So when the SPAC opportunity emerged and we saw we could raise over a billion dollars in cash, which was enough to get our vehicle on the road, this was just the perfect opportunity because now I don’t have to worry about going out and raising money every three months, and how the markets will look, if there’s going to be delays. Because you need to … once you have a breakthrough in that technology, you need probably three years to set up high-volume manufacturing, and then you need another three years to do durability testing. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Basically, I’m pretty much one of the few people [taking an EV startup public via SPAC], maybe the only one, who’s started a car company before. Fisker Inc.’s trouble with solid-state batteries hasn’t stopped its momentum. But we also believe we will have some technical advancements, which we obviously don’t want to announce for competitive reasons yet, that will set us apart not only from Tesla but from our other competitors. Remember when Henrik Fisker promised a major breakthrough in solid-state battery tech? And it gives me the opportunity to answer people directly from my heart because I run the company, and they get the real answer. Specifically, I think we have maybe slightly more sophisticated investors than some other SPACs. With some easy searching, Fisker announced they are no longer pursuing solid state batteries with the claimed 500 mile range and 9 minute charge time. And what we did was we said the two people with the most leads, I’ll do a half-hour zoom with them. A Promising Solid State Battery Development. I mean Tesla made a great car, and what makes us confident that we can be an alternative for when somebody gets out of a gasoline car and into an electric car is, first of all, we have a completely different design. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Most people don’t understand it takes two years to do durability tests and do all the engineering certification and everything else. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. You know if you TK613 outside the car industry, it’s very easy to say “Why don’t you just do that?” I have people on Twitter saying, “Why don’t you just make the car next month? As with most battery breakthrough claims, we were skeptical of Fisker’s announcement. What was it that drew you to wanting to go through one of these mergers, and what did you like about it as a tool to bring Fisker to the public markets. But he’s never been more clear. And then finally, when you look at our base price, we think we’re really competitive in that base price, so we think we can attract a lot of first-time EV buyers because of that base price as well. via fiskerinc.com. So we spent a lot of time, several years, doing research in solid-state batteries. And I think that’s an advantage we have that I would never give up. " Rise to a Revolutionary New Battery, Fisker's solid-state battery powers electric vehicles--and drones and flying taxis." Moreover, it seemed it was supposed to race to market ahead of other solid-state I know there was a lawsuit that was settled with QuantumScape, and I know settlements usually preclude talking about any of that, but is there anything you can say as to whether whatever dispute you may have had with that company was something that played into this walkaway from solid-state batteries? More. What is it that makes you confident you can find the kind of audience to exploit that midrange market that doesn’t have a lot of competition right now? But it’s just like asking a 10-year-old kid “What is the trade-off of living at home versus getting your own apartment?” Well, if you don’t have any money for your own apartment, and you’re not a certain age, you probably can’t even get the apartment, and you’re not going to be able to pay for it. Yeah, I love this personal interaction. Fisker says that it has given up on solid-state batteries after having introduced a “breakthrough” that was speculated to Fisker provides up on solid-state batteries after saying ‘breakthrough’ with ‘500 miles vary & 1-min charging’ | Gadget News Plus We are excited to build on this foundation and move the needle in energy storage.”. Fisker says that it has given up on solid-state batteries after having announced a “breakthrough” that was supposed to enable “500 miles of range and 1-minute charging” in its electric cars. We are making the same projections, and those are projections, at this point, we stand by. You spoke about the deal with Magna, and it sounds like you are having, or are at least happy with conversations with other potential partners on the platform side of things. QuantumScape, which is backed by veteran German automaker Volkswagen and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, filed the lawsuit in the Santa Clara … What were their reactions to that business model? The latest company to announce progress in developing the new type of battery is Fisker. Everybody can run into certain unforeseen things that you simply cannot plan for. And then finally, we have some other features in software and hardware like our California Mode, which no other competitor has, where all the windows roll down at the push of one button, which is both kind of fun and a utility feature. “It’s the kind of technology where, when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the […] Henrik Fisker has abandoned his electric vehicle startup’s effort to create a solid-state battery, the Fisker Inc. founder told The Verge in a recent interview. And the interesting thing was the number two guy was a guy from Kentucky, just a really nice person that I would never ever have met. One of the things I remember talking to you at length about at CES last year is how you’re approaching this goal of wanting to make the car really sustainable. How would we create the real commercial side of it as the vehicle gets delivered to