California-based electric car company Faraday Future unveiled FF 91, its first car made for production, at CES 2017. We were among 100 local media outlets invited to watch the livestreaming of the event launch at LeEco’s headquarters in Beijing.
Faraday Future is backed by Jia Yueting (YT Jia), Founder and Chairman of LeEco, while LeEco is a strategic partner of Faraday Future.
“We believe the car of the future will no longer be valued in cubic inches,” said Jia, at the CES 2017 launch event in Las Vegas. “It will be measured by the extent to which it connects you to the people and things that matter the most.”
FF 91 has a powertrain featuring a multi-motor setup, enabling real-time torque vectoring to the rear wheels. Its peak motor power, 783 kW, delivers 0-60 mph time as fast as 2.39 seconds. That is, as demonstrated at the launch event, even faster than that of the Ferrari 488 GTB and Tesla Model S P100D.
The car’s battery is also worth a mention. FF 91 sees its endurance at 378 miles. Its fastest charging speed is at more than 500 miles per hour. The home charger, included with the vehicle, achieves 50 percent to full charge in under 4.5 hours at 240 volts.
In terms of autonomous driving, FF 91 is able to park itself after the driver gets off the vehicle.
The car is now available for preorder on its website with a reservation fee of USD 5,000. The FF 91 shipment is scheduled to start in 2018.
Jia did not explain how LeEco will fund the mass production of Faraday’s new model, despite the Chinese tech giant being under speculation for its financial difficulties based on media reports.
Also read: What led tech giant LeEco into troubled waters
LeEco-invested super electric vehicles (EV) arm, Faraday Future, is facing challenges, too. In late December 2016, two top executives – the chief brand and commercial officer and the vice president for product marketing and growth – resigned from the company in a round of belt-tightening, reported The Verge. Faraday Future had also stopped work on its USD one billion factory in Nevada by November 2016, according to Business Insider.
(All photos from LeEco)