Plug-in hybrids are the next wave of hybrid wunderkinds and are poised to greatly change the way we think about fuel economy. The prospect of never using fuel in around-town trips has a great deal of appeal. However, there's been some vocal concern the US power grid is in no state to support the added load these cars will present. With the specter of the "rolling brown-outs" in California and the massive grid failure across the north east in 2004, there's some validity to the concern.

However, a study from the Electric Power Research Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) titled "Environmental Assessment of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles" says there's really no need for concern because the volume is far too low. On top of that, power company officials from Detroit-area power supplier Detroit Edision as well as LA's Southern California Edison say the grid can easily handle the additional load. In LA's situation there might be some adjustments made where there will be enclaves of hippies hybrid drivers. Overall, a plug-in hybrid doesn't look much different to the grid than four or five flat screen TV's running at the same time. [Green Car Reports]

Think of it as a smaller, more efficient Hummer capable of traveling long distances without waking up the economy thanks to the AWD Q-Force system. Specs are impressive: achieves a sustained 80 MPH, climbs 60-degree grades, and fuel consumption 25% above similar vehicles. There's even a special weapons ring designed to help the gunner throw down serious fire across rough terrain.

The CREV is undergoing testing at Michigan's TARDEC to see if the military is ready to go olive Green.

[CNET]

The Karma's been spotted driving in "official spy photos" in the past, but it's been a while since the Karma was in the headlines, so driving it at the Monterey Historics will jog everyone's memory. We still don't know when the car is going on sale though the original boast was in the last quarter of this year, we shall see.

FISKER KARMA TO MAKE PUBLIC DRIVING DEBUT AT ROLEX MONTEREY HISTORIC AUTOMOBILE RACES
Event to be a highlight of Monterey Peninsula's Classic Car Week

IRVINE, CA – July 23, 2009: The Fisker Karma Plug-in Hybrid will make its public driving debut during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races on Saturday, August 15, just 19 months after being unveiled as a concept car. It will be the first time a PHEV has appeared on track at the event. The Fisker Karma will also be on display at Concorso Italiano on Friday, August 14, alongside the Karma Sunset hardtop convertible concept. The Karma Sunset will again be on display at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Sunday, August 16.

The Fisker Karma PHEV represents a paradigm shift in alternatively-powered transportation. A full-size luxury sedan with seating for four, the Karma has a range of 50 emission-free miles on a full charge of its Lithium-ion battery, and a total range of 300 miles thanks to an on-board generator turned by traditional but efficient 260hp Ecotec engine. Two 201.5hp electric motors send enough traction through a single-speed differential to reach 60mph in about six seconds and a top speed of 125mph. Together, these components make up the Q-DRIVE® powertrain exclusive to all Fisker automobiles. Q-DRIVE® delivers not only performance, but can average more than 100mpg with a lower carbon output than current hybrids.

"The Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races is the best stage in the world for great moments in automotive history," said Henrik Fisker, Fisker Automotive CEO. "Fisker is honored to be a part of it."

The Fisker Karma prototype is scheduled to complete two laps on the legendary 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca course at 11:10 a.m., starting and finishing just ahead of the pedestrian bridge at Turn 5, before returning to the Price Family Dealerships display area on the infield. Fisker executives Henrik Fisker, CEO, and Bernhard Koehler, COO, will be available for media interviews throughout the weekend.

ABOUT FISKER AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Fisker Automotive, founded in 2007 by Fisker Coachbuild, LLC and Quantum Technologies (QTWW), is a privately owned American car company producing premium green automobiles, with Henrik Fisker as CEO. Global headquarters are located in Irvine, Calif. The company is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Palo Alto Investors and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). More information is available at www.fiskerautomotive.com.

The yet-to-be-fully-unveiled Model S, with its all-electric powertrain, will surely garner more green-cred than the Karma (especially since Fisker is using a dirty old GM four cylinder) and a price tag of $87,900. Never mind the Karma has an unlimited range — the Model S is all-electric and cheaper!

The original projected price for the Model S was $60,000 but, after the Federal tax credit of $7,500, the four door Model S will cost buyers a mere $49,900. This news will undoubtedly charge the batteries of any would-be buyers, though we suggest they lock in their orders early . [Tesla via Carscoop]

The Ron Tonkin dealership network is considered one of the largest dealers in the Pacific Northwest with franchises selling Honda, Acura, Chevrolet, Dodge, Kia, Hyundai, Lotus and even Ferrari and Maserati. It's also Oregon's 17th largest private employer and they've been voted "One of the Best 100 Companies in Oregon to Work For." Sounds like the perfect place for some hot plug-in-plug hybrid action.

