When This EV Company Went Bankrupt, Its Customers Launched a Nonprofit to Keep Their Cars Running (theverge.com) 23
Cristian Fleming paid around $70,000 for one of Fisker Ocean's electric mid-size crossover SUVs. Seven months later the company filed for bankruptcy in June of 2024, reports the Verge, "having only delivered 11,000 vehicles."
"Early adopters were left with cars plagued by battery failures, glitchy software, inconsistent key fobs, and door handles that did not always open. With the company gone, there was no way to fix any issues." Regulators logged dozens of complaints as replacement parts vanished. Passionate owners who spent top dollar on high-end trims saw their cars reduced to expensive driveway ornaments.
Rather than accept defeat, thousands of Ocean owners have organized into their own makeshift car company. The Fisker Owners Association (FOA) is a nonprofit that's launched third-party apps, built a global parts supply chain, and came together around a future for their orphaned vehicles. It's part car club, part tech startup, part survival mission. Fleming now serves as the organization's president... FOA calls itself the first entirely owner-controlled EV fleet in history. So far, 4,055 Ocean owners have signed up, paying $550 a year in dues that the group estimates will raise around $3 million annually, about 0.1 percent of Fisker's peak valuation. Only verified Ocean owners can become full members, but anyone can donate.
The grassroots effort has precedent — DeLorean diehards and Saab enthusiasts have kept their favorite brands alive after factory closures. But those efforts focused on preserving aging vehicles. FOA is attempting something different: real-time software updates and hardware improvements for a connected, two-year-old EV fleet... The organization has spawned three separate companies. Tsunami Automotive handles parts in North America while Tidal Wave covers Europe, scavenging insurance auctions and contracting with tooling manufacturers to reproduce components. UnderCurrent Automotive, run by former Google and Apple engineers, focuses on software solutions.
UnderCurrent's first product is OceanLink Pro, a third-party mobile app now used by over 1,200 members that restores basic EV features, such as remote battery monitoring and climate control. A companion device called OceanLink Pulse adds wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, with plans for future upgrades including keyless entry. "Those are things you would have expected to be in a $70,000 luxury car," says Clint Bagley [FOA's treasurer]. "But, you know, we're happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn't."
"Early adopters were left with cars plagued by battery failures, glitchy software, inconsistent key fobs, and door handles that did not always open. With the company gone, there was no way to fix any issues." Regulators logged dozens of complaints as replacement parts vanished. Passionate owners who spent top dollar on high-end trims saw their cars reduced to expensive driveway ornaments.
Rather than accept defeat, thousands of Ocean owners have organized into their own makeshift car company. The Fisker Owners Association (FOA) is a nonprofit that's launched third-party apps, built a global parts supply chain, and came together around a future for their orphaned vehicles. It's part car club, part tech startup, part survival mission. Fleming now serves as the organization's president... FOA calls itself the first entirely owner-controlled EV fleet in history. So far, 4,055 Ocean owners have signed up, paying $550 a year in dues that the group estimates will raise around $3 million annually, about 0.1 percent of Fisker's peak valuation. Only verified Ocean owners can become full members, but anyone can donate.
The grassroots effort has precedent — DeLorean diehards and Saab enthusiasts have kept their favorite brands alive after factory closures. But those efforts focused on preserving aging vehicles. FOA is attempting something different: real-time software updates and hardware improvements for a connected, two-year-old EV fleet... The organization has spawned three separate companies. Tsunami Automotive handles parts in North America while Tidal Wave covers Europe, scavenging insurance auctions and contracting with tooling manufacturers to reproduce components. UnderCurrent Automotive, run by former Google and Apple engineers, focuses on software solutions.
UnderCurrent's first product is OceanLink Pro, a third-party mobile app now used by over 1,200 members that restores basic EV features, such as remote battery monitoring and climate control. A companion device called OceanLink Pulse adds wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, with plans for future upgrades including keyless entry. "Those are things you would have expected to be in a $70,000 luxury car," says Clint Bagley [FOA's treasurer]. "But, you know, we're happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn't."
Right to repair (Score:5, Insightful)
Done correctly.
found the problem (Score:1)
> real-time software updates .. for a connected .. fleet
I never would've bought a spycar to begin with.
Repairing a Fisker (Score:5, Interesting)
Rich Rebuilds bought a bricked Ocean for $10k and then got it running. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
His road trip in a Fisker Karma is hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you, that video is hilarious. I'm just a few minutes in and I love how he compared Fisker's (the guy) face and smile to the car's front.
I'm also having nightmares. 2 years ago I bought an '06 Volvo salvage car that I otherwise love. The most worrisome thing: "Reduced Engine Performance Mode" message, which actually has 3 or 4 levels of "you're screwed". Thank you Bosch, and Volvo too. I wonder if I can adapt a Chevy ECU?
Supposedly there are software updates that improve some of the hyper-sensitivity t
correction (Score:2)
""But, you know, we're happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn't."
The billion-dollar SILICON VALLEY automaker. So of course they couldn't, not enough bonuses for the principles.
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Scientific American already said it in the 1920's or 30's: outside of his specialization, every scientist/engineer is a layman.
Open source it! (Score:4, Interesting)
There's really no reason to not open source as much of the car as possible at this point. I recently read up on the Fisker Ocean and it was an absolute clusterfuck. Not even kidding, the car would suddenly lose power while it was being driven. I doubt the car owners are going to manage fixing the car on their own, so the best option is to make it possible for people to obtain parts and actually fix problems.
From what I read, it seems like there is at least one race condition in the ECU which means you need real talent taking a look. I wouldn't be surprised if they just plopped FreeRTOS on it, made drivers that worked independently and assumed conflicts wouldn't occur.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, they were the only competition to Tesla back in the day. This was early ea
Re:Open source it! (Score:5, Informative)
Keep in mind we're talking about two different companies here. The Karma was produced by Fisker Automotive, which was founded in 2007, whereas the Ocean was produced by Fisker Inc., which was in business from 2016 to 2024. Both were founded by Henrik Fisker, but the first company was sold to a Chinese group who (as far as I can tell) are still in business in some form.
Fisker (Score:3)
I swear this company has had some major voodoo curse thrown its way. How many times did it go under by now?
And I remember back in 2011 when I first saw Karma in the street it was a rather pretty car. Generator sounded a bit crap but ok, it was a tesla model s before tesla model s.
Still astonishes me that Fisker found backers (Score:2)
especially after that overpriced overweight poorly assembled monstrosity that was the original Karma
Running (Score:2)
I will leave myself out.
Is that positive news? (Score:2)
So if you don't launch a non-profit you're lost?
Probably short lived (Score:1)
Most likely, the IP assets of the company will be bought at auction, and this project will be sued out of existence, only to be replaced by the exact same software (taken in the lawsuit), but 10x as expensive and never updated.
They should be forced to opensource (Score:3)
When a company goes TU like this, and leaves customers in the lurch, they should be forced to go full open-source. With, the patents licensed to all owners where they are immune from patent issues as are any organizations which build things on their behalf. But, every engineering document, every software document, etc should all be wide open.
BMW does it fairly often (Score:2)
Probably around twice a year...
I'd say more than about once a quarter and you've got to be asking "why" ?