In "Sport" mode -- which can be turned on using a steering wheel paddle -- the Karma's gasoline engine gets into the game even while the battery might have enough power to move the car on its own. In this case, the engine is laying on its additional power to provide faster acceleration.
It's a strangely sedate kick in the pants, though. Unlike most cars, the Karma has no "transmission" with different "gears." Electric motors don't need those things, so the Karma is a one-speeder all the way from zero up to triple digits.
Slam down the gas pedal in "Sport" mode -- or after the battery's drained too far -- and the engine roars to high revs, but there's no downshift to cause that quick punch in the lumbar region you expect. But for the rapidly expanding license plates on the cars ahead of me, I almost didn't notice how fast the Karma was accelerating. Fisker's claimed zero-to-60 time of a mite over six seconds turns out to be believable.
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