Faraday Future launches new EV at CES

FF91, the new EV made by Faraday Future, is on display after the launch ceremony held in January 3, 2017 in Las Vegas. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Faraday Future, the US-based electronic vehicle manufacturer backed by LeEco's head Jia Yueting, unveiled its first production EV on Wednesday at an event prior to the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Named "FF91", the brand new EV will be built upon the company's Variable Platform Architecture (VPA), a universal modular structure announced by the company one year early, during the launch of the concept car -- FFZERO1.

Jia Yueting, co-founder and head of LeEco, addresses during the new EV launch ceremony of Faraday Future, January 3, 2017, Las Vegas. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"We believe the car of the future will no longer be valued in cubic inches, it will be measured in kilowatts, gigahertz, gigabytes, and the extent to which it connects you to the people and things that matter the most," said Jia Yueting, a major FF shareholder, also known as the co-founder and head of Chinese internet company LeEco.

According to Jia, the core value of next generation of cars will be reformatted into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, internet and cloud computing and electric power systems.

The production of FF 91 is planned to start in 2018.

According to the company, FF has started to accept reservations for the new car through a newly-redesigned website, FF.com.

Reservations are $5,000 and are fully refundable.

"The first 300 orders will have the option to upgrade their reservation in March 2017 to join an exclusive launch series, the Alliance Edition," said FF in a written statement.

FF said the peak motor power of the car is 783 kW, equating to 1,050 horsepower, delivering a record-breaking 0-60mph time of 2.39 seconds.

By co-engineered with LG Chem Ltd, the 130kWh battery that outfitted in the car provides enough power to give the vehicle a range of more than 700 kilometers.

The company also noted that the FF 91 has the fastest charge speed currently available.

The home charger, included with the vehicle, achieves 50 percent to full charge in fewer than 4.5 hours.

In addition, the FF 91 is the first car where you don't need a key.

By utilizing a facial recognition technology called "Arrival Interface", users will be greeted and allowed to enter as they approach the vehicle.

A driverless parking function is also available for the new vehicle, according to the maker.

The launch ceremony was held after FF's long-awaited EV factory, which was mainly invested by Jia for $1 billion in the US state of Nevada, was recently questioned for constriction shutdown.

Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz said in an earlier interview with China Daily, that the Chinese internet billionaire does not have enough capital to continually keep investing in the engineering works for the establishment of the new EV plant.

However, a statement afterward from Faraday Future claimed it never halted work on the factory, but finished the first phase of construction, with plans to move into the second phase in this February.