the customer even before? Fisker went public through a reverse-merger last year and saw its valuation surge to almost $8 billion following announcements that they are trying to work with Magna and Foxconn to bring their electric vehicle design to production. Is there something you just have to give up in the name of going after this partnership / asset-light business model that you could have if you tried to do more of it yourself? It’s just very, very difficult to convince private investors to go through all of these milestones, all hundreds of millions. And of course, we announced our first partner, which is the world’s third-largest supplier, which is Magna. What happened with the talks with Volkswagen in the middle of last year? Solid-state batteries haven’t been much of a focus during Fisker’s many media appearances in the time since he unveiled the Ocean. And that was, of course, in the early days. Now Fisker is ready to change the game somewhat. I think it’s something unique. “Fisker’s solid-state batteries will feature three-dimensional electrodes with 2.5 times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. Fisker's solid-state battery can produce 2.5 times the energy density that lithium-ion batteries can, at perhaps a third of the cost, said Goldberg. So that became that whole digital model, which started before COVID and has now accelerated during COVID. But we eventually came to the conclusion, I think it was probably end of 2019, beginning of ‘20, I forget exactly, that solid-state batteries are still very, very far out, they’re not around the corner. Later in 2019, Albano filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Fisker claiming that he was fired by the company. That idea didn’t stick for long and Fisker instead announced a solid-state battery “breakthrough” for electric cars with “500 miles range and 1-minute charging.”. I’m curious, do you feel you were overly optimistic in the pitch you were making to investors? By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The CEO said in an interview with The Verge: So we spent a lot of time, several years, doing research in solid-state batteries. But one of the biggest claims was regarding the batteries that Fisker planned to use. Fisker drops solid state battery's. We didn’t have any doubt. QuantumScape discovered one of its employees brought thousands of documents with her to a new job at Fisker Inc. in late 2018 and early 2019, though the EV startup argued that it never used the information and swiftly fired the researcher. Because people care about the environment, they care about buying sustainable products, they just haven’t had the choice or they’ve had to buy a product they didn’t like. It was one of the first EV startups to ride the wave of special purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) mergers into becoming publicly traded — and it raised around $1 billion in cash in the process. As recently as mid-2018, Fisker had stated that it would rely on specially developed solid-state batteries for the EMotion […] Fisker is best known for creating the Fisker Karma electric luxury sports sedan back in 2012 and now the EMotion. And if so, is it coming from the same technological path that you were already on, or is it something you would have to start anew in those vehicles? Fisker claimed in 2017 that its solid-state batteries could enable 500 miles of range with recharging times as low as one minute. We have hired a head of ESG, environmental and social governance, and he is really spearheading developing specific... we kind of put out some goals that we would like to reach with suppliers, and we at least try to bring them in that direction. One is, what if we were to create an automotive company today from scratch and think about what’s the right business model rather than just following the old one. Fisker Inc has secured 15 patents so far for solid-state battery technology with 2.5 times the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. We were obviously one of the early ones that came out, but now there’s been a ton of other SPACs and EV companies [merging]. Obviously, it doesn’t change the fact that you still have to develop and deliver a vehicle, and you still have to be as tight with the money as you can because in the automotive industry, you can burn through hundreds of millions very fast. In his opinion, series production is still at least seven years away. But our projections were not different whether we would have done a normal IPO, private financing, or what we’re doing here as a SPAC. I think you answered part of it yourself by saying there really isn’t any alternative. So we have completely dropped solid-state batteries at this point in time because we just don’t see it materializing. But we eventually came to the conclusion, I think it was probably end of 2019, beginning of ‘20, I forget exactly, that solid-state batteries are still very, very far out, they’re not around the corner. Now obviously, we will look different in five or seven years from now when we have revenue and we have several vehicles on the road. It struck a deal with leading automotive supplier Magna to build the Ocean. So as we got toward the end of this — or let’s put it, as we got close to understanding fully this technology, we realized that it was much more difficult than we had predicted and expected in the beginning as we were very excited about some of the early things we were doing. I’m curious what the progress has been on that. But the long story short was he had all of these questions and interesting things to talk about that I would never have heard from anybody unless you just truly sit down and talk with a real customer. Fisker later settled the lawsuit for $750,000. Would we do something in the future? In 2016, Fisker Inc. teamed up with Nanotech Energy to create a joint venture called Fisker Nanotech, with Jack Kavanaugh as chairman. So even if somebody invented it today, it would be at least probably six years out. Through Zalkon.com, you can check out Fred’s portfolio and get monthly green stock investment ideas. Would we do something in the future? Fisker has come to the conclusion that the technology is just not yet ready. That’s despite indicating the exact opposite in the “breakthrough” announcement. So we are on time, on budget on our vehicle, and that’s because we have already raised all the money. