Zoomi Life

The Karma from Fisker Automotive in Southern California has been much anticipated. Half family sedan, half sports car, this extended range hybrid has been one of our favorites here at Zoomilife for a long time. Lately, it’s been showing it’s abilities on the test track as it peels rubber towards its official release date.

Read More: Fisker Karma Flexes Its Muscles (video)

Compared to Tesla and it’s CEO Elon Musk, Fisker and its CEO Henrick Fisker, are a quiet little company in Southern California. The two companies are often compared, or more specifically, their vehicles are often compared, though. The Karma and the Roadster are both high-end sports cars with big price tags and lots of performance. Plus tons of green cred.

Read More: Henrik Fisker Gets Candid About the Karma and the Tesla Roadster

Two venture capital investors have stepped up for the next round of capital to get Fisker to production level. One is Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, who’ve been with Fisker Automotive since the beginning, and the other is Eco-Drive (Capital) Partners in New York.

Read More: Fisker Brings In Another $85M in Venture Capital for Karma

Fisker Automotive announced their first wave of selected retailers to carry the Fisker brand (and the new Karma). The list contains 32 retailers across the United States, which comes very close to Fisker’s announced goal of 40 by June this year.

Read More: Fisker Selects First Wave of North American Retailers

Keeping things on the continent, Fisker Automotive has signed a battery deal with Vancouver-based Advanced Lithium Power, Inc. The deal has two aspects: thousands of lithium-ion batteries for the Karma and a sizeable cash stake in the Canadian company.

Read More: Fisker Signs Battery Deal with Canadian Supplier

Fisker Automotive, whose Karma will be hitting the streets this fall, has announced a successful fundraising round of $3 million. The money will go towards purchasing partial ownership stock in an unnamed battery company, presumably to give Fisker more control over its supply chain.

Read More: Fisker Raises $3 Million to Buy Battery Stock

Fisker has announced that they are now taking pre-orders on the Karma-S hard-top convertible, due to hit the streets in 2011 and debuting in street-ready prototype form at the Detroit Auto Show next January (2009).

Read More: Fisker Starts Taking Pre-Orders on the Karma S

Fisker televised its new ad for the Karma during the Oscars. The ad features Henrik Fisker himself talking about the car as well as shots of the car in action. The ad focuses on the car’s style and looks and uses the term “eco chic” to describe it. To steal a phrase from Paris Hilton… “That’s hot.”

Read More: Fisker Karma Debuts New Television Ad During Oscars

Here’s a great video of Henrik Fisker, creator of the Fisker Karma, talking about the Karma and his company’s plans. The video was shot at the NAIAS Detroit Auto show the day that Fisker unveiled the Karma-S, their new convertible model.

Read More: VIDEO: Henrik Fisker Talks About the Karma

Well, it’s the end of the year, so it’s time for everyone to start rolling out their favorites lists and summing up what they saw during the year. This is our top five favorite electric cars that are either on the market or will be before 2010.

Read More: Our Top 5 Electric Cars of 2008