2020 has been a very different and strange year all the way around. From the global pandemic, to having social distancing become a new way of life every we go now seemingly. Also 2020 has wound up becoming the year of the rise of the EV (electric vehicle). Up to this point EV’s were mostly conceptual and gimmicky (other than Tesla’s) like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. I even had a neighbor that leased a Nissan Leaf a couple years back. We lived around 40 miles north of Atlanta, GA and he bought his Leaf thinking he would use it as his commuter car (the Leaf only had a range of around 100 miles then, not sure what it is now). His daily commute round trip was around 60 miles in brutal bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic. Needless to say he soon concluded he could not use it as a commuter car and ran out of charge a couple times trying to make it home. He wound up having to pay quite a premium to break his lease and get rid of the vehicle. This along with me not even knowing about Tesla’s all that much back then, made it so that an electric vehicle was not even a consideration in my mind.
Enter 2020 where I get introduced to SPACs and the market for electrification of everything, and a push towards renewable energy sources is taking its proper place on the forefront of most of our minds now. This brings me to Fisker, Inc a new startup electric vehicle auto maker who has actually been working on EV’s for many years, well not Fisker, Inc, but the man behind the company, Henrik Fisker. Henrik Fisker co-founded his intial EV endeavor Fisker Automotive in 2007 after securing a $5.2 million investment from Gianfranco Pizzuto, an Italian businessman, among some other Palo Alto Investors. Fisker is responsible for designing many premium cars such as the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, Artega GT, and BMW Z8. He also served as design director and sat on the board at Aston Martin. Fisker Automotive’s problems started with the recall of its battery by A123 Systems in December 2011, followed by a second recall by A123 Systems in March 2012 and eventually a bankruptcy of its battery supplier A123 Systems in August 2012, the costs involved regarding a recall and repairs to customer cars. This led to the demise and eventual selling of his first EV startup attempt Fisker Automotive.
Fastforward to today October 15, 2020 where Henrik announced his joint partnership with Magna to build and manufacture his newest EV the Fisker Ocean. Fisker has laid out pricing for the Ocean which will have a starting price of $37,499 (with up to a $7,000 federal credit making it even less). This really is a game changer and brings a very nice, luxurious, economical SUV into a price range that many who never thought of owning an EV before may consider now. Especially after seeing the interior and exterior of a Fisker Ocean:
Me and my wife liked it so much, we put down a deposit on one, especially since it was only $250 and is fully refundable if you change your mind. The Ocean has a range between 250 miles and announced today up to 320 miles on a single charge, so EV’s have come a really long way and the gap between a gas powered vehicle and battery powered has closed tremendously:
Fisker, Inc is also coming public via a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp and currently trades under the ticker symbol “SPAQ” on the NYSE. The company will be merging and becoming its’ own standalone company Fisker, Inc and trading under the ticker symbol “FSR” so long as the business combination vote passes on October 28th when there will be a special proxy vote meeting. So while this is a completely different business model and approach the Henrik is taking versus the approach Elon Musk of Tesla has taken. This very well could garner tons of attention, and truly become a player in the North American and European automobile industry. Alot still has to be proven, but one thing no one can say that Henrik Fisker is a man on a mission that is dedicated, driven and won’t stop until he succeeds. This is another reason I believe many will rally behind Fisker, Inc, as we can all relate. We have all failed at some point in life, but failure doesn’t have to define us it can help mold us and make us better. This is what is unfolding before our eyes here with Henrik Fisker, and Fisker, Inc!
JMac Investing 