Fisker Karma

[doug]

Karma motor and diff pics

from here: Underneath and inside the Karma

 

[AnOutsider]

Is that that infernal noisemaker I see there to the right? Hand me my snippers.

 

[doug]

differential ...

...that picture it is about 500LBs worth of metal. the electric motors are 200lbs each.

 

[Dan5]

Oops... bad Karma:

Fisker Karma car dies in Consumer Reports testing

After that looks like the Karma is toast now- one of the worst PR things that could happen

Only thing worse if Justin Bieber's broke down with pictures of him on the freeway waiting...or worse yet hit buy another car while waiting for AAA to pick up his car

 

[ljbad4life]

differential ...

IMHO these motors were made for trucks, which Quantum designed the power train for (military trucks). I look at both the roadster and Model S motors and they are tiny in comparison (to even one of the Karma's motors). I want to see what Fisker's next drivetrain looks like when they add in a much smaller BMW ICE and drop Quantum, hopefully more compact.

On the Consumer Reports Karma break down, that's not good especially when it's a production model (paid for by consumer reports). That's a PR black eye that might not go away for a long time, and once CR has bad experience with a Car, they tend to be tougher with the other cars from the manufacturer.

 

[dmckinstry]

After that looks like the Karma is toast now- one of the worst PR things that could happen

Unfortunate. The trouble is "die" is such a vague term. It could be something as trivial and fixable as a component in a circuit board, a software glitch, etc. to the failure of something very expensive and difficult to fix.

 

[Dan5]

Unfortunate. The trouble is "die" is such a vague term. It could be something as trivial and fixable as a component in a circuit board, a software glitch, etc. to the failure of something very expensive and difficult to fix.

Yeah, but if someone Googles it and that comes up- I'm sure some people would Google "Fisker reliability" when purchasing a 100 K car. To me that would be a question for the reliability of the car and would I be comfortable using it as a daily driver.
Regardless of software, hardware, easily fixed or not, it failed in less than 200 miles. They let a car into the wild that was defective in some manner which made it non-driveable and the fact they the did not make many of those compounds the issue . That's a mortal sin for a car manufacturer.

Would I use it as a daily driver? The answer to that question in my case would me no

 

[AnOutsider]

We have to remember this isn't unique to CR either... Other owners have reported similar (although not so soon after ownership). Maybe so much press on this particular occurrence will force them to move faster with fixes though.

 

[doug]

IMHO these motors were made for trucks, which Quantum designed the power train for (military trucks). I look at both the roadster and Model S motors and they are tiny in comparison (to even one of the Karma's motors). I want to see what Fisker's next drivetrain looks like when they add in a much smaller BMW ICE and drop Quantum, hopefully more compact.

I believe the Quantum design used UQM motors. Fisker replaced them with these Chinese motors from Jing-Jin Electric.

 

[doug]

Here's the CR article:
Bad Karma: Our Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid breaks down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivhp-i6i3vE

 

[fairlycool]

ouch, someone at work has a Karma and his is in the shop too. He's got a blog on which he mentions how its been in the shop more than its been with him.

I've never been bullish on Fisker. I think their design is great, but thats about it. It'll probably fail.

 

[VolkerP]

Unfortunate. The trouble is "die" is such a vague term. It could be something as trivial and fixable as a component in a circuit board, a software glitch, etc. to the failure of something very expensive and difficult to fix.

Remember, sometimes the fuse for a vacuum pump blows.

 

[doug]

Well Consumer Reports got their car back within two days and with a brand new battery. I'm not sure this is the level of service every customer gets based on what I've read on FiskerBuzz. It would have been better if they didn't go public about the breakdown till after they completed their tests. It's like admitting to a restaurant that you're the food critic. Then again, Fisker might have gotten a hint when they came to tow the car from the Consumer Reports test track.

It's back: Our Fisker Karma returns from the dealership with a new battery pack

The dealer’s repair invoice says the problem was “duplicated repeatedly.” A “fault was found in the battery and inverter cable. Both were replaced as a unit.” In other words, we now have a brand-new lithium-ion drive battery pack provided under warranty, though likely costing as much as a small, fuel-efficient car. Throughout the process, the dealer’s service department kept us up to date on the progress. And they were courteous enough to wash the car and charge it up before shipping the luxury sedan back to us.

 

[doug]

And perhaps related, Katie Fehrenbacher reports on something I've wondered aloud about a few times:

Fisker electric Karma was pushed to market before it was ready -- Cleantech News and Analysis

Electric car startup Fisker Automotive pushed its long-delayed inaugural electric car to market before it was market-ready in order to try to meet government milestones for a loan, according to a former Fisker employee that left the company...

 

[vfx]

And perhaps related, Katie Fehrenbacher reports on something I've wondered aloud about a few times:

Fisker electric Karma was pushed to market before it was ready -- Cleantech News and Analysis

Bug fixing will happen with version 1.1

 

[bonnie]

on the inferior 1.0's?

 

[AnOutsider]

And perhaps related, Katie Fehrenbacher reports on something I've wondered aloud about a few times:

Fisker electric Karma was pushed to market before it was ready -- Cleantech News and Analysis

I thought the same since some tidbits came out on FB. They kept blaming the EPA, but if the EPA had given them the go-ahead, there's no way they would have been able to launch last Spring if the cars delivered this WINTER have the issues that they do.

 

[dpeilow]

Newsroom - Fisker - Press Release

 

[Doug_G]

Now "bricking" is conflated with Fisker...

$100k Fisker Karma 'Bricked' During Consumer Reports Test

 

[Mitrovic]

In Geneva it was the first time I saw a Fisker Karma in real life. The car looks good and the interior is really impressive. To me it looked very well made!