Slashdot Mirror


Faraday Future Unveils Super Fast Electric Car (bbc.com)

Start-up Faraday Future has unveiled a self-driving electric car that it says can accelerate from zero to 60mph (97km/h) in 2.39 seconds. Faraday says the FF91 accelerates faster than Tesla's Model S or any other electric car in production. From a report on BBC: It was shown off at the CES tech show in Las Vegas. But Faraday Future has faced financial difficulties and one analyst said it had to challenge "scepticism" following last year's CES presentation. The FF91 was introduced via a live demo, in which it drove itself around a car park and backed into an empty space. Pre-recorded footage also showed the car accelerating from standstill to 60mph in 2.39 seconds. Tesla's fastest model did it in 2.5 seconds on the same track. Late in the presentation, however, there was an awkward moment when Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting tried to demonstrate the car's self-parking function on stage in front of the audience. This time, the vehicle remained stationary.

19 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    Wake me up when they have a Super Cheap electric car.

    1. Re:Who cares? by Altus · · Score: 2

      They are claiming a 380 mile range or something like that. Thats pretty impressive and would certainly be more than enough for me to give up on a gas vehicle, Honestly a bit over 200 miles range would do it, 300 would be a no brainer.... but not if its going to cost me 100K.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    2. Re:Who cares? by codeButcher · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wake me up when they have a Super Cheap electric car.

      ... or just comparatively priced with a comparative range to today's ICEs. Now that would be groundbreaking.

      --
      Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    3. Re:Who cares? by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed. Which is the whole reason behind the gigafactory - get battery costs down, so you can put that much battery energy in a vehicle without having to pay out the nose.

      I had always thought of the Solar City acquisition as just a "Musk bailing himself out" thing, and the powerwall as just an also-ran product, but it increasingly occurs to me... it's all about the gigafactory. They want to be selling as many batteries as possible, to give them as good economies of scale as they can on the batteries for their cars. So the more home-scale backup systems they sell, the more "complete" home solar systems they sell with integrated battery backup, the more grid-scale backup systems they sell, etc, the more they accomplish that. So it makes sense that they'd try to make as many battery-related spinoffs as they can.

      Because Gigafactory 1 is only the start of their plans. They plan a whole network of gigafactories around the world. Each one targeting a lower production cost than the last.

      --
      For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
  2. Wow! by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    I thought they manufactured just cages.

    1. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought they manufactured just cages.

      No, you're confusing them for Faraday Past.

    2. Re:Wow! by bobbied · · Score: 2

      I thought they manufactured just cages.

      Oh they have the capacity to do much more....

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. Brand B? by MrLogic17 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I took a look at their web site, and man, does it feel like vapor-ware. All I wanted was information about the car, but 95% of the web site is on features of the seats, doors, and phone integration. Odd sales pitch for a car.

    What little I could see about the car part of the car left me saying that it's a just like a Tesla. Except you can actually buy & drive a Tesla.

    I predict a quick collapse of this company.

    1. Re:Brand B? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I took a look at their web site, and man, does it feel like vapor-ware. All I wanted was information about the car, but 95% of the web site is on features of the seats, doors, and phone integration. Odd sales pitch for a car.

      What little I could see about the car part of the car left me saying that it's a just like a Tesla. Except you can actually buy & drive a Tesla.

      I predict a quick collapse of this company.

      Faraday Future intrigued me, and I have a friend who works out there. I ended up interviewing and turning the job down. I do not regret that decision. The dysfunction started leaking before I even accepted the job.

  4. Re:Overheating by tinkerton · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here ( http://www.motorauthority.com/... ) the Tesla can only do a third of the Nurburgring before temperature safeguards cut the power.

  5. Hard to take seriously by sjbe · · Score: 2

    I took a look at their web site, and man, does it feel like vapor-ware.

    Yeah I've gotten the same vibe from the company from day one. It doesn't really strike me as a serious company. Seems more like an effort to get some money from investors on a product that will probably never come to market. Maybe I'm wrong but there is just something about the whole deal that seems a bit off from what I'd expect out of a serious company.

  6. Re:What is the Battery range? by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

    Nobody knows. And even if they measure these one-offs, they're not in production, or for sale, in any time in the near future.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  7. Re:most places have speed limits by Zobeid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The top speed of my Tesla Roadster is only 125 MPH, but it's always zippy and responsive. We have speed limits as high as 85 MPH in some parts of Texas now. We also have a lot of rural two-lane highways where it's 75 MPH. When passing in these situations, I find it very helpful if I can zip up to 100 MPH momentarily to get on past and get back into my lane.

    Also, it has to be said. . . Acceleration is its own reward. The highway in front of my house is only 50 MPH, but 0-50 MPH in the Roadster always brings a smile.

  8. More Records by nsuccorso · · Score: 2

    Faraday Future unveils super-fast business model that accelerates from $10 Billion to bankruptcy in 2.39 months!

  9. Re:except of course by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So you mean its the Samsung business model?

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  10. Faraday Future going out of business by jlv · · Score: 3, Informative

    They are trying to leverage the Tesla approach to building a company: build a high-priced performance sports car first (Roadster), and then really usable cars after that. It worked for Tesla. (so far, but it looks like it will get them to the Model 3).

    I doubt it will work for FF.

    It's not like it was 9 years ago. There are lots of production EVs on the road, and more coming out all the time. A new superfast non-production 0-60 car.... who cars?

    Meanwhile, FF is missing payments to vendors. It looks doubtful they'll last long enough to get this past prototype.

  11. Re:Here's a supply of super cheap batteries by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    They're using those on Ford's new Electric Pinto.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  12. Re:Overheating by green1 · · Score: 2

    Electric cars are serious sports cars, and they don't care about airflow over the batteries because it's too inefficient. They use liquid cooling just like you do for anything you're serious about cooling properly.
    Tesla took a shortcut in their motor cooling and then took a software shortcut to cut power based on time at high power rather than temperature, combined it makes the Tesla inappropriate for prolonged usage on a race track. That doesn't mean all electric cars are that way.
    Take a look at Formula-E racing for example.

  13. Re:ENOUGH of the dick-measuring already! by green1 · · Score: 2

    Sort of, but the truth is that in the EV world, there's no reason to compromise on performance, it's not the same as with traditional vehicles, a large motor adds negligible cost to the vehicle, and it doesn't use much more electricity in normal use than the smaller motor does, so it doesn't compromise range much either. It's not like traditional cars where you have to chose between performance and efficiency, you can have both in an EV. (to certain limits, at the top end you do need to spend more, but not on the motor, on the battery, to get more power out at a time, you also need a bigger battery overall, but that also helps with range and recharge time)

    That said, you are also right that we need the companies to eventually diversify more so that they have multiple types of vehicle, but it does need the companies to become established first, a small company trying to produce a full lineup of 7 or 8 different types of vehicle at launch would have no hope of surviving. They also have trouble starting by going for a different niche that high end performance car, because their first vehicles will by necessity be expensive. It's easier to sell a $120,000 premium sports car, than a $100,000 stripped down commuter car. As they become established they can slowly work their way down market, as Tesla is just now starting to do with the Model 3.