Fisker Ocean — An electric car with a solar roof and load-shedding backup power
US electric vehicle company Fisker opened orders for its Ocean electric SUV in Europe this week.
Fisker was founded and is headed by Danish-American automotive designer Henry Fisker, renowned for designing luxury cars like the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, and Galpin-Fisker Mustang Rocket.
While electric cars are by no means new to the continent, the Fisker Ocean has two remarkable features that set it apart from most others — a solar panel-covered roof and the ability to feed power back into a building.
The SolarSky solar panel array covers most of the roof, and Fisker claims it can add around 1,500 to 2,000 miles (2,414 to 3,219km) of additional driving range in a year, provided it gets enough exposure to the sun.
It does not take too much imagination to see the potential of this feature in South Africa, with copious sunshine throughout the year.
Despite the solar panels, the Fisker Ocean still supports a sunroof configuration.
But the features that most South Africans would likely appreciate most is the Fisker Ocean’s PowerBank and PowerHouse, which allow it to feed electricity from its battery pack into a home when required.
Fisker claims the bidirectional PowerHouse charging port would be able to provide power to a typical house for up to seven days, assuming it consumes 50% of its usual needs during this time.
The company has not yet revealed the specifications of the battery nor the output of the port, however.
A representative at Fisker’s Mobile World Congress 2022 stand told MyBroadband that more details would be available in the lead up to the Fisker Ocean entering production in November this year.
Aside from the solar roof and backup power abilities, what also makes the EV very alluring is its pricing.
The entry-level Ocean Sport starts at $37,499 (R580,511) in the US, £34,990 (R713,637) in the UK, and €41,900 (R719,488) in Spain.
That model boasts a single-motor front-wheel-drive system and a WLTP range of 440km on its Touring Range battery, similar to many typical electric SUVs sold in South Africa, such as the Jaguar i-Pace.
But there are also higher range models dual-motor all-wheel drive models available, including:
- Ultra with up to 610km of range — $49,999 (R773,772)
- Extreme, with up to 630km of range — $68,999 (R1,076,742)
- Launch Edition — $68,999 (R1,076,742)
Describing the driving feel of the vehicle, Fisker said its Smart Traction powertrain means it performs more like a sports car than an SUV.
“This advanced high-performance feature distributes the right amount of torque to the correct wheels for optimal traction while handling sharp turns,” the company explained.
In addition to providing improved stability and traction on wet and icy roads, this minimises energy loss and boosts efficiency.
Below are images of the two Fisker Ocean models on display at MWC 2022.
The Fisker Ocean’s powertrain
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