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast. Fisker Inc. quietly settled a previously unreported trade secret lawsuit with Volkswagen-backed solid-state battery company QuantumScape last … So as you just mentioned, a settlement precludes you from speaking about it. And I don’t see us continuing with that particular development at all.”. And it’s kind of a technology where when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90. So we have completely dropped solid-state batteries at this point in time because we just don’t see it materializing. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); After relaunching his electric vehicle startup, Henrik Fisker started making a lot of very ambitious claims about the capabilities of the new company’s future electric cars. I think personally, they’re at least seven years out, if not more, in terms of any sort of high-volume format. And while a deal to use Volkswagen’s electric vehicle platform has fallen through, Fisker Inc. shared this week that it’s still in talks with the German automaker on a parts supply agreement. Are we choosing a supplier that’s closer to the plant, or are we choosing a supplier that’s on the other side of the planet that way we have to then transport all that stuff. At first, the company announced that their first car will be powered by a new graphene-based hybrid supercapacitor technology. I can obviously not answer everybody’s question, but for instance, we went a step further, and we have this sort of program for referrals. I think personally, they’re at least seven years out, if not more, in terms of any sort of high-volume format. Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek. So the way you get volume, in my view, is if you partner up with other OEMs and share some of the expensive parts of the platform, which in my view is not anymore something that is unique IP or something that is a unique experience to the customer. I would imagine that it must have felt like a very strange moment but a very great opportunity at the same time. Henrik Fisker talks to The Verge about the future of his newly public EV startup. We’re co-developing a platform with them that is being used also by another OEM, so we immediately have the volume. Fisker said the company felt it was "90 percent there" on solid state tech, but that the final 10% proved too challenging given the constraints of current technology. Fisker Inc. ultimately paid $750,000 to settle the case. So we have programmed a lot. I’d imagine one way you try to prevent burning through that money really fast is by architecting this asset-light business model that you have. Nobody could have predicted COVID. And I think it’s very, maybe a little bit ignorant if you think you can build a factory in the desert, hire people, develop the car, and build a brand-new vehicle, and think you’re going to build it as good as Volkswagen or Toyota. I don’t think there’s any difference, at least for Fisker — I have no idea what other SPACs and other companies are doing, and I know there’s been some exciting stories out there about some other SPACs — but I’d say from Fisker’s point of view, and what we’re doing in our company, there would be no difference whether we would do a normal IPO or a SPAC or a private financing. They can tell what they think is probably a better story to investors than if they were going [public] the more traditional route. And there’s a common understanding between the partners. Fisker's new power storage technology, according to the company, would allow it to build solid-state batteries packing far more surface area than existing flat thin-film solid-state electrodes … According to The Verge, electric vehicle (EV) startup Fisker Inc. and solid-state battery maker QuantumScape were tied up in a trade secret theft lawsuit that went on for well over a year and was previously unreported. Tesla probably has the highest volume of one single model, a couple hundred thousand. And I think in the meantime, what SPACs have really done is replaced Silicon Valley as a funding tool for capital-intensive industries like automotive, EVs. One of the things I thought was pretty funny in the S-1 you filed with the SEC is that it says outright that you want to really be an engaging presence on Twitter, and you want to make potential customers feel that they’re hearing from you and your voice — as opposed to how like, Mary Barra uses it at GM. Company Discussion. Interestingly, the story is not as simple as Fisker being too quick to claim a breakthrough. And we also decided to have Magna manufacture our vehicle because we didn’t feel like taking a risk and going through what other people are calling “manufacturing hell,” as you know. This new technology has a way to go before making it to market, as Fisker also announced it would likely not reach cars and trucks until sometime after 2023. If we do, it would be something completely new, and we obviously have a battery team that’s looking at the current technology that’s here. Because normal car companies, they have to go through the dealers and do all kinds of other things where they never really get to talk to the customers. But for sure we’re going to evolve as a business. But even the big giant established carmakers are not making, right now, a couple hundred thousand vehicles of one model. But the solid-state battery that we worked on, that just doesn't have a future at this point in time in