Automaker Fisker filed for bankruptcy in July, planning to “preserve certain customer programs” as today’s electric vehicles rely heavily on software updates and cloud connectivity. This appears to be the reason for the lawsuit filed by American Lease, which decided to buy back 3,300 of the vehicles it had already produced for $46.3 million. Fisker told American Lease that the Ocean SUVs “cannot technically be transferred” from Fisker’s server.
Image source: Fisker
A large-scale price cut for premium Ocean electric SUVs in March brought the price of these vehicles to less than $25,000. This desperate move did not help Fisker avoid bankruptcy, and New York-based American Lease agreed to buy the remaining inventory. The deal amounted to approximately 3,300 vehicles for a total of $46.3 million. By October, American Lease had paid Fisker $42.5 million and received approximately 1,100 electric vehicles.
But on Oct. 4, Fisker told American Lease that the electric vehicles “cannot technically be migrated” from the Fisker server to which the vehicles are currently locked to the American Lease server.
American Lease “cannot overstate the significance of this unfortunate news,” especially given that the deal was almost fully paid. It remains unclear how long Fisker has been aware of the lack of technical ability to transfer the binding of its electric vehicles to a new server.
Owners of almost 6,400 Ocean SUVs are seriously concerned about the issue of how to ensure the performance of their electric cars and the possibility of their service after the bankruptcy of Fisker.
Experts believe that this situation should serve as a warning to the entire automotive industry. Automakers are increasingly relying on connectivity to one or more clouds to enhance the functionality and serviceability of their products. But such a “binding” can seriously poison the life of the owners if technical problems arise on cloud servers.