Meet Faraday Future's Debutant Vehicle – FF91

The South California-based electric automaker startup challenges Tesla with the FF91’s 2.39 seconds nought-to-60mph (96kmph) sprint time and over 700km range on a single charge (European cycle) with its 130kWh battery pack.    

Faraday Future, or FF, has revealed its first-ever car, the FF91, prior to its public debut at the upcoming 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – the world’s biggest tech show – in Las Vegas, USA. The FF91 (to be pronounced FF nine one) is up for reserve with a minimum payment of $5000 (nearly Rs 3.4 lakh), while production is slated to start in 2018. 

Faraday Future is coming up with a factory in Nevada, USA, for the production of the FF91 and future models, and has recently completed phase one of the facility. The company highlighted in an official release that the first 300 orders will have the option to upgrade their reservation in March 2017 to join an exclusive launch series, the Alliance Edition. Here’s what we know so far about the extraterrestrial-looking FF91. 

Platform and Performance 

Based on Faraday Future’s Variable Platform Architecture (VPA), the FF91 is a humongous vehicle measuring 5.2m in length, 2.2m in width and 1.5m in height, and comes with a wheelbase of 3.2m. To put this into perspective, the new Fortuner measures 4.7m in length. 

Speaking of its electric propulsion system, it puts out over 1050PS of power and rockets the FF91 from standstill to 60mph (approximately 96kmph) in 2.39 seconds. This makes it the fastest accelerating electric vehicle on the planet, beating the Tesla Model S P100D with the Ludicrous mode. 

Check Out: Tesla Introduces Model S P100D - The Fastest-Accelerating Production Car In World

The FF91 packs in the world’s largest and highest-density – 130kWh – battery pack with LG Chem-made cells, achieving an estimated range of over 378 miles (American cycle) and over 700km (European cycle). Faraday Future's rapid charging system peaks out at a speed of more than 500 miles per hour. For instance, the Tesla Model S and Model X feature a 100kWh battery pack in their P100D guises, and both of them give nearly 300 miles (approximately 500km) range in the American cycle. 

Design and features 

According to the automaker, FF 91’s design philosophy is driven by aerodynamics. It features a rounded front fascia and an angular rear profile. Instead of bulky rear-view mirrors, it offers sleek camera mounted units. It features a signature ‘UFO’ character line that runs around the mid-section of the vehicle. Its enormous wheelbase has resulted in a gigantic rear quarter glass and a spacious cabin (featuring NASA-inspired zero-gravity seats). Both the head and tail lamps run across the width of the vehicle. 

Coming to the features, FF91 owners will have a unique FFID, which remembers personal preferences such as seating positions, favourite music and movies, ideal temperatures, and driving style settings. So, every time a user hops in with an ID, the vehicle automatically adjusts to the preferred settings. The FF91 has a ‘true keyless’ entry system in which a camera mounted on the B-pillar recognises the users as they approach the vehicle and opens the door. This system also proactively adjusts the customised FFID settings.   

Apart from this, its interior cameras use this facial recognition tech to recognise users and to automatically adjust interior settings to suit their preferences. In fact, it not only recognises faces, but also facial expressions and moods to auto-prompt an experience to match, using music, temperature, fragrance, massages, and more. Similarly, the FFCTRL smartphone app allows users to customise and control their in-vehicle experience, get real-time vehicle status reports, summon their vehicle, and more. All these, along with the in-car connectivity systems, have been developed through Faraday Future’s strategic partnership with LeEco. 

Autonomous Driving 

With the FF91, we will see the LIDAR system being put to use for the first time ever in a production automobile. It's a retractable LIDAR, which pops out from the hood when the autonomous mode is fired up, and has an LED ring indication as well.

According to FF, the retractability function helps indicate to the passengers as well as other road users that the FF91 is driven autonomously. Besides this, it has 13 long- and short-range radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and 10 high-definition cameras. The company is also touting its driverless valet parking feature about. 

Recommended Read: India-Bound Tesla Model 3 Will Be Equipped With Full Self-Driving Hardware