Is the future of electric cars in the FF91?
Since Faraday teased us with its FFZERO1 concept and announced a partnership deal with Dragon Racing in Formula E last year, hype surrounding a real, touchable road car that you could one day even potentially have the option to buy for yourself, has reached melting point in recent months.
The company may barely be out of the news nowadays, mainly with claims that it’s running into serious trouble, but thanks to last night’s extremely confident display at CES we now have our answers, well kind of. Welcome, everyone, to the 1035bhp FF91…
CES always brings us tech gems and it this year has been no different, especially when beasts like the FF91 make their global debut. With a presentation from Jia Yueting, chief executive of LeEco and Faraday senior vice president, Nick Sampson, we finally got to see Faraday’s road car vision. We were a little let down when a classic, compact wedged-shaped sports car didn’t roll out from under the covers, but rather a futuristic-looking SUV, but hey this is meant to eventually sell to the mass market, after all. We quickly find out that they, like countless others, are benchmarking their creature next to Tesla’s untouchable Model S P100D, with a glimpse of the potential performance of the FF91 illustrated in an acceleration video where the two cars are directly compared. The absurd 0-62mph time of this car? 2.39 seconds, apparently…
It maybe fast but what else does it have?
The simple answer is that the FF91 is rammed full of technology, with everything from facial recognition software to unlock the car, a myriad of connectivity options, and autonomous features, including driverless parking (though a failed self-parking demonstration on stage could win the award for the ‘most awkward moment’ at this year’s CES so far…)
Car ID
Prospective buyers were told they would be able to connect to the forthcoming car via a virtual ‘FFID’ account. Nick explained, it would be possible to share data – such as movies or route plans – to the car from personal computers, for example.
Does Faraday have a future?
Time will tell we suspect. Many electric start-up companies have come and gone with Tesla running away with crown thus far, but we’ve seen some encouraging moves from Faraday especially with the break into Formula E which could help future R&D. But with news of money issues and the mega factory building at a standstill, many are less than confident in the future of Faraday. It does at least look like the firm has ‘done a Tesla’ and offered people the chance to reserve the car now for only $5000 (maybe to help raise capital…), with the car expected to be made available from 2018 onwards. For now like always we’ll just have to sit back and wait and see.
Faraday Future’s FF91: in numbers
- Acceleration: 0-60 mph in 2.39 seconds
- Power: 1050 HP
- Range: 378 miles (EPA est.) and over 700 km (NEDC est.)
- Charging Speed: More than 500 miles per hour
- ADAS Sensor Suite: 13 long and short range radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, 10 high definition cameras, 1 3D retractable lidar
- Length: 206.7”/ 5250mm
- Wheelbase: 126″ / 3200mm
- Width: 89.9″ / 2283mm
- Height 62.9” / 1598mm
Faraday Future’s FF91: features
- Facial Recognition Technology
- Driverless Valet Parking Feature: FF 91 can park itself
- True Keyless Entry: first car where you don’t need a key
- First class experience: NASA-inspired zero gravity seats offer industry leading rear seat reclining position
- Best in class high-speed internet on the road
- FFID: global user profile that travels with the user through the FF Ecosystem
