Fisker Automotive has announced that it will be using General Motors' 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec four-cylinder in its upcoming Karma sedan. This engine is good for 260 horsepower and can already be found in vehicles like the Chevrolet HHR SS and Saturn Sky Redline. Fisker has already confirmed that the electric portion of the drivetrain will be sourced from Quantum Technologies and that the Karma will have a fifty-mile electric range before the internal combustion engine kicks in. As it turns out, Fisker is considering using several other GM components for the Karma, as well.

Henrik Fisker, CEO, says that he is "confident that this is the beginning of an important partnership between GM and Fisker in developing the most desirable fuel efficient vehicles of the future."

The Karma's launch is expected to come around the same time as other four-door sports cars like the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide. As of this writing, domestic deliveries of the Karma will begin in the fourth quarter of 2009 while Europe will have to wait until 2010. Fisker plans to produce 15,000 cars each year, with more than half going to overseas markets.

+ Motor Authority: Fisker picks GM Ecotec engine for Karma plug-in hybrid

The world’s first all electric supercar, the Tesla Roadster, is set to get an update from German super tuners Brabus; a package that includes appearance tweaks to the interior and exterior, as well as a fascinating sound package for the near-silent EV.

New wheels and tires, a carbon-fiber front lip spoiler, and a “futuristic” lighting package are all very nice for the Tesla, but we’re most interested in the “space sound generator” that will come equipped on each Brabus Roadster. The tuning house is seeking to give the Tesla a more exciting, albeit completely faked, running sound with electronically produced effects. Owners will be able to set their Tesla to make noises approximating a V-8 engine, a racecar engine, or “two futuristic soundscapes.” Those last two effects are named “Beam” and “Warp,” and we’re absolutely chomping at the bit to hear them in action—we’re looking into the matter as of this writing, don’t worry.

This type of piped in sound is a feature that Hybrid and EV makers have been discussing for a hot minute now, and could lead to a class of vehicles that are aurally dissimilar from anything we’re used to today. It’s a topic that causes some deal of fretting from auto enthusiasts and one that we’ve dealt with in some measure before (click through the link below to get our own Chris Paukert’s take on the subject).

Have a look at the gallery of Brabus Tesla Roadster images above and stay tuned for more information, as we have it, about the tantalizing sound generator. You’ll find the full press release below.
 

+ Winding Road: Pace Notes

Fisker Automitive announced today that they will be opening a new engineering and development center in Pontiac, Michigan. This 34,000-square foot facility will be capable of housing up to 200 designers and engineers whose main focus will be putting out Fisker's first production car, the Karma sedan.

The Karma has the potential for fuel economy of around 100 miles per gallon on extended drives with its Q-Drive powertrain (developed by Quantum Technologies) being capable of more than 350 miles of total range -- 50 miles solely on electricity. The Karma is said to have a top speed of 125 miles per hour and will be able to hit 60 mph in less than six seconds.

Initial deliveries of the Fisker Karma are scheduled to happen in the fourth quarter of 2009 with plans to sell the car in North America in Europe. Fisker's annual production is anticipated to reach 15,000 vehicles by 2011.

+ Global Motors: Fisker Automotive announces new Engineering and Development center in Pontiac, Michigan

The all-electric Mini E is almost ready to begin its limited production run of 500 cars for California, though it seems buyers will have to pay a pretty penny for the Mini's one-year lease -- $850 per month. BMW officials say that because of the hand-built production and cutting-edge technology, this price won't fully cover the actual costs of the E's development.

On the upside, though, the Mini E has an expected range of 150 miles on a 2.5-hour charge, and we're told that this car won't be a total slug off the line. This will save in fuel costs, but still, when compared to a standard Mini Cooper's leasing price of about $350/month for two years, it might not seem all that worth it.

An electric Mini seems like a pretty hot ticket and this first-generation run of 500 models will be a good way for the engineers to note any malfunctions and potentially work out how to mass-produce the Mini E.

+ Motor Authority: Mini USA prices electric Mini Cooper lease at $850/month

The internet was aflutter with rumors of a big shakeup over at Tesla Motors last week, with some sources claiming that up to 100 employees could be laid off after the young automaker suffered a financial blow alongside pretty much everyone else in the industry. At the time we were led to believe that the company was putting all future projects on hold—more specifically the much-discussed four-door Model S, or WhiteStar—and that the company was closing up shop in its Auburn Hills, Michigan engineering office while keeping the fires burning at the San Jose, California headquarters.

