Established car makers have clearly started paying more attention to Tesla’s challenge, after seemingly ignoring it for several years, mainly because they haven’t been convinced that the Californian startup is capable of mass-producing electric cars and bringing them into the mainstream in the near future.
Faraday Future to Follow in Tesla’s Footsteps
In addition to traditional auto companies, such as BMW, Audi, Nissan, there are now a lot of other startups that are looking to challenge Tesla Motors and build luxury all-electric vehicles to rival the likes of the Model S and the recently launched Model X crossover. One of those emerging companies is Faraday Future, an electric-car startup that was founded in 2014, with headquarters in California, which is starting to look as a strong rival to Michigan as the main automotive center in the United States.
The secretive company hasn’t revealed too many details about itself and its plans, but from what they have announced so far, it definitely seems like Faraday Future is poised to take on Tesla and try to get a piece of the action in the luxury electric-car market.
Ready to Show a Concept at CES
Now, it seems that Faraday Future is finally ready to give auto industry observers, as well as its potential competitors, an insight into what the company is working on. As Autocar UK reports, Faraday Future will unveil an electric-car concept at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, which will essentially be a preview of the vehicle that the company plans to bring to market in 2017.
According to the report, the concept will either be a sedan or a crossover, with an electric drivetrain that consists of a 98-kWh battery, featuring a 15-percent more capacity than Tesla’s 85-kWh battery. As far as range is concerned, the car is expected to deliver at least 300 miles per charge, which is enough for it to be considered a Tesla rival.
Connectivity and Automation on Top of Long Range
But, Faraday Future’s first car will not only be capable of long-distance travel – which can not be said for most other electric cars at the moment – it will also feature a high-level of in-car connectivity and automation. On top of that, Faraday Future has said that it intends to reinvent the entire concept of individually owned vehicles, allowing customers to lease different models depending on their needs, rather than purchasing one model.
Faraday Future officials have stated that the company plans to launch seven models in the near future, with the first going into production in 2017. A couple of weeks ago, it announced that it will spend $1 billion to build a plant where its vehicles will be assembled, so it could be said that Faraday Future is pretty serious about becoming a big player in the electric-car market.