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 The California-based company, which has backing from Chinese
billionaire Jia Yueting, has remained tight-lipped about its plans
since its launch 18 months ago. Days ahead of this week's Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it still had revealed no details
about its debut vehicle, expected for 2017.
Faraday is part of a group of Chinese-funded start-ups hoping to
capitalize on disruption in the auto industry amid global regulatory
demand for electric or hybrid vehicles, a growing trend of
connectivity in cars and a sharp rise in interest in mobility
alternatives, such as Uber.
At the center of the new wave of China's electric vehicle (EV)
producers is Jia, founder of LeTV, or Leshi Internet Information &
Technology Co. Jia has also funded another California EV start-up,
Atieva, and other EV efforts.
His deep pockets have investors speculating about whether Faraday
can take on publicly traded Tesla, although executives insist there
is room in the expanding market for both companies.
LeTV, whose many areas of focus include film production, smart TVs
and consumer electronics, is an advantage for Faraday. Experts
believe the technology for self-driving cars will be ready by 2020,
and as it is adopted over the following years, there will be more
opportunities for drivers to focus on a screen.
Faraday sees a growing market for electric vehicles in the United
States, despite low gasoline prices that have curbed consumer demand
in the short term. Its ties with China open up that country's
fast-growing, second-largest EV market in which others, including
Tesla Motors <TSLA.O>, have struggled.
Faraday's senior vice president of R&D and product development, Nick
Sampson, told Reuters ahead of the unveiling that the company's
first electric vehicle for consumers would be a premium car built in
a $1 billion Nevada manufacturing plant. The plant will be built
near Las Vegas beginning in the next few weeks.
"We are building premium pure electric vehicles, that's what the
manufacturing site will produce, and we are demonstrating that over
time we will produce a range of vehicles," Sampson said. He said
buyers of owner-operated vehicles will be only one potential market.
"Initially they'll be sold to owners, but we also see the changing
landscape in the industry, there are far more people that will want
just mobility in the future," he said.
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With its teardrop shape and aerodynamic tunnels that allow air to
flow through the car and cool the batteries, the FFZERO1 Concept
race car shown in Las Vegas is not intended to be produced, Sampson
said.
"It's more an illustration of what is possible" with its underlying
tech currently being tested in other cars, he said.
Central to that is a proprietary engineering platform model that
supports a range of vehicle types, cutting back on development and
production time. The adjustable chassis can accommodate strings of
batteries that are more easily changed than single batteries. The
number of batteries would depend on car size.
Faraday has been poaching talent from rivals such as Tesla and BMW.
The company, based in Gardena, California, outside Los Angeles, now
has more than 550 employees.
Underscoring China's efforts to encourage electric vehicles, both
Beijing Electric Vehicle Co, an affiliate of government-owned BAIC
Motor Corp Ltd, and state-owned Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp
have opened research centers in Silicon Valley.
Sampson denied that Faraday's main competitor would be Tesla, whose
premium Model S electric vehicle has shaken up the traditional
automaking industry. Like Tesla, Sampson said, Faraday will target
buyers of luxury gasoline-powered cars to expand the still-tiny EV
market in the United States.
"Thinking about us and Tesla squabbling over 1 percent of the
market, it's not really part of the equation," he said.
(Reporting By Alexandria Sage. Editing by Joe White and David
Gregorio)
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