Fisker Automotive

After completing my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I joined Fisker Automotive in mid-2011 as a Design-Release Engineer on the Body Exteriors team. In this role I was responsible for the development of eight plastic body exterior parts for the Atlantic sedan. My parts included the front cowl screen, wheel liners, B-pillar appliqués, mud flaps, windscreen washer bottle, and badges. This job was my introduction to the automotive industry and I received what could honestly be called a ‘crash course’ in the design and release process. In this start-up environment I created and maintained design documents including DFMEA and DVP&R, and released ECRs in step with design milestones. I began to learn how to use CATIA, although contractors handled CAD duties at Fisker. I traveled to vendors for the first time and gained practice evaluating and working with external suppliers.

The Atlantic (known internally as the “Nina”) was intended to be what the Model 3 was for Tesla - the smaller, affordable version of the Karma that would integrate learnings and improvements of the series hybrid technology. Unfortunately, Fisker Automotive began to come under increasing pressure: deliveries of the Karma to its first high-profile customers began around the same time that I arrived, and the cars had issues in the field. Work on the Atlantic was shelved while issues with the Karma took priority. As external problems became more severe - media coverage was constant and critical - internal issues began to rise. Personnel were shuffled from top to bottom, and as engineers left the company it increased the strain on those who remained. By the conclusion of my 16-month stay with Fisker, I had somehow become responsible for the entire front and rear underbody structures of the Karma. I was laid off in late 2012 with the majority of the workforce, and Fisker Automotive declared bankruptcy a year later. It survives today, though in two confusing entities: the intellectual property of Fisker Automotive was purchased by the Wanxiang Group, which renamed the company Karma Automotive and re-engineered and re-released the Fisker Karma as the Karma Revero. Henrik Fisker himself did not stay on; he retained the rights to his name and started Fisker Inc, which is working on an electric SUV.

In the spring of 2012, a call went out from the vehicle test team to all employees: they needed help putting miles on cars and validating new software builds before releasing to customers. Eager to get time behind the wheel of the Karma, I volunteered. I volunteered so frequently that eventually I was put in charge of the small test fleet of cars (5-10). I managed volunteer drivers, teaching them how to operate the car then collecting their drive notes and observations. I compiled this information, categorizing the issues, identifying trends and new issues, and reported the findings daily to the engineering team. I completed these duties in parallel with my engineering tasks. When there were gaps in the schedule I filled them if I could - in the end I accumulated over 12,000 miles of Karma testing across Southern California. You can see more over in the Not Work section of the site.