Fisker is issuing the first recall for its all-electric Ocean SUV because of problems with the warning lights, according to new information published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall technically only applies to all 6,864 Ocean SUVs in the US, as other regions have their own safety regimes.
The recall comes after months of problems with the Ocean SUV, and at a time when Fisker is on the brink of bankruptcy.
This recall is not related to any of the four active investigations NHTSA has launched into the Ocean.
With those, the agency is probing inadvertent automatic emergency braking, sudden braking loss, vehicle rollaway and doors that won’t open.
Your usual host Kirsten Korosec is taking a much deserved vacation, so I’ll be walking you through this week’s transportation news.
A little birdImage Credits: Bryce DurbinA lot of little birds have been talking to senior reporter Sean O’Kane about what is going on behind EV startup Fisker.
Other deals that got my attention …Euler Motors, an Indian manufacturer of commercial EVs, raised $24 million in a Series C extension.
Gireve, a French B2B platform for EV charging, raised €20 million to expand further in Europe and internationally and develop new services.
Zoox plans to test its robotaxis in Austin and Miami this summer, making them the Amazon-backed company’s fourth and fifth test cities.
Don’t blame MKBHD for the fate of Humane AI and Fisker Famed YouTuber Marques Brownlee makes a splash not for what he said — but for howHumane AI raised more than $230 million before it even shipped a product.
“It was really hard to come up with a title for this video,” Brownlee says in the video itself, which currently has over 5 million views.
The actual review was fair and balanced.”An underdog worth $800 millionCritics of MKBHD’s video are operating as though Humane AI is an underdog in the space.
In the month preceding the MKBHD review, federal safety regulators began investigating the Fisker Ocean for complaints about the brakes not working well.
The Humane AI pin was widely panned across the tech review board, but the only person receiving outsized and long-lasting criticism for his review is MKBHD, a Black man.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a third investigation into EV startup Fisker’s Ocean SUV, this time centered on problems getting the doors to open.
The agency says the complaints point to a an “intermittent failure” of the door latch and handle system.
The Ocean SUV is already being investigated by ODI over problems with its braking system, and for complaints about the vehicle rolling away on uneven surfaces.
It paused production of the Ocean in March and reported just $121 million in the bank.
But the new safety probe suggests a deeper problem with the SUV’s doors.
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
Remember in the last edition of TechCrunch Mobility, when I wrote that the wheels were starting to come off the Fisker bus?
Deal of the weekIt ain’t easy being an executive at an EV startup these days.
Amid all of the EV startup bankruptcies and other bleak goings-on, there was a bit of positive news.
It seems that Tesla is turning to FSD as another financial lever to pull as profits on automotive sales shrink.
And Manish wrote about the resignation of Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque late last week.
AI-powered itineraries: In an upgrade to its Search Generative Experience, Google has added the ability for users to ask Google Search to plan a travel itinerary.
Using AI, Search will draw on ideas from websites around the web along with reviews, photos and other details.
Robinhood’s new card: Nine months after acquiring credit card startup X1 for $95 million, Robinhood on Wednesday announced the launch of its new Gold Card, powered by X1’s technology, with a list of features that could make Apple Card users envious.
Bonus roundSpotify tests online learning: In its ongoing efforts to get its 600 million+ users to spend more time and money on its platform, Spotify is spinning up a new line of content: e-learning.
Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it scaled up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that started in December and took months to complete, TechCrunch has learned.
The EV startup was ultimately able to track down a majority of those payments or request new ones from customers whose payment methods had expired.
Red flags raisedFisker has warned investors since last year about problems with its internal accounting practices.
Fisker’s poor internal procedures have created problems beyond keeping track of payments.
Fisker hired contractors in February to help resolve the title and registration problems, but the backlog was immense, according to the people.
The New York Stock Exchange said Monday it will immediately suspend trading shares of EV startup Fisker and is moving to take the company off of its stock exchange.
The exchange said Monday that Fisker’s stock is “no longer suitable for listing” because of “abnormally low” price levels.
The decision comes a month after Fisker was warned by the NYSE that its stock price had spent 30 days trading below $1, putting it out of compliance with the exchange’s rules.
The suspension caps a tumultuous day for Fisker, which saw shares fall more than 28% before trading was halted.
The suspension comes just hours after Fisker announced it lost a potential deal with a large automaker, reported to be Nissan — a development that has also endangered a recently-announced attempt at securing emergency funding.
The negotiations between Fisker and a large automaker — reported to be Nissan — over a potential investment and collaboration have been terminated, a development that puts a separate near-term rescue funding effort in danger.
Fisker revealed in a Monday morning regulatory filing that the automaker terminated the negotiations on March 22.
Fisker said in the filing that it will ask the unnamed investor to waive the closing condition.
In February, Fisker laid of 15% of its staff (around 200 people) and last week reported having just $121 million in the bank.
Fisker had held talks with other automakers, including Mazda, but only Nissan recently remained at the table.
Fisker’s finances are back in the news after the company warned back in February that it didn’t have enough cash to make it through its next year.
The company said this week that it intends to halt production for six weeks to get its business back in order.
Softening demand growth for EVs is making the normal challenges of scaling a company all the harder for Fisker and its peers.
Not that we’re all doom and gloom here at TechCrunch — we’re actually rather bullish on the prospect for EVs in the near and far future.
Let’s take a look at what’s going on under the hood here:
