The Fisker Ocean Electric SUV Will Come To Market With New Flexible Lease Model
Fisker looks to be heading towards production for its fully electric SUV, the Ocean, as the firm officially opened up the reservation queue with a fully refundable $250 deposit per vehicle. The Ocean will be offered through a flexible app-based lease starting at just $379 per month after a $2,999 downpayment in a unique model that melds the worlds of on-demand transportation solutions and vehicle ownership.
To date, only concept images of the Ocean have been released, with the production prototype built on a fully-engineered platform slated for its big coming out party in January 2020. Fisker is billing the Ocean as “the world’s most sustainable vehicle” and while that is easy enough to say, actually delivering on the promise is going to be very challenging.
Up front, Fisker is tackling a lot of the core sustainability elements of the car in the design.
- Full-length solar roof: Produces enough power for 1,000 self-generated solar-powered miles per year (on average).
- Fully recycled carpeting: Made from regenerated nylon, which is made from abandoned fishing net waste – pulled from the oceans and aquaculture.
- Vegan interior: 100% Polycarbonate Polyurethane surfaces and 100% reinforced Rayon backing.
- Meets stringent chemical emission limits for various VOCs.
- Eco-suede: in a variety of interior textures and patterns.
- Dinamica: Derived from polyester fibers (T-shirts, fibers), recycled bottles, and plastic. Using recycled polyester reduces the energy and CO2 emissions required to produce the material by 80% compared to the traditional petrol-based polyester production process.
- Repurposing rubber waste: Fisker will utilize discarded rubber waste generated during tire manufacturing that will no longer be dumped in landfills.
- All-electric SUV range: The all-electric SUV will come standard with an extended range (target of approximately 250 to 300 miles, depending on driving conditions), enabled by its ~80 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
Vehicle Ownership Reimagined
The lease model is intended to be comprehensive and integrates all maintenance, repairs, and even insurance into a single monthly payment. To kick things off, interested parties can reserve a Fisker Ocean from the app or from Fisker’s website for a fully refundable $250 deposit today, with the Ocean set to arrive in 2022.
In 2020, Fisker will let reservation holders select from one of 5 pre-configured builds of the Ocean. The process was distilled down to 5 options to keep the configuration of the vehicle simple for prospective owners, while keeping costs down for Fisker. “This removes the complexity of complicated option configurators and allows Fisker to offer more unique experiences for less money,” Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker said.
These leases are truly month to month, giving customers the freedom to return the car after 1 month, 13 months, or even a few years. The lease comes with an impressive 30,000 miles per year that should accommodate the vast majority of use cases. No word on what happens to that $3,000 deposit if the lease is cancelled after just a few months though.
With maintenance being included, Fisker is taking another page from Tesla’s book and rolling out the red carpet for owners. When the time comes for the vehicle to be serviced, the vehicle will notify Fisker and the owner. Fisker will then send someone out to pickup the car and return it after the service is complete. It’s not as elegant as having the vehicle repaired in the owner’s garage or place of work, but it is still a massive improvement over the legacy dealership service model.
For those looking to purchase a Fisker Ocean, Fisker will be selling a limited number of Oceans at a sale price that will be announced when the production intent vehicle is unveiled in January 2020. We’re guessing that the reveal happens at CES in Las Vegas which is quickly becoming the place for electric vehicle unveilings. We reached out to Fisker to confirm and will update this article when we hear back.
One App To Rule Them All
The new Fisker Flexee smartphone app ushers in the digital age at Fisker, as the first direct-to-consumer olive branch. In addition to the unique leasing scheme, Fisker is exploring the integration of more advanced sharing economy functions like green ride-hailing, carpooling, and vehicle sharing into the app in the future.
Fisker is building out the app to truly be the home base for the vehicle ownership experience, with vehicle controls, pricing, insurance, and more built right in. It is not hard to imagine owners being able to rent a Fisker Ocean for the night, much like people can do today with apps like Turo.
Experience Centers
In the coming months, Fisker is launching a network of experience centers in popular shopping areas to let customers see, touch, and test drive Fisker’s vehicles in real life. The network is launching next year with test drives able to be booked from the mobile app in 2021.
The Fisker Ocean is targeted to begin production at the end of 2021 – with the first high-volume deliveries projected for 2022.
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