Fisker Won’t Let You Really Enjoy Your Car More Than 500 Times (for Now)

The slickly designed 2023 Fisker Ocean wowed us with its good initial build quality and nice driving dynamics. As is the case with a couple of other EVs, Fisker requires users to enter a special performance mode (Boost Mode) in order to unlock its full 564 hp and 543 lb-ft of torque. There's a catch, though: Boost Mode is limited to 500 activations. Here's what that means.

In regular, day-to-day use, the Ocean (in its top-tier Extreme trim) produces a very respectable 468 hp and 514 lb-ft of torque. This is more than enough power to perform 99.9999999 percent of life's driving requirements, such as merging, passing, and accelerating. With Boost Mode activated, however, the car will briefly unlock full power so the driver and occupants can amuse themselves with even more of that instant-torque feeling EVs are known for. In practice, there's a little indicator next to the Boost Mode menu item that counts down from 500, letting you know how many activations you have left.

Fisker Inc. founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said the decision to do this comes down to "a warranty thing." Essentially, the company doesn't believe its owners will max out their cars very often, so why subject it to all the "extra wear" that Boost Mode launches would entail?

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"We are seeing how people are going to use the Boost Mode," Fisker toldMotorTrendat the Ocean's launch event in Vienna, Austria, earlier last month. "Is it something people really want? Because most likely, they'll try it 10 times and then they probably won't do it much more—except if they have a friend out and they want to show off."

Semi-relatedly, Fisker also hasn't ruled out a subscription-based features model. The company is cautious, for sure, because of all the recent backlash, but can envision a couple of situations where it could work. Nothing's set in stone, yet, though.

Speaking hypothetically, Henrik Fisker said, "If it's something like, for example, giving extra horsepower, it's not just that you switch it on. It's also that there is a certain change in the durability of the vehicle now. Even a gasoline engine. If you tune up a gasoline engine, it's not going to last as long as if you didn't. So the warranty will change. Part of charging for that is because you may need to service a vehicle and give some warranty on it because somebody's using it a lot."

Should this happen, it would be very similar to what Mercedes offers on certain EQ all-electric models, which is additional motor output for an annual $1,200 power upgrade fee.

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When asked whether Fisker had conducted testing and which parts specifically suffered the most wear in order to arrive at the choice to limit Boost Mode, a company rep responded, "The powertrain was tested assuming a lifetime use of 500 Boost Modes, and passed this testing successfully. The 500 activations are not based on limitations of any specific component. The number is more a conservative limit benchmarked against other Boost Modes. We estimate the powertrain would likely pass more Boost Mode usage, but we have not tested the full durability cycle with more than 500 Boost Modes included."

Should a customer want more than 500 activations, the company can give them more, Fisker said. The company rep declined to comment on what those transactions will look like, how much they will cost, and how they will affect Fisker's factory-backed warranty, as it's still too early to say.

Hearing there are limitations on how frequently a customer can enjoytheircar that they have purchased might be a reason to balk, but then you have to ask yourself: How often do youreallyfloor your EV everywhere after that glossy honeymoon period is over and the novelty has worn off? The thinking is similar to the Genesis Electrified GV70's own boost button (there is no such activation limitation there, however).

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Nonetheless, should this draw any ire, we suspect it wouldn't be over the reality of customer usage. Rather, it'd be about the principle of the thing.

The truth is today's software-defined vehicles make it really easy for automakers to apply over-the-air updates or improvements, but they also make it far easier for them to box up certain features into a subscription model. Keep in mind Fisker and the Fisker Ocean are still in the very early stages of their rollout, so it we'll see how things shake out.