Fisker announced last week it struck a deal with Apple iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to jointly develop and build its second, though still unnamed, EV, due in 2023. Its first vehicle, the Fisker Ocean, is due to begin production at the end of 2022. Around 12,000 reservations have been placed so far. That vehicle will be built by automotive supplier Magna, which already builds the Jaguar I-Pace for the British carmaker.

One of the more interesting things about Henrik Fisker's latest company is its intention to develop and utilize solid-state batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries. But that plan has now been abandoned. Fisker confirmed this news to The Verge and we can't say we're entirely surprised. Solid-state batteries are more complicated and, as Fisker now admits, the technology isn't where it needs to be for series production.

"It's the kind of technology where, when you feel like you're 90 percent there, you're almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90," he said. "So we have completely dropped solid-state batteries at this point in time because we just don't see it materializing."

This must have been a tough decision for Fisker to make because his company has spent the past few years developing the tech and even claimed to have solved some of their production problems. This won't affect the Ocean SUV because it was designed from the get-go to use lithium-ion batteries. Future Fisker EVs, however, may now need to be reconsidered, at least technically. Fisker himself went on to say these batteries are still probably "at least seven years out, if not more, in terms of any sort of high-volume format."

When asked whether the decision to drop these batteries had something to do with a now-settled lawsuit filed by QuantumScape, a VW-backed battery startup, Fisker only referred to the settlement's non-disclosure agreement. He also remained non-committal about using solid-state batteries in the future, despite the advancements already made.

"If we do, it would be something completely new, and we obviously have a battery team that's looking at the current technology that's here. But the solid-state battery that we worked on, that just doesn't have a future at this point in time in the near future."

Although Fisker's position on the matter is clear, other automakers, such as Toyota, continue to develop solid-state tech. Toyota aims to begin production as soon as 2025.