FF: We will build a small workshop for the first batch of users and deliver the cars in 2018.

On the eve of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Faraday Future (FF), an American startup electric car company and LeTV Auto's strategic partner, officially launched its first mass-produced model, the FF 91, in Las Vegas, the United States. Jia Yueting, founder, chairman and CEO of FF's strategic partner LeTV, attended the event to support the event, which brought the press conference to a climax that day.

"FF is creating a new cross-border integration category, hoping to use one model to replace all models. FF 91 completely subverts human's perception of cars." At the press conference, Jia Yueting said that this world's first Internet ecological electric car can reconstruct the century-old automobile industry and is a "new species."

After Jia Yueting admitted that he invested too much in the automotive sector, which directly led to insufficient personal financial support for LeEco, the public questioned its mass production. As Li Xiang, founder and CEO of CHJ Automotive, said, whether from the perspective of suppliers or the timing of building its own factory, it may still be difficult for its first batch of mass-produced cars to be delivered in 2018.

In this regard, Dag Reckhorn, FF's vice president of global manufacturing, revealed in an interview with NBD Auto that in the context of the tight construction time of the existing factory, FF has another alternative plan, which is to use a customized workshop to carry out small-batch production. "Since we have promised, we will definitely achieve this goal. In 2018, we will definitely deliver the first batch of FF 91 to consumers."

FF's equity structure is still under discussion

At the launch event, FF 91 conducted a live racing test. The results showed that the acceleration time from 0 to 60 miles per hour was only 2.39 seconds (1 mile is approximately equal to 1.6 kilometers), surpassing most traditional cars and electric vehicles of the same level.

At the same time, FF also surpassed Tesla in terms of driving range with a total battery pack capacity of more than 130kWh and a driving range of more than 378 miles (EPA) and 700 kilometers (NEDC) on a single charge. It is reported that the maximum driving range of Tesla Model S is 480~500 kilometers.

Although Jia Yueting attended the press conference only as the founder, chairman and CEO of LeTV, the equity structure of FF seems to be a mystery, but this one of FF's major investors holds a pivotal position within FF.

In fact, from the various parameters released by FF and the structure of the executive team, it can be seen that the direct competitor of FF 91 is Tesla. NBD Auto learned that among the current six executives of FF, four are from Tesla. Among them, Dag Reckhorn worked for Tesla and served as the production director of Model S; Nick Sampson, the current senior vice president of R&D and engineering of FF, was the director of vehicle and chassis development of Tesla; Tom Wessner, the current vice president of FF global supply chain, is the former purchasing director of Tesla; in addition, there is Alan Cherry, the vice president of human resources of FF.

Obviously, FF wants to replicate Tesla's success, but it seems to want to do more than that.

Dag Reckhorn said that Tesla made a lot of mistakes in the process of making cars, and the delays in the delivery of many new products are the best proof of this. "One of the important reasons why so many former excellent Tesla employees came here is that we want to avoid Tesla's mistakes. We want to deliver FF products at a faster speed and with better quality, and then reduce costs." It can be seen that they want to build a company that surpasses Tesla based on Tesla.

Alternative solutions ensure delivery of mass-produced vehicles

Although this grand launch event attracted a lot of attention, the doubts about mass production still persisted as the FF Nevada factory has not yet been completed. Previously, FF has experienced a series of public doubts, including the resignation of senior executives, arrears of payments to suppliers, and factory shutdowns.

In this regard, when NBD Auto was invited to visit FF's R&D center in Los Angeles, FF executives said in an interview with NBD Auto that the first phase of the factory construction has been completed and the second phase of construction is about to begin. However, since this factory with a total investment of US$1 billion and an area of ​​918 acres still needs to wait for plant approval and other procedures, the delivery of the first batch of 300 FF 91s in 2018 is indeed a bit tight in terms of time, but this promise will not be broken.

"We will prepare to build a high-end customization workshop for the first batch of users." Dag Reckhorn revealed to NBD Auto that this alternative plan will ensure the delivery of the first batch of mass-produced vehicles.

Specifically, FF will build a workshop capable of small-batch manufacturing on a piece of land also in Las Vegas as an intermediate transition. Later, after the Nevada factory is successfully built, it will be able to establish complete stamping, welding, painting, and assembly workshops to achieve large-scale mass production.

"In addition, we will use the same batch of parts and work with the same batch of suppliers. Whether it is produced by a large factory or a temporary workshop, we can guarantee the quality." Tom Wessner, vice president of FF's global supply chain, told NBD Auto that FF has compared the OEM model and unanimously believes that the self-built model can better control quality and time. "We must build our own cars because we must build our own brand at this stage."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.