Fenix Power - Took money and but never delivered

RonSwanson said:

cwerdna said:

A peek at some customer/potential customer posts at https://www.facebook.com/groups/FenixPowerCoForum/ isn't too promising either.

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Poor Scott Boyd has gotten the cold shoulder after taking out a loan for this.

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Looks like Mr. Boyd as of the morning of 8/17 is still waiting. Looks like https://fenix.systems/blog has had a few more updates since end of July.

Frankly, I think anyone in the holding pattern should just give up and move onto another battery provider or a different vehicle. If they have this much trouble delivering anything in a timely fashion, I wouldn't be surprised if post-sales service (if something goes wrong) will face similiar challenges.

I recall someone posting in that FB group about a "good experience", so far. I wish I could find it as FB's search seemed broken. I wonder what that really means? Seems like nobody has received anything in terms of a product.

LOL, someone at https://www.facebook.com/groups/FenixPowerCoForum/ asked a day ago "Hey guys, just checking in -- when can us folks in So CA expect to start scheduling installations?"

Nada.

We're more than a month past where an install should've happened after doing some math from my post at https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=586043#p586043.

What, people missed not just the "first flight", but the 2nd, too?

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

SageBrush said:

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

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Ah, a "stable genus", eh?

Visit a stable. Watch the resident genus shovel horse droppings. Now you understand what a stable genus is.

WetEV said:

SageBrush said:

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

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Ah, a "stable genus", eh?

Visit a stable. Watch the resident genus shovel horse droppings. Now you understand what a stable genus is.

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Uh...well...yer spelling defeets the purpuss of yer post...HAHA!

SageBrush said:

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

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Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence". I think this is an "idea man" who got in over his head. The whole project never did make much sense to me as I stated early on, and at every downturn the fix was "more ideas". It may eventually morph into something useful but I'm glad it's not my problem.

Nubo said:

SageBrush said:

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

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Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence". I think this is an "idea man" who got in over his head. The whole project never did make much sense to me as I stated early on, and at every downturn the fix was "more ideas". It may eventually morph into something useful but I'm glad it's not my problem.

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Sometimes a picture says it all. Whenever Fenix comes up I remember the photo of a used LEAF on a U-HAUL trailer inside an empty warehouse.

There is something to the incompetent 'idea man' but it is more than that. He strikes me as a bombastic, deceptive Walter Mitty.

SageBrush said:

Nubo said:

SageBrush said:

I still thing Fenix is a scam or functional equivalent, but after reading some of the 'business' owner's posts I think something else is afoot: the guy loves the attention and reading his own bombastic blog crapola. This 'venture' strokes his ego

Click to expand...

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence". I think this is an "idea man" who got in over his head. The whole project never did make much sense to me as I stated early on, and at every downturn the fix was "more ideas". It may eventually morph into something useful but I'm glad it's not my problem.

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Sometimes a picture says it all. Whenever Fenix comes up I remember the photo of a used LEAF on a U-HAUL trailer inside an empty warehouse.

There is something to the incompetent 'idea man' but it is more than that. He strikes me as a bombastic, deceptive Walter Mitty.

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I agree, that picture showed everything anyone needed to know.
It was my believe the fenix guy, don't care what his name is, wanted to be one of those startup millionaires and didn't have any intention of producing the goods him self.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FenixPowerCoForum/ has yet another "update". Who knows how far along they really are? Did they even get any batteries shipped to any installers? Did they "certify" any installers yet? What happened to their "flights"?

They really need to update their website that says "Installations starting in July!" everywhere.

jlv said:

They really need to update their website that says "Installations starting in July!" everywhere.

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Of what year?

I also noticed at places like https://fenix.systems/product/leaf-cpo-battery-new-customer talking about 60 days. It seems folks have plunked down their $ and waited longer than that.

This purchase will work as follows: We’re going to try to optimize the shipping of batteries to our installers, so please understand that once your purchase we will contact you and connect you with your local installation partner to arrange for installation. We have tools lead time of about 4 weeks, and a battery shipping lead time of about 2 weeks, but guarantee this purchase will deliver the installation of your certified-pre-owned OEM Leaf battery within 60 days of purchase.