Now it seems as if all may not be well in Cali either, as Los Angelinos have started murmuring that the spanking new Tesla showroom has remained closed for business today. One savvy resident said, “The lights are off, the doors are closed and locked, nobody and no cars around.”

There could be any number of reasons that the Tesla crew took this particular Monday off (company picnic perhaps?) but having no one manning the fort is never a terribly comforting sign for an organization that could very well be neck-high in the financial tall grass. Stay tuned for more information as we have it.

+ The Truth About Cars: Wild Ass Rumor of the Day: Tesla Dead?

Mini was proud to release information regarding its first zero emissions vehicle this weekend, the much anticipated, electrically powered Mini E.

Set to be released into private hands following the car’s formal introduction at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, the first fleet of Mini Es will number just 500 in a limited initial production run. Parent BMW hopes to gain valuable experience through this rather extensive field test of the new EV, expecting that findings from the Mini E will make their way into future, mass-produced vehicles.

The EV Mini boasts rather impressive stats from its 150 kilowatt electric motor, as the unit makes a strong 204 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. The strangely horsepower-heavy motor is able to propel the Mini from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 8.5 seconds, and will travel something like 150 miles on a full charge of its lithium-ion battery pack.

The battery system is rather impressive in its own right, containing some 5088 cells grouped into 48 modules. Charging time has been a large focus of the Mini E project—Mini is handing out a high current charging station for the owner’s garage with each vehicle—with the batteries able to go from empty to a full charge in about two and a half hours. Additionally the new Mini’s engine acts as a brake whenever a driver takes his foot off the accelerator, meaning that roughly 75 percent of all deceleration can be handled by the engine in most city driving situations. That energy is also recouped by the batteries, providing a boost of up to 20 percent to the car’s range.

Read the full Mini E press release below or take a look at the car in the gallery up top.

http://www.dailytech.com/BMW+Readies+204+HP+Allelectric+MINI+E+for+California/ar...

Engineers at BMW are busy cooking up an all-electric version of the effervescent Mini, a car that should help the automaker off-set its less conscientious offerings from the likes of the M motorsports division and Rolls-Royce. Such an EV will come in handy when trying make the grade for upcoming European Union CO2 standards, as well as regulations coming on the books for California in 2012.
 
The electric Mini may look very similar (re: almost exactly the same) as the current cars, but can be fairly easily distinguished by two things; the slightly misleading “HYBRID” sticker on the side, and the total absence of offal-spewing tailpipes.
 
Have a closer look at the super-green Mini in our gallery above or read the shooter’s words down below.

We were front and center when General Motors launched its Volt concept car at the 2007 North American International Auto Show and we were in a similar position last week when the company rolled out the production version of the 2011 vehicle. Like most media outlets, we praised GM for taking such a bold step in creating not only a gasoline-saving vehicle, but an entirely new class of transportation—something the company has dubbed an “electric range-extended vehicle.”

Last week’s unveiling of the 2011 production car version of the Volt was met with some hubbub, mostly around a new design—with some stating that the bloom had come off the rose. While the design issue is a divided one in our office, we’re in universal agreement (and disappointment) over a new revelation in the Volt story we’ve just learned about over the last 24 hours. It seems that at some point over the last few months GM changed the powertrain story for the Volt, removing one of the concept’s groundbreaking features: the ability to charge its lithium-ion battery on the fly after the initial charge had expired.

In a press release posted by GM on January 7, 2007 (the day of the Volt’s launch at NAIAS), the company said that “when the battery is depleted…(an) engine spins at a constant speed to create electricity and replenish the battery.”

The problem is that’s no longer the case. In the production version of the Volt unveiled last week, little was made of the powertrain changes, but they were published in a press release which was later sniffed out by Edmunds' Inside Line . The new powertrain configuration has the gasoline engine providing power to the electric motor, effectively creating a “powertrain double” in which both the gasoline engine and electric motor are running in tandem when in “extended-range” mode to power the vehicle.

GM responded to inquiries about this today, saying that the change from the original method of charging the batteries on the fly to the new model of running the electric motor from gasoline occurred only recently “when plans for the production version firmed up.” Miles per gallon for the gasoline engine that will provide power to the electric motor are unknown at this point. What is known is the original press release from January 7, 2007 has been pulled from GM’s media website; the link to access it is no longer active, but it's still available on GM Europe's website as of this writing

While the detail might seem small, it is a fundamental change in the Volt story. We’re still big fans of the idea of the car but hope that between now and its on-sale date in two years it still keeps the magic alive. On a side note, our hats our tipped to the team running GM's Twitter feed (Adam and Chris, we believe) who were quick to respond to our inquiries throughout the day.