Putting Some 'Cool' Into Electric Cars | Auto

By WILL LYONS

Ask anyone about electric cars and chances are you?ll hear some reasons not to buy one: a fear of the battery failing; the lack of plug-in charging stations to support it; even the peculiar, egg-shaped design of some models.

So when one of the most influential car designers of his generation, Henrik Fisker, responsible for the designs of the BMW

Z8 roadster and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, looks you in the eye and says it is wrong to say there is a huge market for electric cars, you do wonder why he has spent the past seven years designing one.

In fact, the 49-year-old Danish-born designer has done more than create what he believes will be the future of the electric-car sector.

Since leaving Aston Martin in 2005, he has raised more than $1.2 billion in private-equity capital and founded his own company, Fisker Automotive Inc., of which, after a stint as chief executive, he is now executive chairman.

Last October, Fisker Automotive launched its only product, the $100,000 Fisker Karma, the world?s first luxury, electric, extended-range vehicle.

The Karma is different from other electric vehicles, Mr. Fisker argues. First, there is the look of the car: It is stylish. Second, it isn?t just electric. It has a gasoline engine, so the driver never has to worry about the battery failing or finding a charging station. Thirdly, and this is where it differs from other hybrid cars such as General Motors?

Chevrolet Volt?known in Europe as the Vauxhall or Opel Ampera?the petrol engine is only used for electric power generation; it doesn?t assist the traction motor in propelling the car.

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Henrik Fisker

?In the first quarter of this year we sold more cars than Maserati did of their Quattroporte,? Mr. Fisker says. ?That is an historic brand, with a car in the same price class as the Fisker Karma. This shows there is a huge potential for this type of technology.?

But his optimism is qualified. ?I don?t think it is the technology alone. I think it is wrong to say because we are successful there is a huge market for electric cars. I don?t think so. If you live here in London and you live in an apartment, where are you going to plug it in??

Instead, Mr. Fisker envisages a world in which commuters can drive to work in the center of cities using the electric battery, but once outside, on the open road, flick a switch to revert to gasoline.

?As more people move to the cities around the world, the pressure is going to be on how we reduce pollution,? he says. ?So we have to find a way where we can still have our individual mobility, because we love cars, but we don?t have to drive around in white eggs, with just 20 horsepower, that are only electric.?

The first Karmas entered the market last December. Since then, Fisker Automotive has sold around 1,500 of the Karma models in the U.S. and Europe. They have some high-profile customers, too, including actory Leonardo DiCaprio and singer Justin Bieber.

A launch is planned for Dubai in the autumn before a rollout in China later this year. There is also a second car, the Atlantic, in production that will compete in the premium $50,000-$60,000 sector. The Atlantic, Mr. Fisker argues, will make it a lot more affordable for families to own a ?cool car? that benefits from decreased fuel consumption and qualifies for any green tax privileges.

So far, so good. Listening to Mr. Fisker, with his precise diction, zealous belief in his product and a refusal to countenance obstacles, it?s not hard to see how he had the self confidence to leave what must have been one of the best jobs in car design at Aston Martin, raise more than a billion in private equity and set up on his own.

But while the Fisker Karma is a compelling story, it hasn?t been without its problems. In August, Fisker was forced to issue a recall after a Karma caught fire while sitting in a parking lot in California. The fire was later traced to a cooling fan in front of the left front wheel. Fisker said it would replace all the fans and install an additional fuse as a further safety measure. This followed an earlier recall related to a potentially defective hose clamp in the battery cooling system.

?We have pretty much ironed out all the problems now,? Mr. Fisker says. ?Look, I have been through a lot of car launches. Yes, we have recalled cars. But when I compare our [launch] to other car launches it actually isn?t that different. Toyota recalled 8 million cars a couple of years ago.?

And then there is the sector itself. Tesla Motors

recently said it needs to raise more capital, as production of its new Model S electric sedan was running around five weeks late. And funding for Fisker Automotive has hit snags. Last year, the U.S. government suspended payments of a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy, which cast doubt on the future of its takeover of a former General Motors Co. factory in Delaware.

?The toughest task for us,? Mr. Fisker says, ?is the fact that the car industry is probably the most capital-intensive industry in the world. That is why we don?t see a lot of new car companies launched, let alone succeed.?

He points to ?100 million ($160 million) of new funding that Fisker has just secured to help product development, but he admits that in the long term there is room for an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, partner to come on board to help increase expansion.

?It would be attractive for us in the long term to have a large partner,? Mr. Fisker says, ?because it gives us the opportunity to expand faster, to share certain components, platforms and technology. So it is definitely one thing we will be looking into.?

Broadly speaking, he argues that by 2020 the hybrid car market will make up 6%-8% of the entire global car market, of which Fisker Automotive needs only 2%-3% of that hybrid market, which he equates to around 50,000 cars a year.

Mr. Fisker says the Karma is ?the golden solution? to the problem of range anxiety. Unlike other electric cars, his car has unlimited mileage.

But as a luxury sports car, the Karma is in a different league from workaday sedans such as the Volt and the Toyota Prius. It fulfils a desire to own a luxury product, Mr. Fisker says, while also being energy-efficient and likely to comply with any future emissions legislation.

?I can imagine in the future that the congestion zones in cities such as London, Paris and Rome will become emission-free zones,? he says.

But is there a risk that he has launched the product too early?

?Whenever you come up with something new and nobody else has done it there is always a little risk about being early,? he says. ?The advantage is that we have refined the technology so when the market finally takes off we are more ready than anybody else.?

There are plans for a range of vehicles, including a four-wheel-drive, and looking far into the future he doesn?t rule out using the technology in the maritime sector.

?I could imagine that boats sailing in harbors will only use electric engines and then once they are out in the water they will use diesel. This,? he adds, ?is the future.? You can?t fault his confidence.

Write to Will Lyons at william.lyons@wsj.com

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