Hybrid Car Review

Fisker Automotive president, Henrik Fisker, believes lithium-ion batteries will become the norm for vehicles in the next decade.

Source:Fisker Says Hybrids the Norm in 10 Years | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

"For me it's important to create a vehicle that's so sexy you've just got to have it, and later you find out that you can go 80 kilometers (50 miles) without using any gas," Henrik Fisker says. "That's how far 75 percent of people in Europe drive every day. If all of those people drove plug-in hybrids we would get rid of all our emission problems, and our dependence on foreign oil."

Fisker is already getting between 50-100 orders for its plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) Karma, even though it won't be ready until the end of 2009. The Karma is being priced at $80,000 in the US, and will cost $106,000 in Europe (taxes and import fees).

The Karma will travel 50 miles on electric power alone from an overnight charge, then the battery will be recharged by a small gas engine. By recharging using the gas engine, you can go for 450 miles.

Oh, and did we mention the solar panels on the roof? They can help cool off the car and recharge the batteries. The batteries can be recharged in 3 1/2 hours when plugged in.

Fisker is trying to get one of the Big 3 or a German car company to produce the Karma.

Fisker expects the battery pack to last 10 years.