Fisker Karma gets 4.5L/100km EPA rating | CarAdvice

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Fisker Karma gets 4.5L/100km EPA rating

By Brett Davis |
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The sporty and elegant Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid is finally on sale in the US, and the EPA has given it an official fuel consumption rating of 4.5L/100km. The Fisker Karma is also capable of being driven under electric power alone for 52km.

It’s been a fairly long birth for the Fisker Karma, but it’s finally on the market in the US. Fisker has plans to ramp up production operations and plans to deliver many pre-ordered Karmas to customers throughout the rest of this year.

The Fisker Karma is powered by a 2.0-litre Ecotec turbocharged four-cylinder engine mated to a range-extending hybrid electric motor. In range-extending mode (where the petrol engine acts as a generator and the electric motor powers the car), the Fisker Karma has a range of around 84km. With both the electric motor and petrol engine combined in traditional hybrid mode, its overall range is around 480km. Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive, recently said,

“With receipt of EPA certification in hand, we have achieved a major milestone by recording the first sales of our groundbreaking Karma sedan. Production of the Karma is ramping, and we have a strong dealer network in place so we can deliver many more of these truly amazing automobiles to customers during the remainder of 2011 and for many years to come.”

One of the best aspects to the Karma is that customers can plug it into a wall and drive it as a regular electric vehicle. Fisker says that for an average commuter travelling around 65km every day to work, if the owner plugs it in every night, the Karma would only need to visit a petrol station every 1600km.

It may not sound especially fuel-efficient compared with other hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the market, but the Fisker Karma is a big luxury sedan that is also sporty, and capable of 0-100km/h in around 5.9 seconds. Its top speed is also rated at just over 200km/h.

Fisker has no plans to produce the Karma in right-hand drive, but the company’s next model, the Fisker Project Nina, is being planned for the Australian market.

  • Pauly

    I guess we should suspect similar EPA results for the Holden Volt when it arrives next year. It uses the same setup with a slightly smaller generator.

    • Alexander

      we’ll get different figures due to a different economy cycle, the EU cycle (same as Aus) rates the Karma at 3.4l/100km and the Volt at 1.6l/100km.

  • FrugalOne

    These are like $200k+.

    Should throw out all the hybrid nonsense, fit a 6L GM V8 and sell it for $85k

    The Karma is a too nice a vehicle not to be supplied with a decent performing *normal* drivetrain in it, leave the hybrids to the origional and best, Prius by BigT[tm.F-0]

  • Westie

    Full marks for Henrik F for getting this far with a brand new car Co. Many have tried, most have failed.
    This thing deserves to succeed, the styling is, while probably not everyone’s cup of tea, so totally different to the run of the mill German “Russian Doll” variations on a theme. (How many cliches can I get in one sentence?)
    And the interior manages to return to the days when luxury meant quality and craftsmanship, rather than mass produced plastic (yes, I know, Golfschwien, Audis have superb plastic, but it’s still plastic!)

  • nucnik

    I read elsewhere that it gets about 12 L/100km when running only on the petrol engine.

    And since it’s a GT car, you’re goint to be driving it long distances, not only in the city.

  • Chris T.

    You guys (I’m not in Oz, I only visit :-) ) will have to wait for the full European ratings to come out, as Alexander noted, to get CO2 g/km.

    Yes, it’s a GT. The nice thing is that it’s “no compromise” in one very important way: driving in town, you can run off electric, but when you have a long trip, you just fill it with petrol and off you go. The small (36 litre) tank is still a bit of a compromise though. When I was younger I could drive quite a bit further than that will go, without stopping. (But no longer, alas!)