Faraday Future

[tftf]

Factory announcement coming soon:

The company has been adding dozens of employees every month and is renovating Nissan Motor Co.’s former Southern California sales headquarters as its home location.
Faraday’s plan is to break ground on the plant in early 2016 and be operating by sometime in 2017. It is considering either a rebuild of an existing factory or building from the ground up. Mr. Sampson said the company has secured parts suppliers and have begun to make purchase orders for components.

Faraday was operating under the radar until a few months ago when it announced its intentions. Its first vehicle will have a battery pack that is larger than the one offered on Tesla Model S or Model X and will feature a variety of connected car features. But Mr. Sampson wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.

Faraday Future Aims to Take on Tesla Motors With $1 Billion Investment - WSJ

and

Chinese-Backed Startup Targets Tesla With $1 Billion U.S. Plant - Bloomberg Business

The 2017 date is still "seeing is believing" imho; in any case it looks like they will prepare an upscale car with a giant battery.

 

[RubberToe]

Factory announcement coming soon:





Faraday Future Aims to Take on Tesla Motors With $1 Billion Investment - WSJ

and

Chinese-Backed Startup Targets Tesla With $1 Billion U.S. Plant - Bloomberg Business

The 2017 date is still "seeing is believing" imho; in any case it looks like they will prepare an upscale car with a giant battery.

Whoa,
If nothing else, Tesla has shown that there is a market for high end EV's. Nice to see someone else "getting a clue". It would be crazy if they located their factory in California. The two highest end EV manufacturers would then be based in California.

Take a look at the engineering jobs available:

 

[BriansTesla]

I was looking for information about who is the CEO of Faraday Future and found this:

Legal documents link Faraday Future to Chinese media conglomerate

Startup electric car maker Faraday Future has declined to identify its CEO or sources of funding, even as it bargains for a factory site in North Las Vegas and tax incentives from the state of Nevada. But legal documents filed with the state of California suggest that the company’s CEO is a high-level employee of a Chinese media and technology conglomerate helmed by an entrepreneur that Business Insider dubbed the “Chinese Elon Musk.”

Chaoying Deng is a corporate director at LeVision Pictures, one of the largest film production and distribution companies in China, according to her LinkedIn profile. The organization is a division of Beijing-based Leshi Internet & Technology, known as LeTV. In December, LeTV’s CEO Jia Yueting announced plans to build an electric car and established Leshi Super Electric Car Company. The relationship between that company and FF is unclear.

It is interesting to compare the backgrounds of the CEO's of the different car companies.

 

[ecarfan]

New Electric Car Company Emerges: Faraday Future

The 2017 date is still "seeing is believing" imho; in any case it looks like they will prepare an upscale car with a giant battery.

I love seeing new long range EV companies starting up, but Faraday faces huge challenges. It seems unlikely that Faraday can even come close to Tesla on pack cost per kWh, so if they are planning to offer even larger batteries then Tesla their car is going to be even more expensive which means their addressable market is even smaller. And they won't have a high speed DC charging network.
I really do wish them success. Every new EV company is a validation that Tesla is on the right track. Nobody is starting new ICE companies.

 

[WarpedOne]

Looks like FF is no Tesla competitor, but Aston Martin competitor.
People shopping for 70-140k cars will still buy tesla's, people shopping for 100-200k cars might look at FF instead of RapidE, A8-eTron (when and if it finally comes to being) etc.

 

[palmer_md]

... And they won't have a high speed DC charging network. ...

How do we know that they will not be the first to take up Tesla's offer of access to their network for a fee per car? If it were me, that is what I'd do. It would give them an instant leap over all the old ICE car makers who are toying with EV's.

 

[ecarfan]

We certainly do not know if Faraday will participate in the Supercharger network or not. Maybe they will. But so far no one has taken up Tesla's offer.

 

[tftf]

Some more info in this interview/article:

Faraday Future Electric Car Company Founders Interview - DuJour

 

[Takumi]

I love seeing new long range EV companies starting up, but Faraday faces huge challenges. It seems unlikely that Faraday can even come close to Tesla on pack cost per kWh, so if they are planning to offer even larger batteries then Tesla their car is going to be even more expensive which means their addressable market is even smaller. And they won't have a high speed DC charging network.
I really do wish them success. Every new EV company is a validation that Tesla is on the right track. Nobody is starting new ICE companies.

Actually, "supercar" startups popup every now and then. Local Motors new enough?

 

[autodidaddict]

From the Car And Driver blog: "That plant, Faraday Future promises, will start churning out production cars in 2017, despite the fact that the company hasn’t even chosen a location for the facility"

While I love the idea that other companies might be getting into the business of making pure BEVs, this statement leaves me a little skeptical.

 

[Rockster]

Hopefully they will be the first third party to use the Tesla SC network. That would be huge.

This. A reliable, "free", and consistent charging infrastructure will make or break the BEV industry. Tesla's Supercharger network is the overwhelming forerunner and any other BEV company needs to swallow their pride and help Tesla's Supercharger become the Level 3 charging standard.

 

[Trnsl8r]

In today's Mercury News: Mysterious electric car startup founded by former Tesla employees plans $1-billion factory - San Jose Mercury News

The company founded by former Tesla Motors employees said Wednesday that it was eyeing several locations, including California, Georgia, Louisiana and Nevada, but is keeping the source of its development funds and ownership secret.

"There is a significant investor who has an international profile and wants the company to stand on its own merits before making the association," said Stacy Morris, Faraday's spokeswoman.

Elon... is that you?

 

[Thundalicious]

Tesla rival?

Faraday Future

Faraday Future electric car manufacturing plant - Business Insider

 

[Room_A113]

In today's Mercury News: Mysterious electric car startup founded by former Tesla employees plans $1-billion factory - San Jose Mercury News



Elon... is that you?

I would say, "Tim Cook, is that you?"

 

[tftf]

I would say, "Tim Cook, is that you?"

More like Chinese Steve Jobs:

Who is Jia Yueting, the Chinese billionaire linked to Faraday? - LA Times

Therefore I don't think this rumor got it right:

Rumor claims new electric car maker Faraday Future is front for Apple

It would be weird for Apple to have a Chinese billionaire investor as front at this stage....especially since Faraday and the investors behind it are also linked to Atieva/BAIC.

Of course Apple could buy FF or other EV start-ups later, they have more than enough cash. But then why hire hundreds of people internally (and thus duplicate efforts over many years)?

 

[RDoc]

Sound like they're taking several pages from Tesla:

1. Long range high end BEV
2. Use of Supercharging network
3. "Elon Time" milestone forecasting

On the road to success!

 

[J1mbo]

What if FF is actually Apple in stealth mode? Hiding in plain sight...

 

[jdw]

Posted this in another thread, but the thought is probably more appropriate for this one:

Every article I've seen on Faraday Future references "taking on Tesla" or "going after Tesla". As far as I can see, Faraday Future, along *with* Tesla are taking on GM, Toyota, BMW, Honda etc. as the market to replace gasoline cars is enormous compared to the small market based on poaching a few Tesla sales. Media is still refusing to accept that long term, the ICE is a dead man walking.

Imagine what kind of business plan features investing several billion dollars to go after a company that is selling 50,000 cars a year ...

 

[yobigd20]

Always glad to see another EV start up, and their management and design team looks promising. But who is the CEO and who is funding them?
I wish them all the best!

California incorporation forms for Faraday Future list Chaoying Deng as the CEO; funded by Chinese multibillionaire Jia Yueting.

source: Faraday FutureEm Talking 11/09/2015

 

[AudubonB]

Hopefully they will be the first third party to use the Tesla SC network.

Make up your mind.