EPA Certification is "Imminent" Says Fisker

14090 Views 46 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Dave_Car_Guy, Oct 19, 2011

Fabulist

Discussion Starter · Oct 6, 2011

See article here.

Most interesting quote:

“Imminent is the word I would use!” [Fisker's communications director, Roger] Ormisher wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “There will be a communication from us in the next couple of days.”

On a side note: I actually met Mr. Ormisher at a Fisker event recently and give him an earful about the lack of communication with the deposit holders. Even though this is not his bailiwick, he was pretty sympathetic. His responsibility is working with the media and his group has done an admirable job, in my view, of getting Fisker's name out there and recognized. He thought that the formation of the customer support group will improve communications.

-- Fab.

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siliconkiwi

· #2 · Oct 6, 2011

From my dealer (Fisker Silicon Valley) a few minutes ago:

we were just notified that EPA certification was successful and the first shipment of demo vehicles has landed at the East Coast port, they will start sending them to the various dealers very soon.
We were told the Signature cars are now on a vessel, so delivery in November looks very likely.
We will be in touch with another update very soon.

LonePalmBJ

· #3 · Oct 6, 2011

siliconkiwi said:
From my dealer (Fisker Silicon Valley) a few minutes ago:

we were just notified that EPA certification was successful and the first shipment of demo vehicles has landed at the East Coast port, they will start sending them to the various dealers very soon.
We were told the Signature cars are now on a vessel, so delivery in November looks very likely.
We will be in touch with another update very soon.

Good news!

If you speak to them, see if you can find out if the cars arriving and at sea have the new or the old muffler/exhaust system, and if it's the former what the process and timing is to retrofit. I've seen a lot of conflicting information.

Thanks!

AnOutsider

· #4 · Oct 6, 2011

Exciting news for you guys! Can't wait until deliveries start and we start getting actual ownership feedback

siliconkiwi

· #5 · Oct 7, 2011

More updates (and bad news for us in California):

The Karma will not qualify for HOV lane access in California.
The Karma will qualify for the Federal tax credit of $7,500. We will appear on the IRS website as an approved vehicle very soon. The Karma will not qualify for California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program.
They have addressed the noise issue but don't have a confirmation that muffler 3.0 will be on all cars from the very beginning, we will find out very soon once we receive the first vehicles.

Fabulist

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 7, 2011

siliconkiwi said:
More updates (and bad news for us in California):

The Karma will not qualify for HOV lane access in California.
...
The Karma will not qualify for California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program.

Bad news but not a big surprise. Serial Hybrids like the Fisker and Volt have a hard time meeting the AT-ZEV standards in California and GM is actually going to make a special California AT-ZEV version, of the Volt in 2012 which will probably cost more, for people who want to qualify for the HOV lane sticker. Same issues with the rebate but as a practical matter, the rebate fund will be pretty much exhausted by the time the Fiskers actually start being delivered, so it's not really a big loss. I have not heard anything about Fisker making special CARB versions of any of the upcoming models, but that does not mean they don't plan to.

--Fab.

BillyO

· #7 · Oct 9, 2011

AnOutsider said:
Exciting news for you guys! Can't wait until deliveries start and we start getting actual ownership feedback

We can't get too excited until we find out what imminent means in Fisker time. We know "one year" can mean up to or over three years and the "end of September means at least the middle of October.

BillyO

ebarneyr

· #8 · Oct 12, 2011

Just got this from my Fisker dealer: "We just concluded our weekly Fisker webcast, and I have some good information to pass on to you. Fisker received EPA approval from the government on October 3rd. Next week they will be giving us the fuel economy numbers and explaining how they arrived at them.

The cost of the 21" winter wheel and tire combination has been announced as well. They are priced at $6083.51 for four 21" wheels, four 21" Yokohoma W-Drive tires, and four Fisker TPMS senors. They continue to say that we will be able to order them the first week of November.

They also addressed making the owners manual available as a .pdf file. Based on the size of the file it is taking some time to convert it in to this form. That being said they did state it we be available soon. "

brian

· #9 · Oct 12, 2011

All great news! However the "explaining how they arrived at them" part is worrisome. $20 says that the EPA sticker doesn't give the car 50 miles / charge.

-Brian

Fabulist

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 12, 2011

brian said:
$20 says that the EPA sticker doesn't give the car 50 miles / charge.

You have already won that bet regardless of the FIsker Karma's actual range because the new EPA sticker does not include a figure for Electric-Only range. Instead, they convert everything to energy-equivalent amount of gasoline (even for the electric power consumption) and provide a KWH/100KM value for combined Electric+Gas driving. So they convert electric energy into equivalent gallons of gas and then convert gallons of gas into equivalent electrical energy for the overall consumption. And this is supposed to be easier for us math-deficient Americans to figure out than than the old MPG number?

