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Recharge Wrap-up: Fisker EMotion rear end, Faraday Future drag race teaser

Fisker has unveiled the rear end of its EMotion EV. This latest image in a series of slow reveals shows us the strip of lighting across the back, the lines of the trunk opening, and a good look at the rear diffuser. The car appears significantly wider at the fenders than at the roofline, which gives it a planted and muscular look. It's a shape that fits the car's stated performance; Fisker says the EMotion will have a top speed of 161 miles per hour. And, of course, there are no tailpipes. Read more from TechCrunch. Check out the off-road prowess of the Tesla Model X in an icy ditch. Thanks to a sophisticated traction control and torque distribution system, the electric SUV is able to keep its composure even when a wheel leaves the ground over the uneven terrain. Of course, the grippy winter tires help too. The video could also help ease concerns about the vehicles torsional rigidity, though there was a slight creak when opening one of the falcon wing doors while the Model X was suspended over the ditch. See the video and read more at Teslarati. Faraday Future is teasing a video of drag races against the Tesla Model X, Bentley Bentayga, and Ferrari 488 GTB. It shows the camouflaged FF prototype lining up next to the competitors individually, and taking off down the drag strip before cutting the video short. The video then instructs viewers to "stay connected" for the results. Presumably, the prototype will perform impressively. Outrunning a Model X P100D with Ludicrous mode means doing 0-60 in less than 2.9 seconds. Faraday Future is slated to unveil its production electric vehicle at CES 2017 in early January. Check out the video and read more at Teslarati.

Recharge Wrap-up: VW CEO mulls battery factory, voters approve $201B in transportation funding

Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Muller says that it would "make sense" for the automaker to begin producing its own batteries. As the company moves toward electrification, Muller says it would be a smart move to build a battery factory. "If more than a quarter of our cars are to be electronic vehicles in the foreseeable future then we are going to need approximately 3 million batteries a year," he says. Volkswagen has agreed to cut 30,000 jobs in its restructuring, while committing to creating 9,000 jobs in Germany through battery manufacturing and mobility services. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Election results show a desire for transportation funding. Earlier this month, voters in 22 states approved ballot measures adding up to $201 billion in funding for transportation projects, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. California passed 15 transportation measures, including one in Los Angeles worth $120 billion for roads, bridges, and transit. The state of Washington secured $54 billion for light rail and buses. Atlanta approved about $4 billion for road and transit projects. Illinois and New Jersey passed measures to prevent the diversion of transportation user fee revenue to other industries. Read more from ITS International. The US Department of Energy (DOE) must hand over confidential documents about Fisker's bankruptcy. A Delaware federal judge ordered the DOE to give the documents – which concern a presentation by Fisker to the DOE in which it falsely claimed to meet milestones set forth in a government loan – to lawyers in a case in which investors claim Fisker lied to them about financial troubles. While the DOE has given over documents already, they were incomplete and heavily redacted. "I understand that such disclosures may have a negative impact on future DOE analyses," says US District Judge Sue Robinson. "but conclude nonetheless that under the circumstances at bar – the public money at stake, the Congressional hearings, and the fact that Fisker Automotive is now a defunct company – the balance of interests favors plaintiffs." Read more at Law360. Related Gallery Volkswagen I.D.

Henrik Fisker teases more images of Emotion luxury electric vehicle

Is Henrik Fisker's new electric vehicle ready for its close-up? Apparently, the founder of the eponymous and dearly-departed extended-range plug-in maker thinks so. Fisker, whose new company is working on a model called the EMotion (get it?), has done away with his back-lit teaser photos, and has posted a couple clear images highlighting the EV's lines and features. Mr. Fisker's tweets reveal a side view of a model that appears to be a less-swoopy version of the Karma, the extended-range plug-in that was produced by his former company. An image of the front, which is notably without a grille and includes adaptive LED headlights, shows a car with what one may perceive as a mean-looking smile. Fisker Inc. has promised an electric vehicle with a 400-mile single-charge range from a battery that's being developed at UCLA. Mr. Fisker also adds in one of his tweets that "Fisker vehicles will always have a strong emotional connection to its owner." Not to mention "Superb rear legroom." As it is, the four-door is already notable because it is slated to include dihedral (also known as "butterfly") doors. Hopefully, they will work a little better than the falcon-wing doors that have been problematic for the Tesla Model X SUV. Whether Mr. Fisker will have better luck this time around remains to be seen. The former Fisker Automotive made a model that attracted buyers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and CeeLo Green. That company went bankrupt in 2013, and its assets were acquired by China-based Wanxiang. What's now known as Karma is preparing to start selling its own four-door plug-in called the Revero. That model will have an MSRP of $130,000 and will be able to go as far as 50 miles on electricity alone before the on-board gas-powered generator kicks in. Related Video: Featured Gallery Fisker Emotion News Source: Henrik Fisker/TwitterImage Credit: Henrik Fisker/Twitter Green Fisker Electric Hybrid Henrik Fisker

