The Future According to Fisker

The future is bright

He is not as famous as Elon Musk, but Henrik Fisker is another American futurist with plenty of bright ideas for 21st Century motoring.

Try to imagine an autonomous electric shuttle that matches a Rolls-Royce for luxury and personalisation instead of mirroring a public toilet with a hose-out plastic interior.

It’s easy for Henrik Fisker, an automotive futurist and disrupter since he worked at BMW in the 1970s. He is working on it. Right now.

“You could make it your private living room, going to and from work every day. You wouldn’t have to worry about how long it would take,” Fisker tells motoring.com.au, speaking from his high-tech haven in California.

“You can put a bed in it. You can put a toilet in it. You can have a desk. Ideally, in 10 years this could be something you buy instead of a Rolls-Royce.”

Fisher is using his shuttle plan to power a range of other future projects that pivot on the worldwide switch to electric power and, eventually, widespread autonomous motoring. They include everything from a solid-state battery to a luxury electric limousine.

“I think people will still like to have own private car,” Fisker says.

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Into Orbit

His first project for production is the Orbit, a short-haul shuttle produced by his company, Fisker Inc. It is aimed at airports, universities and other locations with a fixed route and plenty of passengers.

“It kinda came about because I started to look at some of these shuttle ideas that people had. I felt there was not really one that I liked. I didn’t like the look of them, and they were very boring.

“I thought if we have to get into these things, why not make them cool and exciting?”

He says the Orbit is much more than just a good idea, which is why he is already promoting its in-wheel drive technology from a company called Protean Electric.

“We saw there were a lot of opportunities in this space to improve things. It will just be part of what Fisker Inc. is doing. Right now, this not a shuttle we sell to people.

“We’ll have the first test vehicle running at a corporate campus in the US next year. We could go into limited product next year. We need to figure out what the real production volume can be. Nobody knows.

“It’s designed and engineered in a very simple fashion, so it can be made in both low and high volume. In the start we will start with private campuses, city airports. So very short set routes to keep things under control.”

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Volume EVs soon

But the Orbit really is just the start. Fisker is gearing up for electric vehicles with a firm forecast, as well as the likely impact on Australia.

“I think in the future, when we go fully electric, vehicles will fundamentally change. I think it is already changing.

“I would predict that serious mass-market and large-scale adoption of electric cars will come between 2022 and 2025.

“I think a country like Australia will have to follow. There are people who love nature, and we need to cut pollution. You will have less and less choice of gasoline cars and more choice of electric cars,” says Fisker.

But there is good news, at least in the short term, for people who enjoy driving.

“I think the first gasoline cars that will disappear are the boring gasoline cars. The gas cars that will stay, for a while, are the super-sports cars and all the exciting cars. We will still make sporty cars and show the emotion.”

Fisker has a long history with exciting cars. The Danish-born American began working at BMW’s advanced design studio in the late 1980s and his design work includes the concept that became the BMW Z8, the production version of the DB9 during time as design director at Aston Martin, and even the original concepts for the Tesla Model S in in 2007.

He moved out of design into car-making in 2005 with Fisker Coachbuild, then Fisker Automotive in 2007 as he created the plug-in hybrid Karma in 2008 – a sales failure that led to bankruptcy – before establishing HF Design and then Fisker Inc in 2016.

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Doing things differently

Fisker admits the company is not currently making any money, but says that staffing it with highly-qualified experts is giving Fisker Inc the brainpower and flexibility to adapt to – and drive – change.

“We want to say in the car business. We want to grow. We have a unique business model. We are very light, we move extremely fast.

“We have to find a way not to compete with the car-makers on their territory. We have to be different from them.

“You have to be at the lever to make the change. The people buying the electric cars are early adopters and want to be identified with a start-up. If you tomorrow decide to go vegan and eat salad, you probably won’t go to McDonalds.

“It’s also tough to be in this early phase. It’s very complicated and very tough. We will not be making any serious money at least until we get the shuttle on the road early next year.”

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Solid-state battery tech

Apart from the Orbit, Fisker talks enthusiastically about his solid-state battery project.

“We have a team of PhDs here and a brilliant inventor. We have spent the last two years developing it and had major breakthrough in the past year. Toyota are not as far advanced as us.

“We are working to get a solid-state battery into normal cars by 2020. Hopefully it will mean a successful launch and a lot of sales.

“That’s something we are developing in-house. We are building a partnership with it. We will probably put in the shuttle to test it, because we can drive it 18 hours a day.”

Model 3 rival

But that’s not all that’s coming from Fisker Inc.

“We are looking at a high-volume car that will cost $40-50,000 ($A54,000-$67,500). For people who buy a more reasonably-priced car it will be their main car. I think that is necessary for electric cars to become mass-market and volume-adopted.

“We are working to get a solid-state battery into normal cars by 2020. Hopefully it will mean a success launch and a lot of sales.”

He has plenty of other ideas and says the key for Fisker Inc is to stay small and nimble.

“We have a different business model. We believe in partnerships to keep the costs down.

“I think there is plenty of space out there. I think there is a lot of space for the entrants that will come into this space. I think some of the old car-makers are a little too far behind.”

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Exciting future

But, despite all the business talk and the futuristic plans, Fisker says he is still driven by the same things that got him into the car business in the first place.

“I’m excited about putting new cars on the road. I’m excited about creating a future with green sustainable vehicles where we can still enjoy the freedom of mobility. I see future where we will be able to eliminate congestion.

“There was a fear that would eliminate enjoyment. I see a future that’s even better than today.”