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It's not good news when they are this far in (years?) and they still haven't installed a single battery and are looking for investors. I feel bad for the poor saps who gave them a penny.

EVornottoEV said:

It's not good news when they are this far in (years?) and they still haven't installed a single battery and are looking for investors. I feel bad for the poor saps who gave them a penny.

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Nor have we seen any evidence that they ever got their pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc. (https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26597&p=539410&hilit=modules#p539410 and https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26597&p=538932&hilit=cooling#p538932) even working. By working, I'm talking about at minimum, successfully propelling a Leaf with no ! yellow car, no DTCs (not just the failsafe mode with an unauthorized/non-paired battery pack) and at highway speeds and Leaf successfully charging it w/o DTCs.

Further tests/milestones could include charging it to full and car stopping properly on L2, then CHAdeMO. And, proving nothing bad happens if the car is driven until it stops due lack of juice. Then, there's the thermal management and connectivity bits. A lot can be tested on the thermal side, including operation (driving) and charging at extreme hot and cold.

Obviously now they've shifted to this used Leaf pack business for the time being and I've yet to hear of a successful install of that...

cwerdna said:

Obviously now they've shifted to this used Leaf pack business

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So far as I can tell they are not installing anything, or have any plans to do so.
I think their idea is to act as a middle-man between the customer and independent installers.

cwerdna said:

Nor have we seen any evidence that they ever got their pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc. even working.

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Has there been any evidence of their "pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc." even existing, beyond the written descriptions of it?

(I keep going back to the picture of the empty warehouse)

jlv said:

Has there been any evidence of their "pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc." even existing, beyond the written descriptions of it?

(I keep going back to the picture of the empty warehouse)

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Is that a rhetorical question ?
Fenix has not been able to raise the few thousand dollars needed to buy a couple refurb batteries to ship to installers. My guess for the 'pie-in-the-sky' story is 50 million, or more.

jlv said:

cwerdna said:

Nor have we seen any evidence that they ever got their pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc. even working.

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Has there been any evidence of their "pie in the sky thermally managed pack w/modules, connectivity, etc." even existing, beyond the written descriptions of it?

(I keep going back to the picture of the empty warehouse)

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I'm unaware of any pics or videos showing any sort of status or prototypes of it. But, I don't follow them closely due to lack of interest and my chance of being a customer of theirs being 0.

Yet another nothing burger from https://www.facebook.com/groups/FenixPowerCoForum/ below. Emphasis added by me:

I hope you all get this one. I just wrote a long post, but lost it.
First you all should know that we, as other businesses have encounter COVID-19 problems with our partners and suppliers. We appreciate your loyalty and hope you can hang on with us just ashort time longer.
We got some very good news today from our financial partners and believe we will have great news for you later this week. We should be ready to finally launch our subscriptions services shortly.
As well, we are firmly convinced that our solutions now and into the future are superior and will be light years ahead of anyone who wants to compete with us over the next 12 to 24 months.
Our most difficult problem has been raising capital, however that looks like it will finally be turning around as well. We had great news from our financial partners today with regard to moving forward. So just stay with us a short time longer and you will not regret that decision and will be rewarded in the future. Thank you again for your loyalty.

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That's their most difficult problem? How about engineering, testing and validation? Or did that never get anywhere?

cwerdna said:

Yet another nothing burger from https://www.facebook.com/groups/FenixPowerCoForum/ below. Emphasis added by me:

Our most difficult problem has been raising capital, however that looks like it will finally be turning around as well. We had great news from our financial partners today with regard to moving forward. So just stay with us a short time longer and you will not regret that decision and will be rewarded in the future. Thank you again for your loyalty.

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That's their most difficult problem? How about engineering, testing and validation? Or did that never get anywhere?

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I think he is talking about the refurbed pack gig. I suspect that they have to pay for the batteries up front, and they want to buy a couple at a time to save shipping costs. I really think that this scheme is going to come crashing down when refurbs fail way sooner than they are planning and Fenix is on the hook for the warranty replacements.