DETROIT, Mich.–Karma engineers recently traveled to a speedway to validate the Revero’s top speed and regenerative braking capabilities. The plug-in hybrid gets put through its paces up the Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado in this video as well.
Karma makes luxury hybrids. And the Pike’s Peak validation is interesting for two reasons: An hybrid or EV power-train is especially challenged by a steady upward grade, but in its all-electric mode it is not effected by altitude the way an internal combustion engine is. Anyone who has driven over the Rockies knows a typical ICE engine can be in a steady state of rev and deceleration that makes getting over a mountain a nasty adventure.
The Revero is a plug-in hybrid that gets up to 50 miles on a full battery charge, and around 300 miles on a full tank of gas, which feed the engine after the battery runs out, which in turn powers the battery until the next charge.
The battery gets recharged in part with regen braking and via solar panels on the roof.
The car started out in life as the Fisker Karma, now built and sold through Karma Automotive, based in Moreno Valley, California. The starting price is $145,000 and has a limited run of production.