Henrik Fisker reveals the face of his upcoming electric vehicle

Henrik Fisker, once again, took to Twitter to release another image of his new company's, Fisker Inc., 400-mile electric vehicle. This time, the Tweet revealed the front end of the upcoming car. The picture, which has the patina of old video game CGI, hints at a design more likely to be seen on a Matchbox car instead of an actual street-legal vehicle. According to Fisker, the front of the car is heavily influenced by aerodynamics. Besides the grille-less front end, a feature also found on the refreshed Tesla Model S, the vehicle is fitted with adaptive LED headlights, as well as a centrally-located radar and camera sensor combination. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. A few days ago, Fisker Tweeted out a side profile of the vehicle with its gorgeous dihedral doors. It was a promising tease for the rest of the design. But the reptilian front end looks doesn't really do anything for this writer. It's almost hard to believe that the same man that created this vehicle also designed the Aston Martin DB9 and Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The upcoming electric car from Fisker Inc. is meant to serve as a "spiritual successor" to the now-dead Fisker Karma (and resurrected as the Karma Revero). Other than revealing that the vehicle will have butterfly doors, Fisker stated the car will be "sporty and spacious" and not much else. The new car, which is expected to come out late next year, will be the first for Fisker Inc. and will have battery technology from the company's own division – Fisker Nanotech. Related Video: News Source: @FiskerOfficial Design/Style Green Fisker Electric Future Vehicles Sedan Henrik Fisker nanotech fisker inc

Henrik Fisker previews secretive car with gorgeous butterfly doors

Earlier this month, Henrik Fisker announced plans for a 400-mile electric car that would follow up on the failed Fisker Karma. Fisker recently took to Twitter where he posted a picture of a mysterious vehicle with magnificent dihedral (also known as butterfly) doors. This, then, is our first look at Fisker's upcoming electric vehicle. So far, everything looks good. Besides the dihedral doors, there's not much to go off of. Dihedral doors aren't new, as McLaren uses the units on its entire range (as do other cars, mainly exotics), but the rear-hinged ones are unique. We've seen suicide doors and falcon doors on four-door vehicles, but no rear-hinged dihedral ones intended for production that we can recall. According to Fisker, the upcoming model uses the fancy doors for better ingress and egress. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Other than the nifty doors, the front fascia has what looks to be LED accent or running lights on the side, while the rear taillights are also LED units. As Fisker claimed earlier this year, the upcoming electric car will be a "spiritual successor" to the Karma and that shows in the profile of the car, although the teased car has shorter front and rear overhangs. Fisker hasn't released a lot of information on the upcoming vehicle, besides that it would be "sporty and spacious." The outline of the vehicle definitely looks sporty, but there's no way to say if it's spacious from the one image. The new vehicle will be Fisker's first under his new company called Fisker Inc. The battery technology for the vehicle is currently being developed at UCLA, by the company's own battery division known as Fisker Nanotech. The vehicle is expected to be revealed late next year. Related Video: News Source: @FiskerOfficial Design/Style Green Fisker Electric Future Vehicles Sedan Henrik Fisker nanotech fisker inc