That said, with a little bit of math, it is possible to figure out what the EPA expects the all-electric range to be. Let's see what that comes out to.

-- Fab.

brian

· #11 · Oct 12, 2011

Actually, the new EPA stickers *do* have the electric range:

It's #13, the small print under the big useless MPGe number.

-Brian

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Fabulist

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 12, 2011

brian said:
Actually, the new EPA stickers *do* have the electric range:
It's #13, the small print under the big useless MPGe number.

You are right! I stand corrected. :blush:

OK; your bet is still on but I still don't think you would get too many takers.

-- Fab.

brian

· #13 · Oct 12, 2011

Hehe... yeah. I don't know about you, but I absolutely *loathe* those new EPA stickers. The MPGe number is utterly useless and just plain confusing. There is so much gibberish on that new sticker that I don't know how the average person (like my Mom) is going to figure it out. All I want is it to show me these numbers: 1) electric range city/hwy, 2) gas range city/hwy, 3) gas MPG.

-Brian

Fabulist

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 13, 2011

brian said:
Hehe... yeah. I don't know about you, but I absolutely *loathe* those new EPA stickers. The MPGe number is utterly useless and just plain confusing. There is so much gibberish on that new sticker that I don't know how the average person (like my Mom) is going to figure it out. All I want is it to show me these numbers: 1) electric range city/hwy, 2) gas range city/hwy, 3) gas MPG.

I completely agree. It makes absolutely no sense to all the conversions back and forth to fit a unit of measure that has nothing to do with electrical power consumption. It would be like displaying the fuel capacity in inches on a dipstick rather than gallons or litres.

I guess the only real value is to compare cars with each other, in which case the actual unit is irrelevant as long as they test them the same way.

-- Fab.

doug

· #15 · Oct 13, 2011

But the new sticker does give kWh/mile, which is a good way to compare the efficiency of EVs.

Can someone provide a link for the owner's manual?

ct-fiskerbuzz

· #16 · Oct 13, 2011

ebarneyr said:
The cost of the 21" winter wheel and tire combination has been announced as well. They are priced at $6083.51 for four 21" wheels, four 21" Yokohoma W-Drive tires, and four Fisker TPMS senors. They continue to say that we will be able to order them the first week of November.

Ouch, I was not expecting another six grand. That seems a little steep. Should run about half that at most.

(Unless that includes keeping one set of tires at the dealer at all times, and free swaps twice a year, maybe.)

Dutch

· #17 · Oct 13, 2011

This topic started with Fisker saying that 'EPA certification is imminent' and 'expect communication within the next couple of days'. That was one week ago. Why do I get this déjà-vû feeling...

I know it's always the last straw that breaks the camel's back, but this camel's back has been breaking since April. How much more can it take? Among family and friends I've become the laughing-stock. I've had to move the expected delivery time about 8 times now since I made my deposit (and 4 times since April) and we're still counting. I have now completely stopped naming a date.

brian

· #18 · Oct 13, 2011

Apparently they did get the EPA certification as multiple sources have confirmed that. They just aren't releasing the results for some reason. Probably having damage control meetings with the marketing department to figure out how they're going to explain that the EPA didn't get the numbers Fisker has been claiming for 3 years. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm looking at Fisker's track record. Having the car's 0-60 downgraded from 5.9 to 6.3 seconds was bad enough news for one week...

-Brian

Dutch

· #19 · Oct 13, 2011

Maybe they could release a more potent version, like Tesla will do with the Model S. They are upping amp from 900 to 1200 to get to 4,5 secs.

Fabulist

Discussion Starter · #20 · Oct 13, 2011

brian said:
Apparently they did get the EPA certification as multiple sources have confirmed that. They just aren't releasing the results for some reason. Probably having damage control meetings with the marketing department to figure out how they're going to explain that the EPA didn't get the numbers Fisker has been claiming for 3 years. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm looking at Fisker's track record. Having the car's 0-60 downgraded from 5.9 to 6.3 seconds was bad enough news for one week...

The EPA certificate that Fisker received on October 3 only certifies conformity with the Clean Air Act requirements and does not have any mileage or range information on it. Here is a link to the Volt's certificate, for example. (Tried to post the actual certificate, but the forum software would not show the image.)

It is not clear to me if EPA has already released the gas mileage data to Fisker or if they are still working on it. We in California have to jump through yet another hoop which is the CARB compliance certificate, so there is that too.

-- Fab.[hr]

Dutch said:
Among family and friends I've become the laughing-stock ... I have now completely stopped naming a date.

@Dutch: I feel your pain, brother (or sister as the case may be). "Where is your car" is pretty much the standard greeting I get at the office meetings now. But there is a lot of interest as well, so once the car does show up, and it will eventually, it will be your turn to gloat.

-- Fab.

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