Here we go again, and it is (unfortunately) a typical EV startup pattern. After years of hype, billions gleaned from cloudy investors, and production proclamations that seem too good to be true, yet, another EV startup is pulling in. Fisker, the much-praised startup, finds it impossible to live up to its overly ambitious production and delivery targets now that it is (barely) manufacturing its Ocean EV. 

What predictions is Fisker making now?

To make matters worse, its first celebrated Ocean delivery has been hauled back on a flatbed as “inoperable.” We’ve seen this picture before. Now, it is adjusting back production expectations, with a caveat. 

As long as “all its partners deliver,” it will make around 1,400 to 1.700 Oceans this quarter. And, as it must do to keep the investor money faucet on full blast, it predicts it will make 6,000 vehicles before Q4 2023. Until recently, it maintained that its first deliveries would happen in November 2022.

And while it seems close to eeking out a few more deliveries, Automotive News is reporting, “The software is currently prone to glitches, estimating the issues could take months to iron out. As a result, they said some vehicles are only using a more basic software that limits the vehicles’ speed.”

Do Ocean EVs only operate at low speeds?

The company says, “We categorically deny that the Fisker Ocean can be driven at only low speeds.” Who knows what defines “low speeds?” It is still doubling down on its declaration of producing 42,200 Oceans this year. That’s down from the 50,000 prediction from last year. 

Its other EV, the Pear, has been announced repeatedly to begin production in 2024. That, too, is now changing. “Sometime in 2025, is its most recent guess. The company continues to maintain it will retail for under $30,000. A new EV for that price would be a strong seller, should it ever materialize. 

Following Tesla’s lead, the company is launching an Investor Product Day. It says this will “showcase several new models that will be part of Fisker’s goal to produce 1 million vehicles in 2027.” Again with the glittering predictions. 

The startup is now walking a treacherous tightrope. It must supercharge potential investors with hype upon hype, while now facing put-up-or-shut-up realities. Unfortunately, its past isn’t a good track record for future success.

Didn’t Fisker have problems before?

When originally assembled in 2007 as Fisker Automotive, it followed up a year later with a slick Fisker Karma prototype. Entering production in 2011 began a chain reaction of reports of severe quality issues and a mysterious fire that torched 338 Karmas sitting at a New Jersey port. 

These were at the dock over “various service requirements.” This involved a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety recall, and also the need for lithium-ion battery replacements and software updates. The fire supposedly began from salt water saturating them during Superstorm Sandy. 

As for its current predicament, Bloomberg is reporting that it could take months for Fisker to address the ongoing software problems. How that affects deliveries we don’t know. But we know that the second Ocean is going to CEO Henrik Fisker. So we doubt that should it experience problems, we’ll ever know.