Sandy Carnage: Fisker Karmas Submerged In Salt Water Burn At Port

Home

News

Electric Cars

Sandy Carnage: Fisker Karmas Submerged In Salt Water Burn At Port

Antony Ingram

Contributing Writer BIO

Antony is an automotive obsessive: Whether it drives, sits there looking pretty or intrigues from afar, he'll talk and write about it. Automotive... More

LATEST ARTICLE
Nissan Leaf, Solar-Canopy Charging Station In New SIMS Game
The Nissan Leaf is no stranger to videogames. Last year, we had a little race between a Leaf and... Read More

#6LEADERBOARD RANK
1818ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
4COMMENTS POSTED

4,094 views Oct 31, 2012

Follow Antony

2012 Fisker Karma EcoChic, New York City, Jan 2012

Enlarge Photo

Related Photo Galleries

Volt-Style Battery Nightmare Before Christmas...

See more photos »

For luxury automaker Fisker, things just go from bad to worse.

While hurricane Sandy has caused more pressing issues for the East coast and its residents than a few submerged cars, images of sixteen destroyed Fisker Karmas will do nothing to ease nerves at the troubled firm.

Worse still, the images on Jalopnik show several of the Karmas to have caught fire and burned to the ground.

The photographs show that some of the cars at the Port Newark Container Terminal have survived intact--though no doubt heavily damaged by water ingress--one section of the shipment has been completely destroyed by fire. Sources suggest there were even explosions.

It isn't known how exactly the cars caught fire, and Fisker confirms in a statement that none were charging at the time and that nobody was hurt.

It's possible that salt water from the storm surge shorted electrical connections and sparked a fire. It's also unclear how many cars spontaneously caught fire, though many of the vehicles appear to be closely parked, so it's possible the fire could have spread from vehicle to vehicle.

Unfortunately for Fisker, this isn't the first time its cars have caught fire, and is another blow to a company which has faced constant setbacks since releasing its range-extended luxury sedan.

Fisker has confirmed it will investigate as soon as the storm-ravaged port is re-opened.

+++++++++++

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.

Tags:

fire

Posted in:

Contribute

Send us a tip Comment Contact the editor

People Who Read This Article Also Read

Have an opinion?

Comments (11)

CDspeed . Posted: 10/31/2012 5:26am PDT

If the Karmas at the port did catch fire on their own, I think it's time for someone to halt Fisker's production and conduct a major investigation.

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?

John McVicker Posted: 10/31/2012 10:18am PDT

Seems like an easy test to reproduce. Take Karma to a boat dock and drive it into salt water and wait.

Post Reply

Bad stuff?

Knows Picker Posted: 10/31/2012 8:19am PDT

That is why I waited to purchase a Tesla Model S, I wasn't going to drop 100k on that sinking ship. Sorry, no pun intended.

Post Reply

-2

Bad stuff?

Xiaolong Li Posted: 10/31/2012 11:50am PDT

Tesla S and Karma aren't the same... They aren't even close to be the same...

Post Reply

Bad stuff?

Chris O Posted: 10/31/2012 12:30pm PDT

Explosions? The A123 lithium Iron phosphate batteries are nothing if not extremely stable. Maybe it was tyres bursting due to the heat of the fire.

Poor Fisker...they just can't seem to get a break.

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?

Robert Morgan Posted: 11/1/2012 1:01pm PDT

Not that it matters, since A123 went bankrupt and ceased production months age, costing the US Taxpayer hundreds of millions we'll never see again.
Perhaps a blessing considering.

Post Reply

-1

Bad stuff?

Pat Butler Posted: 10/31/2012 2:59pm PDT

What is that I hear could it be taps!

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?

Mark Stang Posted: 10/31/2012 8:00pm PDT

“Bad karma is defined as the set of consequences given to a person as a result of the bad choices that he or she may have made in their past. Karma is a spiritual law that in essence states that the seeds that a person sows in their life will produce a plant later on in their life. Sowing seeds of dishonor, unfaithfulness, dishonesty, and so on, would be considered sowing seeds of bad karma.”
Ironically the name that Fisker chose for their car sort of sums it up well. Some of their problems may have been due to plain bad luck but many other problems with the Karma could have possibly come of as the results of the decisions they have made.

Post Reply

Bad stuff?

Just O Posted: 11/2/2012 2:10am PDT

With cars parked so tightly, it'd be enough for just one to catch fire...

Regardless, this doesn't look good, especially when almost a year ago, vehicles from another manufacturer survived worse treatment much better:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/business/tsunami-reveals-durability-of-nissans-leaf.html

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?

Paul Cunningham Posted: 11/6/2012 5:47pm PST

Lambo's catch fire all the time, people still buy them. Although I am more in tune with Tesla, i think Fisker hitting the skids this early would be less than great for the industry. It really needs a few big wins to get confidence of buyers and potential entrepreneurs.

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?

lisa runnels Posted: 4/23/2013 4:03am PDT