How do you make potential customers sit up and take notice of you when they’ve never heard of your brand? You might do it with bold design, a bargain price, or, if you’re trying to market an EV, by offering a huge headline-grabbing driving range.
It looks like Fisker is attempting to cover all three, though perhaps the most impressive achievement of all is the EV range. The company’s Tesla Model Y-rivalling Ocean SUV has an official WLTP driving range of 440 miles (707 km) that Fisker says is easily the best of any electric SUV available in Europe.
That figure relates to a 550 hp (558 PS) Ocean Extreme, a high-spec model that gets a bigger battery than the one fitted to entry-level cars. Fisker hasn’t confirmed WLTP figures for that entry-level 275 hp (279 PS) Sport model or the 540 hp (548 PS) mid-spec, all-wheel drive Ultra. But since the Extreme’s numbers improved from an estimated 390 miles (628) by almost 15 percent it seems likely that the Sport (estimated 275 miles / 443 km) and Ultra (379 miles / 610 km) will also see their figures boosted.
Related: Fisker Calls Tesla Price Cuts ‘Hard Pill To Swallow’ But Stands Firm On Ocean SUV Pricing
So what about Fisker’s claim that the Ocean’s range is the best of any electric SUV on sale? The longest-legged battery-powered SUV in Europe until the Ocean arrived was the BMW iX xDrive50 whose gargantuan 111.5 kWh battery can take it 380 miles (612 km) before you need to hook it up to a charger. That’s a pretty big range for any electric vehicle, especially for a heavy SUV, but the Ocean beats it by a massive 60 miles (97 km).
Coming in close behind in terms of range, and looking like a more suitable comparison in terms of size and market segment is the Ford Mustang Mach-E. The electric pony car comes with two different battery options, the largest of which when fitted to a single-motor, rear-wheel drive Mach-E gives a WLTP range of 379 miles (610 km). Other electric SUVs including the Tesla Model Y are all rated at less than 350 miles (563 km).
As with all WLTP numbers, it’s best to take these with a pinch of salt. Fisker still hasn’t confirmed EPA figures for North America. EPA ratings tend to be lower and are likely to be more representative of the kind of numbers real drivers will see when the production Oceans from the Austrian factory hit the road on both sides of the Atlantic in the coming months.
