It’s a new day. It’s a new dawn. It’s a New Year! and now, it’s time to make this a new car. Well, actually, time to get back to the old Fisker Ocean, the original Fisker Ocean. The one that had T-Mobile cell service running through the car! Now hold onto your steering wheels, because the clouds have parted, the 4G bars are full, and I am officially laughing my way through the 2.2.3 upgrade.
Thanks to the collaboration with American Leasing and the software wizards at IndiGO keeping the lights on, the Ocean OS 2.2.3 software update is here. And with it? The triumphant return of Spotify!
The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Sanity
Let’s be honest: I’ve spent months tethering my phone like a 2005 IT intern just to hear some Spotify. And that would never work on Tuesday, for some reason. But now? I hopped in, the Spotify QR code popped up like a long-lost friend, and suddenly my cabin was filled with high-fidelity bliss of Blancmange. Yes my friends, I’m officially ‘Living on the Ceiling!’
I may or may not have done a victory lap around the block just to celebrate the fact that I didn’t have to fiddle with a Bluetooth menu for ten minutes. It’s the little things that keep us sane, right?
The OV Loop Revolution: My Phone is a Magic Wand
The real hero of this upgrade, though, is the refreshed OV Loop app. For those of us who have been waiting for the app to do more than just show us a static picture of our car, this is the big one.
We’re talking about a full suite of “adulting” features for your EV:
- Preconditioning: No more stepping into a cabin that feels like a sauna (or a walk-in freezer). I can start the climate from my kitchen while I’m still finishing my coffee.
- Remote Lock/Unlock: No more “Did I lock it?” panic attacks at 2:00 AM.
- Phone as Key (PaK): This is where the real convenience kicks in.
- HV Battery Status: Now I can the status of the range battery from the phone.
- LV Battery Status: Now I can see the status of the 12v battery as well.
- Cabin climate: I can see the cabin temp and confirm coolness, if needed. Unfortunately, no way to reset the temperature at this time. So on cool nights, where I may raise the temp, or even turn the HVAC off, I can’t restart or reset to a cooler temp. But that could change soon.
- Odometer: Yeah, this is interesting, but I like seeing the odometer reading. There’s plenty of times at America’s Tire, where I was able to view this info on the phone, rather than walk outside to the car. I’ve had 3 flats when I was working at the construction site. Pesky nails seem to find me everytime.
The “Yard Work” Savior (A True Story)
The other day, I was out in the yard, covered in mulch and dirt, trying to look like I knew what I was doing with a hedge trimmer. I realized I needed to move the car about six feet to access a sprinkler head, and I also needed to grab a tool I’d left in the trunk.
In the “Old Days” (read: last month), this would involve a clumsy trek into the house, tracking dirt and sand across the floor, and hunting for my key fob while my spouse gave me “the look.”
Not anymore. I pulled out my phone, tapped a button, and voila—the trunk popped. I grabbed my tool, tapped another button, and used the phone to move the Ocean just far enough. I did the whole thing without ever breaking my stride or ruining the carpet. I stood there in my gardening gloves, looking at my phone and laughing like a mad scientist. My neighbors probably think I’ve finally lost it, but they don’t have a car that listens to their phone, do they?
The Return of Spotify
For a while, being a Fisker owner felt like being the punchline of a joke. But with the 2.2.3 update and the OV Loop connectivity, the joke is on anyone who thought these cars were dead. We have streaming, we have remote control, and we have a community that refuses to quit.
For just a mere $499, I received a new communications plan that restores the T-Mobile service to the car. I know this may sound like a lot, and it i, but it’s pennies on the dollar to get the car back to working the way it was in the beginning. The payment is locked in as annual plan, so next January, they’ll hit me up again. But remember, I only paid $25k for the car, so to add another $499 is well within fiscal reason to return the streaming to the car and get the app back. And I get something I didn’t have before, namely, the cabin preconditioning to cool me down on those hot summer days.
Once the thermometer hits 100 degrees, that means the car hits 120 degrees. And there’s no windshield sun shade that’s going to help that. But now, I simply open the app and set the, set the timer, and voila, I step into a chill box of a car. Awesome! (ok, full disclosure, the app works on the BLE platform, Bluetooth Low Energy, so I do need to be near the car for it to work. But that’s easy enough, when I’m home, I simply step into the kitchen, which is only 10ft or so from the car, and everything connects. And when shopping in the summer sun, I can lock the car, than while standing right there, start the preconditioning, and when I return, the car is cool as a cucumber)