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Faraday Future’s FFZERO1

Faraday Future, a new American electric car manufacturer, announced on Oct. 3 that it had selected LG Chem as its battery supplier. Since it was established in 2014, Faraday Future has received massive infusions of capital and has rapidly acquired technology to become one of the strongest challengers to Tesla Motors.

In a press release, Faraday Future said that its partnership with LG Chem had resulted in “the world’s highest energy density for a production automotive battery.”

The company will use the lithium-ion cells supplied by LG Chem in its variable platform architecture (VPA) designed for its electric cars. The VPA serves as a basic platform that can be customized for a variety of vehicle frames and applications, including sedans, sports utility vehicles (SUV) and trucks.

The company went public with its technological prowess at the Consumer Electronics Show, which was held in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year. Attracting a great deal of attention at the show was the FFZERO1, a single-seater high-performance electric concept car that looks it drove off the set of a Batman movie.

According to Faraday Future, the car has 1,000 horsepower and a top speed of 320 km/h and can reach 100 km/h within three seconds of starting. The concept car has a glass roof and a chassis largely made of carbon fiber. Thanks to the show, Faraday Future gained the reputation as a Tesla Motors in the making.

While Faraday Future has its main office in California, it is backed by Chinese capital. Its main funder is Jia Yueting, chairman of LeEco (Leshi Internet Information and Technology), a video streaming company that has a reputation as the Netflix of China. Faraday Future has more than 1,400 people on its payroll, including employees poached from its competitors Tesla Motors and BMW. The FFZERO1 was designed by Richard Kim, a senior designer at Faraday Future who also designed BMW‘s i3 electric car

Faraday Future is currently building a US$1 billion-dollar electric car factory in the Las Vegas area. Recently, the company also announced plans to invest US$1.8 billion in China’s Zhejiang Province to build an electric car production facility and an automobile theme park.

Within the next two years, Faraday Future is planning to begin production on a vehicle based on the FFZERO1 platform. Even so, there are doubts that the company will be able to release a mass-produced model as planned. Not only is the company a recent start-up, but neither the performance nor the safety of its vehicles have been tested, critics note.

Despite doubts about its technological standing, Faraday Future is firmly committed to expanding its business. “LG Chem worked closely with Faraday Future to develop a tailored cell chemistry to optimize the range and safety of our mass production battery hardware [. . .] We look forward to our relationship with LG Chem as we push towards our vision of future mobility,” said Tom Wessner, Global Supply Chain Vice President for Faraday Future.

By Hong Dae-seon, staff reporter

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