the near future. Nonetheless, the idea of solid state battery powered electric vehicles is an exciting development with a promising future. My view is that when you present a projection that is two or three years out, you have a group of people who are trying to make the absolutely best projection, and it is at the end of the day a projection. Around that time, Fisker Inc. settled a trade secret lawsuit with Volkswagen-backed battery startup QuantumScape in 2020, as The Verge first reported this week. But you don’t really know that until you get up to the 90 percent. Fisker’s decision to axe the solid-state program comes after his startup spent its first few years working to develop the technology. This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. Fisker told The Wall Street Journal that the vehicle may even be built at Foxconn’s troublesome Wisconsin facility. They are not reaching those goals right now, but they may reach them later. And the second part was how would we truly interact with the customer, and what is the customer’s expectation, and what does the future customer look like? And on the business model itself, I believe that there is nobody in the near future or the next couple of years that’s going to make a million EVs on one model. Because you need to ... once you have a breakthrough in that technology, you need probably three years to set up high-volume manufacturing, and then you need another three years to do durability testing. In short, Fisker believes that the technology is nowhere near ready for commercialization. I think there’s sort of a great dual conversation. One of the things I know you were working on in the early days of the company, and especially when you were working on the sports car, was trying to get solid-state batteries into the vehicle. But one of the big hindrances in the path toward your first production vehicle and getting revenue is financing. So for instance, we look at transport. Not long after their breakthrough announcement, Fisker was sued by QuantumScape, a Volkswagen-backed solid-state battery startup, over alleged theft of trade secrets. Yeah, talking to just a few people in the industry, I think everybody’s aware that what’s unique about the automotive industry is that you need several hundred million dollars every time you move a certain milestone. The team have worked up a three-dimensional solid-state battery, or bolt battery, which is thicker and has enough power to move a vehicle. So those are the types of things that we’re really thinking about now as we’re nominating suppliers. Or do you feel like what you presented is a really reasonable case for your business moving forward? And I know that when you turned your attention to the Ocean that was something that changed as far as a company priority. And I don’t see us continuing with that particular development at all. You can send tips on Twitter (DMs open) or via email: fred@9to5mac.com. newsletter, that it was just a few months away from a final design, postponed a planned sports car that was based on the solid-state technology, Volkswagen’s electric vehicle platform has fallen through, Henrik Fisker explains how he plans to make a ‘sustainable’ electric SUV. You get hammered on Twitter, people don’t like you. So we are not necessarily just going to have one partner. By early 2019, though, the startup postponed a planned sports car that was based on the solid-state technology and pivoted to the Ocean, which uses a more common lithium-ion battery. That was one. “I think personally, they’re at least seven years out, if not more, in terms of any sort of high-volume format,” he said. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. At that point, we can decide to do more of the stuff for ourself. But the solid-state battery that we worked on, that just doesn’t have a future at this point in time in the near future. With Fisker's future insight and goals, the construction company could be able to apply solid-state battery tech in multiple areas, including construction, energy storage, transportation, and … And certain things are going to change and adapt to the conditions of the market, the conditions of where we are as a company. If we do, it would be something completely new, and we obviously have a battery team that’s looking at the current technology that’s here. Of course, you never know what’s going to happen in the future. Or was it really just a technological decision? Your current browser configuration is not compatible with this site. There were a lot of established car companies that were going to launch a whole bunch of cars last year and were all postponed, and had projected they were going to launch these cars and sell a certain amount of cars. And on the high end, I think the sustainability aspect, I believe after COVID, is going to be even more powerful as a brand pillar for us. Henrik Fisker talks to The Verge about the future of his newly public EV startup, including why he’s abandoned an effort to create a solid-state battery in favor of … Fisker's flexible solid state battery tech promises hands-free, one-minute recharging, and 500 miles of range, which would alter automotive landscape. Of course, you also get the bad. They worked on developing a next-generation supercapacitor technology using graphene. If you now have the choice to buy a cool vehicle that you actually like and is also super sustainable, I think that’s an added point in our direction. One thing I think is interesting about SPAC mergers is that, while they’re a great tool for going public faster, one quirk about them is they’re not regulated in quite the same way as if you were just going public in the traditional way, and one of the consequences of that is that startups have a little bit more freedom in their projections. And we already have a lot of our customers in our surveys saying they picked our vehicle first because of the design, because