It is. They've recently announced that they'll become the world's first Fisker dealership and will be ready in 2010 for the first (scheduled) deliveries of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid sports sedan.

Dealership owner, Ron Tonkin says this of their new venture:

"We have taken the changing role of the automobile and our environment very seriously. We were one of the very first dealership groups in America to form an alternate fuel division. Until now our product line was electric bicycles, and in the last few years a growing number of hybrid propulsion vehicles of various makes and models."

According to Tonkin, they are now accepting pre-orders for the Karma. Although they don't mention how much of a hit your wallet will take to get your name on the list, we're guessing it's close to the $5,000 fee that Fisker themselves are asking for. At this point they haven't announced that they'll be accepting pre-orders for the Karma S convertible, but we're sure that they'd gladly hold on to your $25,000 if you want them to. We'll be sending them our check ... oh wait, we don't have any money since we gave it all in forced support of the government bailout.

Press Release:

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships is appointed as one of the first Fisker Dealers in America

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships continues their innovative retail strategy as one of the first Fisker Automotive Dealers

Portland, OR
February 17, 2009

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships continues their innovative retail strategy as one of the first Fisker Automotive Dealers appointed in America. Fisker Automotive, the new American manufacturer of premium green automobiles, is building a worldwide retail network to support initial deliveries of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid sedan in the fourth quarter of 2009.

"We have taken the changing role of the automobile and our environment very seriously. We were one of the very first dealership groups in America to form an alternate fuel division. Until now our product line was electric bicycles, and in the last few years a growing number of hybrid propulsion vehicles of various makes and models" states Ron Tonkin.

With a top speed of 125 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 5.8 seconds, the Fisker Karma is the world's first true premium plug-in hybrid sports sedan. The four-door, four-seat Karma fuses the traditional and timeless styling of veteran auto designer and Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker, with Quantum Technologies' clean Q-DRIVE® plug-in hybrid powertrain to become the world's first luxury plug-in hybrid car. Karma buyers will choose from three trim levels: EcoBaseTM, EcoSportTM and EcoChicTM. The most advanced sustainable material series, EcoChicTM, is based on an animal-free approach that still offers a luxurious environment. Leather is replaced by 100% Bamboo Viscose, a soft hand textile, while EcoGlassTM trim frames authentic fossilized leaves. Karma's EcoSportTM series incorporates hand-wrapped premium leather using a 100% sustainable manufacturing strategy, which minimizes the number of hides required and highlights natural markings using non-branded hides from cows allowed to live a full life expectancy and fed a special diet of grain and grass.

Ron Tonkin is accepting preorders for the Fisker four-door plug-in hybrid sports sedan - the FISKER KARMA to be delivered in 2010.

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships is Oregon's 17th largest private employer and was voted "One of the Best 100 companies in Oregon to Work For". The family-owned business is a Portland icon and has been outfitting the Pacific Northwest in automobiles for nearly 50 years.

To learn more visit www.Tonkin.com.

[via rontonkin]

Fisker didn’t reveal any details abou the Karma S, but it’ll share a platform with the 2011 Fisker Karma four-door. That car is capable of 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and has a 125 MPH top speed. The four-door will retails for $87,900, expect a healthy premium for the S.

The Press Release follows:

DETROIT, MI Jan 12, 2009: Fisker Automotive, the new American manufacturer
of premium green automobiles, unveiled the Fisker Karma S concept at the 2009
North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) today. The four-seat, plug-in
hybrid hardtop convertible furthers the company’s belief that driving style and
performance need not be compromised for environmental friendliness.

The open-air Fisker Karma S concept shares its aluminum spaceframe architecture
and clean Q-DRIVE® powertrain with the Fisker Karma sedan. Designed and
engineered by Quantum Technologies exclusively for Fisker Automotive, Q-DRIVE®
provides 50 emission-free miles on a single charge to its lithium-ion battery pack,
and up to 403hp from two electric motors. The power retractable hard top, a first
for Fisker, glides neatly into the trunk and a unique design language sets the Karma S
concept apart.

