BMW Z8:
Aston-Martin DB9:
Aston-Martin Vantage V8:
Fisker may be going trendy here with a plug in hybrid, but no one in his price class is going to be embarrased to be seen in his cars. The powertrain will just be seen as a personal thing...
Posted on 12/30/2011 4:36:24 PM PST by Libloather
Electric car company that received a $529M federal loan recalls vehicles
By Andrew Restuccia - 12/30/11 10:31 AM ET
An electric vehicle manufacturer that received a $529 million loan from the Energy Department is recalling 239 vehicles.
The Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday that the company, Fisker Automotive, will recall its Karma vehicles made between July 1, 2011, and Nov. 3, 2011, because of a faulty electric battery component that could cause a fire.
“Within the high-voltage battery, certain hose clamps may have been positioned incorrectly during assembly. If positioned incorrectly, the batter compartment cover could interfere with the hose clamps, potentially causing a coolant leak from the cooling hose,” NHTSA said in its recall notice Thursday.
“If coolant enters the battery compartment, an electrical short could occur possibly resulting in a fire.”
The Energy Department issued a $529 million loan to Fisker in April 2010 for the development of its plug-in electric vehicles.
The administration has come under fire for issuing the loan after ABC News reported in October that Fisker is making its vehicles in Finland because it could not find a contractor in America to manufacture them.
But the Energy Department has countered that the loan was intended to help Fisker develop the vehicles, which the company did in the United States.
The Energy Department said in October that the loan was used to develop manufacturing processes for the Karma, at the company’s U.S. facilities.
The department also said the larger portion of the loan — $359 million — was supporting production of Fisker’s Nina vehicles, and that Fisker used this funding to bring a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware back to life. That plant employs 2,500 people, according to the Energy Department.
The news comes after Republicans have pummeled the Obama administration for issuing a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009 to the now-bankrupt California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.
House Republicans have said they intend to broaden the scope of their ongoing Solyndra investigation to include other companies that have received backing from the administration, including Fisker.
Karma Kluster-Blank.
BMW Z8:
Aston-Martin DB9:
Aston-Martin Vantage V8:
Fisker may be going trendy here with a plug in hybrid, but no one in his price class is going to be embarrased to be seen in his cars. The powertrain will just be seen as a personal thing...
Create charging stations for work places as well. Start with 4 and patent it. My Company has 450 employees under one roof.
MPG is funny figures for any hybrid. If it’s charged up before putting it through the standard courses used to rate petroleum fueled cars, its engine will loaf along. Different story once the batteries run out of juice. There ought to be a sustained-course rating that really does compare apples-to-apples between hybrids and petroleum-only cars, with the hybrid forced to use gasoline only for long enough that it matters, or until the batteries are brought back to the same state they had at the beginning of the course.
This is what happens when you try to force your dogma to drive your Karma!!!
Far classier than a Volt, that’s for sure.
Running electric, these will be spookily silent. Turn your head and one might pop up in the driveway without your noticing. This run quiet capability could have a potential use as a police car (sorry 24/7 jackboot haters).
LOL!
Well at least it doesn’t change the laws of physics.
All I want to know, is where did he get photos of all my old cars? ;^)
Never ever ever buy a car based on looks. It probably won’t get you laid and will probably get you ...... well, you know
I know they’re going to be vandalized just like public phones on the street have. Some idiot will stick a coat hanger in it and short it out or crazy glue the cover closed.
I agree, some people have nothing better to do.
As an aside, I saw one of those Smart cars on a used car lot (not a dealership). The wanted over $10K for it.
I agree, some people have nothing better to do.
As an aside, I saw one of those Smart cars on a used car lot (not a dealership). They wanted over $10K for it.
First Smart car I saw was in Brisbane, Australia. I thought, who would ever buy such and ugly car. Then I started seeing them all over. In the Netherlands, kids routinely dump them in the canal. Original price new is just around $11K USD.
Put a real engine in that thing and it’d be nice.
Newsflash, new electric cars now doubles as a BBQ grill, who would have thought, story at eleven. The joke is son us, this green scam, shovel ready, enviromental, global warming, nonsense is all a fasade to allow these criminals to loot the American people.
Newsflash, new electric cars now doubles as a BBQ grill, who would have thought, story at eleven. The joke is son us, this green scam, shovel ready, enviromental, global warming, nonsense is all a fasade to allow these criminals to loot the American people.
They look like a rolling death trap to me.
Nah, if the meter runs out, YOUR car starts charging the next one down the line!
There’ve been small cars built before but that Smart car is the ugliest of them all. It’s what a PC car would look like.
Now, see...why can’t somebody just take that gorgeous bodywork, and set it onto a well-suspended, bare-bones chassis, with a WOO-HOO drivetrain underneath, and that’s all?? Why’ve we gotta have 10,000 “convenience” items that jack the bottom line up outta sight?
What’d be the crime in building a car with this kind of beautiful modern bodywork, superlative mechanicals underneath, and a truly Spartan no-nonsense cockpit; a stunning, performance automobile built to be driven?
Screw the iPod dock; I want a CAR!
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