Thursday, March 19, 2009

Dear Santa....... have you heard of the Fisker Karma?

While the world waits for the Chevy Volt, other electric or hybrid cars are making waves. I've already mentioned the Tesla all-electric sports car. Soon we'll have the Fisker Karma. The Karma is powered by a gas engine / electric motors combination. What makes this hybrid unique is that the engine is mated with a generator to provide an electricity to the motors and recharge the batteries. As such the electric motors are the only driving force connected to the wheels. As a factory option the Karma can be fitted with a solar panelled roof not only to aid in the recharging of its Lithium-Ion batteries but also to aid the cabin climate control system.

Fisker estimates a refill of the fuel tank once a year provided a drive of no more than 80 kilometres (50 miles) per day. Fisker also claim that in 'sport-hybrid' mode, the car will do 2.35 l/100 km (100 mpg) of fuel consumed for a range of 480km (300 miles). Despite its eco-friendliness the Karma can go 200 km/h (125 mph) and is capable of reaching 60 mph (97 km/h) from a standstill in 5.8 seconds.

USD$80,000. Here's a video.

1 comment:

Retro Blog said...

Ooh does Top Gear know about this? I'm pretty sure they could find someting to hate about it. Nice!