Faraday Future FFZERO1 race car concept
Out of almost nowhere, Faraday Future emerged in the span of two years as a Chinese-funded, California-based electric vehicle company with 750 employees (but no clear CEO) lured from Tesla, Apple, Boeing and others, and an announced factory in Las Vegas. The FFZERO1 car was introduced to much fanfare for those who actually found the location of the press conference. It’s a 1,000-hp electric race car that is, effectively, a Batmobile with electric power and curved LCDs. Faraday Future describes the FFZERO1 as a high-peformance car designed for the track with a top speed beyond 200 mph and 0-60 mph acceleration of less than three seconds. The roof is glass, the instrument panel both displays drivetrain information and collects biometric data on the driver, and the driver can wear a helmet that supplies water and air. The floor-mounted battery array can be up- or downsized based on the needs of the particular owner. The car itself can be readily reconfigured by the scalable platform.
The fact that Faraday Future plans a $1 billion (a third of state incentives), three-million-square-foot north Las Vegas production facility employing 4,500 people suggests FF’s eventual vehicle will be more mainstream. (You don’t need a building the size of 25 Costcos to make racecars.) So FF also talked about how the production vehicle would have “seamless connectivity” between the vehicle, the driver and passenger(s), and connected homes. FF also hinted the car might be acquired through a subscription service (which might or might not also be called a “lease”) rather than outright purchase.
USA Today (and others) wondered if Faraday is “Apple hiding in plain sight,” meaning the car somehow has Apple behind it. At the press conference, Faraday said it has funding from China’s LeTV, which has been described as the Netflix of China. When might we see the actual vehicle, not the Batmobile concept? Faraday Future has said as early as 2017 as well as “a couple years.”
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