Vice President Joe Biden will announce tomorrow that Fisker Automotive will build plug-in hybrid cars at a Delaware plant formerly run by General Motors. The use of the GM plant by Fisker, an unproven California-based start-up, is an ironic symbol of the new era of competition for next-generation green cars—pitting small innovative companies against the world’s largest carmakers.
According to Fox News, the US Department of Energy threw away nearly $1 billion in loans to Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors—two Calif.-based auto startups trying to produce the next generation of American-made energy-efficient cars. On several of its shows, including America's Newsroom and Your World, Fox News criticized the loans because Fisker and Tesla currently produce expensive cars that are made in Europe.
After years of complaints from blind pedestrians that ultra-quiet hybrid cars pose a safety threat, the auto industry is responding by producing on-board devices that emit sounds, such as jet engines, boings, or human voice saying, “Excuse me.” One day, electric car and hybrid drivers might download “vroomtones” for their cars, the way they download ringtones for cell phones today.
Fisker Automotive will make a $39,000 plug-in hybrid, according to a report on Earth2Tech.com. Ray Lane, managing partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, which invested in Fisker, said the start-up carmaker will make an official announcement in the next week or two.
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It’s not surprising that Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors—two California-based makers of high-end electric-drive sports cars—are viewed as similar companies. Fisker makes an $87,000 plug-in hybrid and Tesla produces a $109,000 all-electric roadster. But Henrik Fisker, founder of the Southern California-based company that bears his name, was in Northern California where Tesla is based, to explain how and why the two companies are different.
Design and technology development are underway for a new sporty plug-in hybrid sedan designer by Henrik Fisker. Fisker, a legendary designer responsible for some of the most beautiful yet fuel-thirsty high-end automobiles in the world, joins other in the race to produce a luxury super-green sports car—albeit in very small quantities and at a very high sticker price.
