To ensure its pre-order holders get the Ocean EV as soon as possible, Fisker will start production and deliver their first EV without some of its key software and safety features, at least temporarily.
Fisker is walking a tightrope. It needs to keep reservation holders, investors, and the media happy. However, it is difficult to do so given the story behind the startup.
The company has announced several concept vehicles since it launched in 2016, but has yet to produce or deliver a single one of them.
Another delivery delay won’t cut it, so Fisker says it will start production of the Ocean EV on time, but without some software and safety features.
Production is still set to begin next week on November 17th. Magna Steyr will assemble the car in Graz, Austria. However, customers will get the Ocean without blind spot monitoring, lane keep assistance, and automatic high beams when deliveries begin.
CEO Henrik Fisker told reporters this week these features will arrive early next year.
The Ocean EV will also ship without cruise control, lane centering assist, and traffic jam assist, but those features are expected to arrive sooner, coming late in 2023.
Fisker says these features are not coveted by owners, so he didn’t want to delay production until they were ready.
“There’s also, quite frankly, a lot of customers that may not care about it, so why wait to launch the vehicle? And you know you’re going to maybe get it three months, six months, nine months later,” Fisker said.
Lastly, the vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-load features have a more vague timeline, with Fisker saying they will arrive sometime over the next two years. (via Automotive News)
While the buyers wait for over-the-air updates to add the missing features, CEO Henrik Fisher promises that the Ocean still has features other EVs lack. These include a solar roof that can provide up to 2,000 miles of additional range in a year, California Mode (sunroof and all windows open with one button), and Revolver, the car’s rotating 17.1-inch display.
As of the most recent update Fisker says it has more than 62,000 pre-orders for the Ocean.
It is targeting one million EVs by 2030.
