Tesla’s arch nemesis Faraday Future has finally taken the wraps off its first ever production electric vehicle ‘FF 91’ SUV in front of a massive gathering at the CES 2017 conference. And oh boy, does the car pack some serious power. The company then took some time to shine light on the cohort of features — which are impressive, to say the least — that the FF91 is packing.
Starting off, Faraday Future’s crossover SUV has definitely been working on its cars with Tesla in its cross-hairs. The FF 91 packs a 130kWh battery unit which makes it capable of providing the SUV with a driving range of nearly 378 miles. These figures are claims made by the company during its presentation and still need to be verified through on-road tests. The Model X features a massive 100kWh battery which provides the vehicle with a range of 315 miles.
It further went on to detail that the FF 91’s engine provides the vehicle with 1050 horsepower and this enables it to generate more torque as well. The company raced its production vehicle against some of the fastest vehicles on the face of this planet to show off that their vehicle is able to go from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.39 seconds. The Model S P100D, which is the fastest production car from Tesla, has the ability to reach 60 mph in a mere 2.4 seconds. The FF 91 is also featuring face recognition tech for unlocking the vehicle.
Speaking on stage at the launch event, Nick Sampson, Senior VP of engineering and R&D, said,
We’re not stopping with automotive. We’re a technology company reformatting the future of mobility.
In addition, Faraday Future decided to focus on showing off the multitude of cameras, sensors and screens that have been retrofitted into this vehicle to make it — futuristic!? The company laid immense focus on the vehicle’s connectivity features, which include modems that’ll provide a non-stop broadband connection via two Wi-Fi hotspots and self-driving features such as automatic parking. In a video shown off at the event, the FF 91 can speed off to look for a parking spot once you get out of it.
Talking a little more about the self-driving capabilities of the FF 91, the company has embedded the car with a set of ambient lights that will light up when it is operating in self-driving mode. The car boasts of packing more than 30 sensors including 10 front + rear facing cameras, 13 long and short range radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and one high-definition 3D lidar sensor. The Lidar sensor has been designed as a puck which pops up from the roof of the car when activated. But the FF 91 suffered an embarrassing malfunction on stage, as the self-driving features of their car didn’t work in front of the masses.
The launch of this eye-catching crossover SUV prominently comes as a delight for Faraday Future fans who’ve been worried sick about the company’s status due to it being over the interwebs for other reasons. The company saw the construction of their production facilities being paused and a couple senior-level executive quitting the project.
This was further expedited with the fears of funds drying out and it closing shop before the unveiling of a vehicle. As detailed here, towards the end of last year, the company faced serious setbacks that might have delayed today’s launch but it seems FF 91 is steadily zooming in the direction of its goal. It is now ready to take on its competitors with bravado — which was evident from the speed tests conducted on stage at the event in Las Vegas.
Now, if you’re seriously hyped about getting your hands on one of these crossover SUV’s then Faraday Future wants you to shell out $5000 deposit. You can currently visit the company’s website and subscribe for updates when the FF 91 goes into production in 2018. The FF team also added that their Variable Platform Architecture also enables them to develop a vehicle of any size. So once they’ve perfected the tech, it can moulded into any size and form factor.
But, we’ll have to wait and watch if that becomes a reality or is the company content with displaying their shiny new vehicle to the masses. Till then, here’s a look at the FF 91:
