One-Man Revolution

Fisker is undaunted by such challenges. He points to his experience in the automotive industry and the partnership with Quantum Technologies, saying his company is “much more significant” than the typical startup.

“We’re coming out with a product that the consumer is craving,” he says. “It’s a car that, on the daily commute, can make us independent of oil and is emissions-free. But it can also be used with the current infrastructure. None of the current car companies are offering such a thing.”

The existing vehicles that use electric power have their drawbacks. The plug-in electric vehicles can be driven only for short distances — and most of them, only at low speeds — before needing to be recharged. Although hybrids do not need to be plugged in, they too operate with the electric motor only at low speeds and for short distances before the gasoline engine takes over.

Plug-in hybrids promise an improvement over both, and several companies intend to offer them. GM, through its Chevrolet and Saturn subsidiaries, and Toyota have such vehicles in the works.

Saturn might well be the first of those to reach the showrooms. It announced at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show that it hopes to start selling a plug-in version of the Vue Hybrid in 2009. (Read more about Saturn’s plans here.)

Fisker Automotive is aiming more up-market. So for its buyers, a luxury brand like Lexus is likely to be stronger competition.

Lexus has no plug-ins slated, but currently offers the two high-performance hybrid sedans that the Luxury Institute’s Pedraza mentioned, the GS 450h and the LS 600h.

However, despite being hybrids, both of these forsake fuel-efficiency for power. The GS 450h gets only 23 miles per gallon, and the LS 600h a mere 21 mpg. (See where these vehicles rank on our list of least fuel-efficient hybrids here.)

This could give Fisker an edge with the more environmentally conscious luxury buyers who care about fuel economy.

Still, Spinella says of the luxury car market: “It’s a horribly difficult industry to get into.”

One other company that has done so recently — although not with a daily-driver type of car — is Tesla Motors in San Carlos, Calif. It has filled 600 orders for the Tesla Roadster, a high-performance convertible that operates solely on electric power. This plug-in electric vehicle has a claimed 0-60 mph time of around 4 seconds and a price tag of $98,000. It can go for about 200 miles before needing to stop for a recharge. (See photos of the Tesla Roadster here.)

Part of the company’s success is doubtless a result of the prominent investors who helped to fund it. When you have the founders of PayPal and Google behind you, people tend to take notice.

Fisker says his company already has “several million dollars” of funding from venture capitalists. He also says it plans to cut expensive overhead costs by outsourcing production. He declined to say where the production would take place. (Like Fisker Coachbuild and Quantum Technologies, Fisker Automotive is based in Irvine, Calif.)

His goal is to help the environment by making drivers happy. Fisker says he believes that to truly make an impact on the environment, 75 percent of drivers need to use environmentally friendly cars. And to make that happen, the environmentally friendly cars have to be ones that people want to drive, cars with no compromises in style or power.

“With the option of electric and hybrid, you have more flexibility,” Fisker says. “People want the freedom of a gas car, and the ability to be an individual.”

Erica Francis helped report this article.

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