Faraday Future unveils FF91 at CES 2017, with YT Jia

author: Claire   

Amid all the questions and doubts about Faraday Future, and taking into consideration the company's long list of internal conflicts, FF's big show at CES went smoothly, revealing quite a few eye-catching selling points. Although, some of them were claimed by the company.

At the decisive event, FF unveiled its first-ever electric vehicle: FF91. With several repetitions of the word "first" Faraday Future SVP Nick Sampson said it was the most unique EV on the market today.

"There are companies that have shown great electric vehicles… but while these companies inspire us what they are doing is a slight progression of where we've been before," he said at the event.

The crossover SUV features a 130 kWh battery and more than 378 miles of range. It boasts 1050 horsepower; and most importantly, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in a whopping 2.39 seconds.

To prove that it is quicker than other benchmarking vehicles, FF featured a live demo at the site, allowing FF91 to compete with Bentley, Ferrari and the Tesla Model S in front of the audience. It's hard to tell when you're watching the press via livestream, but it seems people on site were amazed by its speed.

In addition to the claimed "world's fastest accelerated EV" title, FF's Director of Self-driving Hong Bae also coined the vehicle as "the world's first ecosystem connected car."

"A car that adapts to you, a car that can drive itself, a car that is smartest ever," he claimed. The FF91 then tried to park itself at the CES parking lot; and with the driver clicking the "self-parking" option on his cellphone, the car slowly drives around the parking lot searching for space. Eventually, it was able to find one, but instead of heading straight into the spot, it executed a three-point-turn and backed into the space.

There were some fancy technologies introduced but were not shown in detail at the event, such as facial recognition for keyless entry, iris detection, dual antenna that allows Wi-Fi hotspot, and 151 cubic feet of space internally. Moreover, the luxury car boasts more than 30 sensors including 10 front and rear facing cameras, 13 long and short range radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and one high-definition 3D lidar sensor.

"The FF91 is an ultimate expression of modern electric luxury. It has all kinds of performances…we wanna make sure our first car represents the best of our dreams and all we could deliver to automobile technology that's available," Peter Savagian, Faraday Future's VP of Propulsion Engineer told FutureCar.

In closing the show, Chinese billionaire YT Jia showed up by driving the FF91 to the stage - another proof of strong ties between the American EV company and the Chinese entrepreneur that runs LeEco and invests in Lucid Motors.

The luxury FF91 will be available in 2018, with 300 units of the Alliance Edition being manufactured. Although the price wasn't revealed, consumers could make a reservation for the vehicle on Faraday's website for a deposit of $5000.

Claire

Claire Peng has over 6 years of professional experience in the media industry, covering TV, newspaper and online media. She was once a reporter and producer for Fairchild Television based in Toronto Canada, and worked as an English news reporter for the Global Times in Beijing. She writes mainly about self-driving, companies investment, and the enterprise lab.