Fisker Ocean: Can This Electric SUV Really Come in Cheaper Than Tesla Model 3?

News about the Fisker Ocean continues to build. The performance specs are yet to come, while financing numbers all sound good. Really good on the cost part: $37,499 before tax credits, $29,999 after the $7,500 federal tax credit, or $379 for a lease. That’s less than a Tesla Model 3. But the Model 3 is shipping. At this point, Fisker is talking about 2021 production and delivery of first cars in 2022.

Fisker took a prototype to CES 2020 to show off. It has a solar roof to help charge the Ocean. A California mode lowers all windows, including the rear, at the touch of a single button, and gives the car a convertible-like feeling — except that there’s still a steel roof (with a big sunroof, true) overhead.

The specifications Fisker has published so far are competitive. The battery is rated at 80 kilowatt-hours, with a target range between 250 and 300 miles. Fisker touts a solar panel sunroof to help recharge the car but … it appears to be less than 5 miles a day on a sunny day. We don’t know if an Ocean parked at the airport for a week would lose that much just parked. Add Fisker to the companies using Electrify America for recharging.

Fisker has not yet published performance specs, whether 0-60 takes 4 seconds, 6, or 8. Although really it should be fast enough. Every electric-motor car has exceptional torque – power – starting up from standstill. It’s how electric motors are.

Fisker also says the Ocean will be the world’s most sustainable car. They note the solar roof, vegan leather interior, eco-suede trim, and carpeting from recycled material. Without explaining further, Fisker says it will use “discarded rubber waste [from] tire manufacturing.”

So, how much? The base model will sell for $37,499 before the US tax credit of up to $7,500. But that price is for “a limited time,” the company says. Alternatively, the lease for the base model (the only one lacking Calfornia mode) is $379 per month, $2,999 (roughly 10 percent) due at signing. That undercuts Model 3 by about $150 a month (Fisker’s down payment is more than twice Tesla’s, though).

Now, get this: Fisker says, “[Customers] can return the vehicle in one month, eight months, 22 months or several years …. no long-term contracts …. with 30,000 miles per year included.” Fisker will also sell insurance. Maintenance will be through Fisker. Hand-raisers can hold the Ocean for $250 down via the company website. Fisker also says there’ll be two other designs using the same Ocean platform.

The name Fisker, as in founder Henrik Fisker, has been used in several previous car startups of the last decade. Initially, there was Fisker Automotive, founded 2007, with about 2,000 cars built, total, and about $1.4 billion in private venture money and US-backed loans, according to Reuters. That Fisker went bankrupt, bought by a Chinese auto parts maker, and renamed Karma Automotive, resulting in a plug-in hybrid, the Karma Revero.

This is a new company called Fisker Inc. with a battery adjunct called Fisker Nanotech. We wish them luck. Or karma.

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