The Weekly Advertiser Horsham

Pear joins Ocean in Fisker line-up

- – Matt Brogan

Fisker says it has taken 4000 reservatio­ns for its Pear compact electric car, which is slated to enter production in 2024.

Company founder Henrik Fisker told Automotive News the innovative model would be priced from $43,000 and retain many of the features in the show-going model, including an innovative wrap-around windscreen and ‘truly revolution­ary electrical architectu­re’ with central computing systems replacing multiple ECUS.

The Pear – short for Personal Electric Automotive Revolution – will join Fisker’s debut model, the Ocean midsized ESUV, which will go into serial production from November 17 at the Magna Steyr facility in Graz, Austria.

The Pear, meanwhile, will be built in the United States by Taiwanese contract manufactur­er Foxconn at General Motors’ former Lordstown facility in Ohio.

It is estimated the facility can produce a minimum of 250,000 units annually.

Mr Fisker said the Pear would ride on a new in-house developed platform called the SLV1, which is ‘all about reducing parts and cost’.

Goauto understand­s the SLV1 platform will underpin a further two models to be unveiled at a later date.

“We can get a super-exciting vehicle on the road with high technology

without spending it on platform stamping and complicate­d structures,” Mr Fisker told Automotive News, adding that 55 pre-production prototypes were already undergoing testing.

Mr Fisker said his company had 56,000 reservatio­ns for the Pear, including some 4000 non-refundable deposits.

“The Pear will be a revolution­ary electric vehicle that won’t fit into any existing segment,” he said.

“Our engineerin­g group is working on new features and high-tech solutions for the Pear that will change how we use and enjoy a vehicle in the city.”

The California-based electric vehicle start-up recently received $71.5-million in financing to move to the next stage of developmen­t with its Ocean SUV, keeping the model on track for its end-of-year launch.

The funds, from a private investment company in the United States, further confirm Fisker’s plan for the Ocean and Pear EVS and push the models even closer to market.

Fisker says more than 22,000 people from 116 countries have expressed interest in or placed a non-refundable deposit on the Ocean SUV.

Priced from $53,624 the Ocean will be offered with four different package options to be detailed later this year and will also be available as a lease from $542 a month with a $4290 deposit.

Full specificat­ions of the Ocean are still to be released, although preliminar­y details point to a driving range of about 450 kilometres from an 80kwh battery pack.

Solar panels on the roof can help recharge the vehicle’s battery systems and are designed to provide up to 1600 kilometres of additional driving range per year.

Both two and all-wheel-drive versions will be available, with the electric powertrain offering an output of more than 225kw.

An ‘ultra-high performanc­e’ version is also in developmen­t, with Fisker targeting zero to 97 kilometre an hour accelerati­on of less than three seconds.

Recharging the battery from 15 percent to 80 percent capacity is expected to take only 30 minutes when plugged in to a 150kw charger.

The Ocean measures 4568mm long, 1900mm wide and 1590mm high, making it slightly smaller in stature to the Tesla Model X.

 ?? ?? TESLA RIVAL: Fisker says its budget Pear will be manufactur­ed at GM’S former Lordstown facility with a minimum capacity of 250,000 units annually.
TESLA RIVAL: Fisker says its budget Pear will be manufactur­ed at GM’S former Lordstown facility with a minimum capacity of 250,000 units annually.

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