“Our objective is to create a singular design language and heritage around our state-
of-the-art Q-DRIVE® powertrain,” said Fisker Automotive, Inc. CEO Henrik Fisker.
“The Karma S is an extension of the Fisker Automotive product range of eco-
conscious automobiles and sets the tone for our future.“

Other than the cheeseball name and its resemblance to the hybrid Fisker Karma, as evidenced by this picture, details are scarce. Henrik Fisker, who struck out on his own after designing the BMW Z8 and the current Aston Martin range will unveil the Fisker Sunset on January 12. The lack of a B-pillar on the driver's side of this tease, combined with the name, hint at a convertible. This would give the company the chance to claim the first production drop-top hybrid, but there's no way to be sure this is what the Sunset is. Whatever it is, we expect music by Enya, a rose-tinted dry ice and laser show and maybe even some interpretive dance designed to convey just how emotional the Sunset is about shrinking polar ice caps. [source: Fisker]

Fisker Statement On Arbitration
Fisker Automotive Inc, and Fisker Coachbuild, LLC today announced that a JAMS Arbitrator has issued an interim award finding in favor of Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, Fisker Automotive, Inc., Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler and against Tesla Motors Inc. on all claims.

The Arbitrator selected by the parties to decide Tesla's allegations ruled in favor of Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, Fisker Automotive Inc., Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler. In so doing, the Arbitrator expressly found that "the evidence is overwhelming that Fisker did nothing wrong" and that "Tesla's assertion of violations of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act by Fisker were baseless and neither brought nor pursued in good faith."

"The finding by the Arbitrator says it all," said Thomas Newmeyer of Newmeyer & Dillion, Fisker's lawyers in the case. "My clients have been completely vindicated of any wrongdoing."

"We are very pleased with the ruling in favor of Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, Fisker Automotive, Inc., Bernhard Koehler and myself," said Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive Inc. "Despite the burden and expense of Tesla's lawsuit, Fisker Automotive, Inc. has been able to continue with its business plan and production schedule. We are still on schedule to deliver our first production vehicle, the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid, 4 door luxury sports sedan by 4th Quarter 2009. Today's world needs new alternative energy vehicles and the focus should be to build and deliver these vehicles as soon as possible."

[Source: Fisker]

5. Less Congestion
Higher gas prices mean fewer people driving and more people taking public transit or telecommuting. The most obvious benefit for the real driver is that it opens up the road to those who travel for fun by removing those who merely commute out of necessity. This results in less traffic and, not surprisingly, fewer traffic fatalities, thanks in part to people keeping their Suburbans in the garage. Safer, emptier roads are something all drivers want, but real drivers need.

4. Better Cars
After years of racing to see who could build the largest vehicles, automakers are finally looking to see who can build more efficient vehicles. The technologically advanced Fisker Karma could only exist in the land of expensive gas, and the same is true for the beautiful and powerful Audi R8 diesel. The new Eco Elise not only gets better mileage that a stock Elise, it's also faster. Those are only a couple of examples. There's more on the way, if what Wert had to say at Popular Mechanics a couple months ago is any indication.

3. Better Roads
Owls aren't the only thing in danger of extinction. Cheap energy has meant more driving road-gutting sprawl, which leads to more stoplights and four-lane freeways. Most drivers have had the experience of pulling up to their favorite stretch of asphalt only to find a CVS and a lighted intersection suddenly under construction. Thankfully, the price of commuting is pushing families to move back into the cities and encouraging developers to focus on density with their new projects and leaving the remainder of great driving roads alone and safe from earth movers.

2. Cheaper Insurance
Assuming you become one of those people that takes the train or bus to work, you can adjust your insurance classification to "pleasure driver," which has the dual benefits of sounding awesome and saving you money. Depending upon your current insurance level, you could end up saving 10% to 15% on your premium. That's more money you could put into gas, tires, oil and everything else you need to enjoy the newly emptied roads.

1. Fewer Fatties
According to one economist's doctoral thesis, a $1 increase in the price of gas equates to a 10% decrease in the obesity rate, as people dine out less and walk/bike more. While this has a few boring side effects — fewer health-related deaths and lower health care costs, for example — the benefit to the driver is that your co-pilot is less likely to add sprung weight to your car. We're pretty sure it's the same reason Colin Chapman became a vegan and John DeLorean made sure all his women were coked-out anorexics.

Production is to start next year with exports bound for the USA, and sales in Europe will begin the year after. Maximum volume is targeted at 15,000 cars a year, which means demand from smug, wealthy motorists will be happily met. Yep, 2010 is shaping up to be one hell of a fuel-mileage battle royale. (Thanks for the tip manic-cynic) [Taloussanomat (translated)]

According to Fisker, a condition of his work with Tesla involved an arbitration clause in the case of a suit filed by the company. Wasn't that prescient? Both car companies continue to to propel themselves towards limited production, so we have a fun race between significant deliveries and the settlement of ongoing litigation. It's like Le Mans except much, much longer.

