Fisker, Henrik Fisker’s latest electric vehicle startup, announced today that it secured $50 million in funding to try to bring its electric SUV to market.
Over the last few years, Henrik Fisker has been trying to launch a new EV startup under his own name after his original effort failed in 2013 and other companies took over.
In 2018, the startup unveiled their new EMotion all-electric vehicle with the claim of a 400-mile range on a single charge.
Unlike the first Fisker electric car that was dependent on a battery system from A123, they are claiming that they developed their own battery technology for their new vehicles.
Fisker claimed a solid-state battery “breakthrough” for electric cars with “500 miles of range and one-minute charging” that would come to market on an aggressive timeline.
They later walked back some of those comments and said that their first production vehicle from the new EV startup would actually be equipped with regular Li-ion battery cells.
Earlier this year, the famed car designer unveiled another prototype, the Fisker Ocean, an electric SUV that they claim would be their first production vehicle after unveiling several different prototypes.
Now the company announced that it completed a $50 million Series C financing round funded by Moore Strategic Ventures, billionaire Louis M. Bacon’s private investment firm.
In a press release, Fisker said that the money will be used to continue work on the Ocean electric SUV:
The proceeds will be used to support the next phase of engineering work on the Fisker Ocean all-electric luxury SUV — due for launch in 2022.
Fisker commented on the financing round:
Since we first showed the car at CES earlier this year, reaction from customers and investors has been extremely positive. We are radically challenging the conventional industry thinking around developing and selling cars and this capital will allow us to execute our planned timeline to start producing vehicles in 2022.
Along with the new investment, Fisker announced two new hires.
Burkhard Huhnke, former vice president of e-mobility for Volkswagen America, has been hired as Fisker’s new chief technology officer.
Simon Sproule, vice president of communications for Toptal, is now a communications adviser to Fisker.
Electrek’s Take
As I stated before, I find it hard to take anything Fisker says seriously for a few reasons that have nothing to do with his first EV startup failing.
The new startup unveiled a bunch of renders and prototypes of different vehicles without ever bringing anything to production, which shows a lack of focus in my opinion.
On top of it, Fisker made outlandish comments about solid-state batteries with timelines that were far more aggressive than all the leaders in the field.
Now they have some funding that could help them turn their projects into reality, but $50 million in the auto industry won’t get you far.
I wish them the best of luck, but I remain skeptical for now.
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