we haven't released a lot of technical information. Fabio Albano, who was VP of battery systems at Fisker at the time, commented: “This breakthrough marks the beginning of a new era in solid-state materials and manufacturing technologies. Was there ever sort of commiseration or conversations among the people in the industry that you’re in, particularly executives at EV startups trying to make a name for themselves, about the difficulty, or the process in general, of trying to raise money? Henrik Fisker's eponymous electric car startup has abandoned plans to develop solid-state battery technology, citing its lack of near-term viability (among Henrik Fisker has deserted his electrical automobile startup’s effort to create a solid-state battery, the Fisker Inc. founder informed The Verge in a latest interview. Well, you know we’re constantly in talks with many different partners, and we don’t really want to comment on any of these talks until they materialize. So at this point, I don’t want to comment on any potential talks that we have with any partners. Henrik Fisker stated in an interview that this decision was made more than a year ago. The two companies plan to make an electric vehicle that Fisker says will cost much less than the $37,500 base price tag of its first EV, the Ocean SUV. We have a whole bunch of plans that we are maybe not ready to discuss right now. “So we have completely dropped solid-state batteries at this point in time because we just don’t see it materializing.”. And we took this opportunity to say, “Okay, it’s not just about making an electric car.” You want to look at two other fundamentals. We have highlighted some of those in a report called: “A look at Fisker’s unbelievable claims about its upcoming all-electric car with ‘over 400 miles of range’ & ‘9-minute charging.”. And by the way, now we are public, and we are now set to the same standards of any other public company, no matter how they became public. Recently, Fisker Inc., which plans to introduce a sporty luxury EV called EMotion (Fig. An aluminum stamped floor or a steel stamped floor really doesn’t have any brand value anymore. “It’s the kind of technology where, when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90,” he said. So therefore, we’ve decided to follow this way of looking for partners for platform sharing, and we’re not only looking for one partner; we’re talking to many different groups because we’re looking at making different vehicles. And then we have goals for ourselves. Fisker says that it has given up on solid-state batteries after having announced a “breakthrough” that was supposed to enable “500 miles of range and 1-minute charging” in its electric cars. So we are actually looking across everything — supply chain, where the suppliers are located, what the suppliers are doing for sustainability, and also then of course in the vehicle itself — in terms of the type of materials there. He just happened to have the most referrals, which surprised me as well because I would have thought it would’ve been somebody from California because that’s where we have most of the reservations from. We haven’t designed a “me too” crossover hatchback like the other EV companies have done. And I really like to be able to interact with the people and get their straightforward questions, and I give them straightforward answers. So we decided really to wait for the right moment where we could get enough money in one go to finance our entire program all the way to production. I don’t think at this point as a startup there is any trade-off. Fisker has abandoned its plans for solid-state batteries. And obviously, as we move forward, we always start to do some of the things ourselves. So I think when this opportunity happened, it was just a clear decision right from the go. And how that changed so quickly with this SPAC stuff? Let’s talk about something that you probably would like to talk about. At any rate, it has been confirmed that Fisker gave up on the solid-sate battery plan over a year ago. And there was no preselection or anything. He said: “So we spent a lot of … A breakthrough the automaker planned to implement to assure its future EV might have 500 miles of range and fast-charging in as little as one minute. And I’m wondering how you see yourself as a person who is running this company who is also engaging with potential customers in this particular way? Well, I think that was really what attracted a lot of the investors. So even if somebody invented it today, it would be at least probably six years out. Today, there’s nobody doing it. Let’s see what happens after that. You have a prototype.” Most people don’t understand that it takes 18 months to do long-lead body tooling for high-volume vehicles. In July 2017, Fisker Inc. ended its join… So we did that deal with Magna, which has already built Toyotas and BMWs, so we know we’re going to get a high-quality car right out of the gate, so we took that risk out. Fisker patents radical 'solid state battery' it claims can power a car for 500 miles and recharge in a MINUTE The new battery uses a three-dimensional structure to increase surface area Fisker … And one thing I’m really curious about, because I know I’ve spoken to you a little bit about it before, is: what was the reception as you started trying to find the right SPAC to merge with, and then also working with additional follow-on investors? And finally, materials as well, looking at sustainable materials. Those fundamentals are changing, but if you start out with a billion dollars, it’s a lot better than starting out with maybe $50 or $100 million in private funding because that doesn’t get you very far. What are the trade-offs of this business model? In the interview, Fisker spoke about his reasoning behind that business model, as well as why merging with a SPAC was an easy decision, before explaining why he walked away from solid-state batteries.