the recall of the original lithium battery pack following the discovery of a manufacturing defect at supplier A123. That has triggered a recall of early vehicles, though it is unclear if the car involved in the Texas fire was equipped with the potentially defective battery.
For its part, Fisker officials insist the cause of the fire is still “unknown,” and have even said they have “not ruled out possible fraud or malicious intent,” pointing to supposedly suspicious materials in the garage.
The fire is likely to further enflame concerns about the safety of battery-electric vehicles. Flags were raised late last year when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed a series of fires and other problems involving the batteries used in the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. But the issue was later linked to the procedure the government agency had used in crash testing.
NHTSA initially opened up an investigation into the Volt battery pack, which is supplied by Korea’s LG Chem. But it closed the matter after GM announced modifications designed to further protect the 16 kWh battery pack in a crash.
Government investigators have joined those from Fisker, insurance firms and local authorities at the site of the Sugar Land fire.
“I’ve worked homicide scenes with less secrecy,” Baker told AutoWeek. “There have to be about 15 engineers down here working on this one.”