We can't promise this is anything other than a body and chassis mule, there could be no hybrid power train under that sleek sheetmetal, but we can't help but drool over the idea this thing might actually become reality. Check out Wired for the whole photo set.

Our first introduction to Kleiner Perkins and the world of electric vehicles came with their investment in EEstor, a company based in Texas working on an electric battery for ZENN Motors. Unfortunately, the Canadian governor is making it hard for ZENN to sell cars in Canada. So as of now, things aren't looking great, though battery development continues.

Most recently, Kleiner Perkins came up with relation to the Fisker Karma Luxury Hybrid, which is a vehicle that piqued our interest due to its attractive proportions and relatively low price tag of $80K. Though the company has yet to experience the usual electric car delays, it is dealing with an incredible amount of litigation in the Fisker-Tesla girl fight. Will this delay production of the car? Maybe, maybe not.

Speaking of production delays, what about the Tesla roadster? Everyone was so excited about it but it has been delayed thanks to transmission problems, lawsuits, et cetera. Yes, they claim they're shipping production units now, but not only is it in low volumes, it's not even enough to fulfill the backlog of orders. Did we mention Tesla is backed by Kleiner Perkin's VC rivals at Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

And don't get us started on the 2011/2012/201X Chevy Volt. An ongoing development that is being backed by an OEM — thus it relies not-so-much on VC dollars so much as R&D dollars. When will we see a production version of that particular vehicle? Your guess is as good as GM's word.

But hey, a 65 mph-capable electric car with potentially a 110-mile range for $25K, which Th!nk is offering, doesn't sound bad. Excuse our skepticism, but we'll believe it when we see it clear all the hurdles and successfully market itself to the tens of thousands of consumer they're planning to reach. Do we want cars like this to succeed? Yes. Electric cars, hybrid cars, biodiesel cars... whatever. Is it good, then, that firms are putting up the bank for these projects? Yes. We're just glad it isn't our money.

If you want an electric car for the city, full hybrids like the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid can be driven in a way that they provide mostly electric power. While we're not huge fans of these hybrids in spirited driving, you can stretch a gallon of gas pretty far in slow city commuting. That's something.

[Photo: Th!nk]

Back in the development days of the Tesla, Henrik Fisker was hired to do the body design on a four-seater code-named the White Star. Tesla forked over $875,000 for Fisker's work. The lawsuit continues to divulge that Fisker had no experience with hybrids prior to working for Tesla and essentially sabotaged the project, took his earnings and developed the Fisker Karma, a similar sporty hybrid.

The story gets a little peculiar on Tesla's end after Fisker left the company to make his own hybrid. Tesla said that they didn't want to use Fisker's design because he was going to make his own car and become the competition. This set the company back three to six months in production. If Tesla had a head start on the design-work why didn't they just progress with Fisker's current design and beat him to the show floor? Tesla continues to say that Fisker's work was substandard, so it's understandable, but they didn't have to scrap the design completely, right? Also, why would Tesla shell out nearly a million on a substandard designer with no hybrid experience?

This is the point where we would initially speculate on how the lawsuit will affect production of the Tesla Whitestar and the Fisker Karma, but who are we kidding. These two are perpetually in that yes, but no, but maybe someday phase of production development. [NY Times]

Of course, hybrid sales are still down compared to December 2007, but that's a common yearly occurrence. When you take a closer look at the numbers you see that the more luxurious hybrids are seeing a decrease in sales as compared to their more pedestrian cousins. The Ford Escape sales were up 24.7% compared to last January, while the Mercury Mariner was down 10.6% over the same period. The Toyota Highlander's sales grew 18.4% while the Lexus RX400h dropped by 2.7%. The Toyota Prius and Camry both had a great January, increasing 37.1% and 33.9%, respectively. The Lexus brand GS450h saw a decrease of 61.7%.

There are other factors to consider here. Certainly gas prices, advertising and decreasing awareness play into car sales (for instance, Honda is no longer selling actively selling Hybrid Accords). There's no longer a hybrid tax credit for Toyotas as they've exceeded their sales cap.

But it looks as though the recession is having an impact on hybrid buyers, who are already paying a premium over the gas-only alternatives and might not want to pay a premium on top of that to get the "luxury" edition. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out given that Hybrid Escalade is going to cost significantly more than a Yukon Hybrid. It'll also be interesting to see if this impacts the upper reaches of the market, such as the upcoming Fisker Karma Hybrid Sedan.

[HybridCars.com]