Electric vehicle startup Fisker is tying up with yet another familiar name.
Fisker has tapped Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), battery supplier for the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and Volkswagen, to supply batteries for its upcoming Ocean SUV.
CATL will supply two different battery types for the Ocean: a “high-capacity” pack with lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cell chemistry, and a “high-value” pack with lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry.
LFP batteries are what CATL currently supplies Tesla for use in its Chinese-built Model 3 which it sells here, as well as the Chinese Model Y set for launch here next year.
Fisker is no longer looking at using solid-state batteries in its vehicles.
CATL will supply over five gigawatt-hours (GWh) of annual battery capacity for the Ocean from 2023 to 2025.
While technical details have yet to be released for the Ocean, Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker says the longer-range Ocean variants will have “segment benchmark-driving range”.
The battery packs will allow direct charging from the optional solar roof, and will support peak charging power of more than 250kW.
Fisker says it’s been working with CATL since 2020 on batteries, and currently the two companies are engaged in “extensive testing and validation at the pack and vehicle level”.
A “production-intent” version of the Ocean is set to debut at the Los Angeles motor show on November 17, 2021, 12 months ahead of production start, and Fisker will announce additional battery specifications and features at that point.
The formal agreement with CATL is the latest significant agreement Fisker has signed with a well-known corporation.
Earlier in 2021, it signed a binding agreement with Magna to have the contract manufacturer build the Ocean.
It’s set to enter production at the firm’s carbon-neutral facility in Graz, Austria on November 17, 2022, with CATL-sourced batteries used from day one.
Fisker is also teaming up with Foxconn, a contract manufacturer best known for building iPhones and Playstations.
The Taiwanese company will produce an upcoming vehicle, codenamed Project Pear, at the former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio that it’s built from Lordstown Motors.
Prior to Foxconn’s acquisition of the plant, Fisker had confirmed Project Pear would enter production in the fourth quarter of 2023, using a new lightweight platform called FP28.
The fruits of Fisker and Foxconn’s labour will be offered in markets like North America, Europe, China and India, while Fisker also intends to build it outside the US, with annual volumes of more than 250,000 units across multiple sites.
Fisker has also promised a starting price of less than US$30,000 ($38,515) before incentives.
For context, a Nissan Leaf starts at US$31,620 and is still eligible for the US$7500 federal tax credit.
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