Henrik Fisker returns with plans to build a 400-mile electric car

What goes around, comes around. What's past is prologue. Those who don't study the past are ... oh, you get the picture. Henrik Fisker is coming back, again, with an all-new, all-electric vehicle. The name for the new brand? Why, Fisker, of course. At some point in late 2017, Fisker will reveal the "spiritual successor" to the maligned Fisker Karma, he recently told Bloomberg. Unsurprisingly, given Fisker's history, the new EV will be a premium vehicle that could have a range of more than 400 miles on a charge. A lower-cost EV (think $40,000) will follow. Fisker told Bloomberg that the reason he wants to get back into the EV world is because battery technology keeps on advancing: We have really been working in stealth mode. For the last two years I have been looking at battery technologies and wanted to see if there was something that could really give us a new paradigm. We had the strategy of developing the technology as fast as possible without getting tied down to a large organization, which would hold us back. Now we have the technology that nobody else has. And there is nobody even close to what we are doing out there. All Fisker would say about the look is that it will be, "sporty and spacious" and that, "there is no excuse for making an ugly car, even with new technology." Fisker's new company will be called Fisker, Inc., with the we've-got-all-the-tech battery division called Fisker Nanotech. The new technology is being developed at UCLA, Bloomberg says. Once Fisker, Inc. proves the tech is real, the plan is to sell it to an OEM. Fisker, Inc. is even keeping the same logo as when Fisker made the Karma PHEV as Fisker Automotive. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Green Fisker Electric Luxury Henrik Fisker nanotech fisker inc

2017 Karma Revero starts at $130,000, and more new details about the reborn Fisker

It was not obvious that the eyes of the automotive world would focus on Huntington Beach, California today for the launch (sort of a relaunch) of the Karma Revero. The unlikely rebirth of the Fisker Karma has taken a long while, and you'll be forgiven if you thought that Fisker's bankruptcy filing in 2013 signaled the end of the swoopy plug-in hybrid. Sure, at the time there was talk of the Karma returning some day, but in the era of plug-in vehicle pioneers like Aptera, Bright Automotive, and Phoenix Motorcars fading away in the figurative pages of Chapter 11 filings, who really thought it would happen? Wanxiang, that's who. Based in China, Wanxiang bought the rights to the Fisker assests back in February 2014 for $149.2 million. As we learned today in Huntington Beach, there were only 22 Fisker employees left at that time. A year later, in March 2015, the new Karma Automotive had 203 employees. There were 697 in August 2016 and the plan calls for 967 by the end of 2016. That's just one example of the intentional and dramatic growth that Karma is putting into bringing the Revero to market. Or back to market. Whatever. Here are seven things we learned about the Revero and Karma Automotive. The MSRP will be $130,000. The Fisker Karma started at $103,000, so the Revero's new $130,000 starting price tag is a bit of a jump. Aside from colors, wheels, and calipers, there won't be many options, either. Of course, there's a lot that's new and different about the car, and that costs money, but if you couldn't afford a Fisker, don't bother shopping for a Revero. The gas engine and most of the remains the same, but there have been upgrades. Just like the Fisker, the Revero uses a 260-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine from General Motors. But on the electrical side, things have gotten better. DC fast-charging at 40 kW is now available and the on-board charger has been upgraded from 3.3 kW to 6.6 kW. The battery is similar (it still uses A123 cells, which isn't a surprise), but the capacity has been increased from 20.4 kWh to 21.4 kWh, which will be good for 50 miles or range. The 0-60 time has been dropped by a second to 5.4 seconds in Sport mode. Nothing has been finalized yet, but apparently Karma expects the EPA fuel efficiency numbers to be roughly the same as before. The infotainment system has been totally redone.

Henrik Fisker says he's developing EVs in 'stealth mode'

VLF Automotive added a second model to their small lineup earlier this year. While the Force 1 sports car continued the company's tradition of cars with big displacement gas engines, a story by The Detroit News reveals that corporate partner Henrik Fisker isn't done with electric cars. The story is basically an inside look at how the company operates along with some insight on the company from Bob Lutz, one of the founders, and Henrik Fisker. However, among general comments about the company, Fisker told Detroit News that he's "definitely working in stealth mode on electric cars of the future." The news outlet also reported that Fisker said he's nearing a battery breakthrough and there might be a future electric VLF bearing his name. His interest in continuing with EVs is consistent with past statements, but this is the first we've heard of him actively working on electric car technology. Fisker wanting to stay under the radar in regards to electric car development is also understandable. His previous self-titled car company showed promise with the beautiful Karma plug-in hybrid, but it went bankrupt and was sold off to a Chinese car company. The Chinese company renamed itself Karma and is planning on selling cars again soon. Fisker's other interim automotive ventures have been met with mixed success. He teamed up with Galpin Auto Sport to create a custom Aston Martin Vanquish and Ford Mustang. The former resulted in a lawsuit from Aston, and the latter had polarizing styling. Setbacks clearly don't discourage Fisker though, and he even has plenty of things outside of VLF to keep him busy. He's currently working on a yacht for boat-builder Benetti, and he told The Detroit News he even has an idea for a TV show about building cars. For more on Fisker and VLF, check out the whole Detroit News story here. Related Video: Featured Gallery VLF Force 1 V10: Detroit 2016 View 17 Photos News Source: The Detroit NewsImage Credit: Drew Phillips Green Fisker Automakers Electric Future Vehicles Henrik Fisker karma karma automotive vlf automotive vlf

