American electric vehicle (EV) start-up Faraday Future Intelligent Electric has been forced to revise its production and delivery timeline due to a lack of supplies, and a cash crunch that will force it to turn to investors after a plunge in its share price.
Faraday Future announced late last week that “certain of [its] suppliers” would be unable to meet the company’s timing requirements, which has in turn forced Faraday to push back the timing for the start of deliveries for its FF 91 electric sedan.
It also revealed that its delivery timetable depends on getting enough funds and parts and completing required crash tests.
Just two months after saying it was “flush with funds” after a $US130 million raising, it now says it is down to just $US29.8 million cash and will need “substantial additional financing” to start its second and third phase delivery plans.
It says it is in discussions with additional potential investors, but its share price has crashed more than 90 per cent in the last year, following revelations of management issues late last year and its own questions about its ability to continue as a going concern.
On Friday last week, it did manage to produce the first of its futuristic FF 91 vehicles on its production line in Hanford, California.
According to its marketing people, the FF 91 is the only “Ultimate Intelligent TechLuxury electric vehicle” in the world that embodies “next-gen” disruptive technologies that are tailored for the “ultra-spire user.”
The FF 91 Vehicle boasts 1,050 horsepower, an EPA-certified range of 381 miles (600kms), and 0-100km/h acceleration in just 2.27 seconds.
It also boasts a unique rear cabin intelligent Internet system, and a “revolutionary user experience designed to create a mobile, connected, intelligent, and luxurious third Internet living space and user mobility ecosystem.”
But first it needs to get the cars built.
“Certain of the Company’s suppliers informed the company that they will be unable to meet the company’s timing requirements and, therefore, the company has updated the timing for the start of deliveries for its FF 91 vehicle, and the previously announced three-phase delivery plan,” it says.
“The company will start the first phase of the delivery process detailed below at the end of May. The three-phase delivery plan is aimed at continuously implementing the company’s core philosophy and corporate vision of co-creation and co-sharing.”
But it notes that customers will not be able to take actual possession of their cars until the beginning of the second phase, which is expected to begin in June. And that is dependent on its ability to raise more funds.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.