Recharge Wrap-up: Model X pinch sensor update, Karma plans first store

Tesla has improved Model X pinch sensor function in its latest over-the-air update. As we've seen, the pinch sensors already stop the falcon wing doors from completely shutting when they sense an obstruction. Now, though, the doors retract slightly after the sensors are triggered. While the pre-update doors didn't appear to do as much damage to human fingers as they do to various foodstuffs, it definitely looked uncomfortable, especially when one's hand is stuck in the partially closed door. Now, any pinch that does occur should be brief. See the updated sensors at work in the video above, and read more from Teslarati. Karma Automotive will move to Kawasaki's former headquarters in Irvine, California where it will also open its first store. The revival of the now defunct Fisker will sell its Revero plug-in hybrid through both dealerships and company-owned stores like the one planned for its new two-building campus. The property owner, Bixby, had planned to renovate the site, but now says Karma will make its own improvements. Bixby said it was seeking, "a progressive-minded tenant that would value the unique configuration," and appears to have found just that in Karma. Read more at Electrek, or from the OC Register. San Francisco is asking residents for help in expanding its subways. Using an online tool called Subway Vision, users can draw their own subway lines and stations that they'd like to see built and submit them to planners. Listening to the public is a useful tool for the city because, as Grahm Satterwhite, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's principal planner, admits, "Transportation planners may be too close to a problem to see the solution." This approach allows the subway expansions to "reflect the vision of not just a few transportation planners, but of all San Franciscans," he says. Read more from FastCo.Exist. Toyota is continuing its commitment to Yellowstone National Park with a sustainable Youth Campus for environmental education. The automaker donated $1 million to Yellowstone for the facility, which is seeking Living Building Challenge certification. It will have onsite wastewater treatment for its locally sourced water usage, and will generate all of its electricity needs from photovoltaic panels, with excess to put back into the grid. The campus will have classrooms and residences for students and staff for its youth programs.

Karma Revero revealed, along with solar roof that powers the car

While we obviously know the general shape of the upcoming Karma Revero - it's based on the old Fisker Karma, after all – the exact details of the Revero are still a bit under wraps. Thankfully, today the Karma Automotive website was updated with some new information about the reborn plug-in hybrid. Say hello to what we know about the Revero. The Fisker's solar roof is still there, but now Karma Automotive says that it, "will create enough energy to power the car." Now there's something we need more details on, but all that Karma is saying for now is that, "No other vehicle sold in the US has ever offered this capability. Our owners consider our solar roof an important element in our brand identity, and we listened." The front and rear Karma badges on each Revero will be are hand-painted. "No other car company has ever done this," Karma says. "Consider it a small but symbolic statement about craftsmanship and individuality." Sure, fine. Lastly, Karma says the infotainment system will be updated and says, "Our new infotainment system represents a departure from the norm. It is simple, intuitive, and beautiful. If you like a 200 page supplement to the owner's manual to describe your infotainment system, look elsewhere." In other words, whew. If this all sounds a bit exclusive, you're right. Jim Taylor, Karma's chief revenue officer, said in a statement that, "Serving a mass market is not, and never will be, our purpose. The Revero is for a discerning group of individuals who desire beautiful, clean vehicles and a memorable ownership experience. We are thrilled to start this journey." Karma said earlier this week that it would sell the Revero through dealerships and company stores in 10 markets in North America. Karma Automotive, which is owned by Wanxiang Group, will officially debut the vehicle at a launch party for the media and owners (that means Fisker Karma owners, since the Revero is not yet available) in Laguna Beach, California on September 8. A pre-order window for the Revero will open up for Fisker owners that same day. While we're there, we'll see if the rumors that the company also plans to bring the Atlantic concept to market are anything more than wishful thinking. Related Gallery Karma Revero News Source: Karma Automotive Green Fisker Green Automakers Electric Hybrid karma karma automotive karma revero revero