Faraday Future just unveiled its first electric car for production — which the company says has a range of more than 300 miles per charge

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January 4, 2017 6:24 AM

The electric-car startup Faraday Future took the wraps off its first production car concept at a press conference Tuesday evening in Las Vegas ahead of the CES trade show.

Faraday Future's first production vehicle.

The crossover SUV, dubbed the FF91, features 130 kilowatt-hours of battery energy, the company said, and more than 378 miles of range. It has an open charging system, which means it can charge from any charging standard.

The company says the vehicle boasts 1,050 horsepower and can go from zero to 60 mph in just 2.39 seconds. That would be quicker than Tesla's Model S P100D, which can reach 60 mph in 2.4 seconds.

While the company did not reveal the price of the FF91, it did say production was expected to begin in 2018. Consumers can now make a priority reservation for the vehicle on Faraday's website for a deposit of $5,000.

Connectivity was another big theme the company focused on during its event.

Hong Bae, the director of ADAS and self-driving at Faraday Future, said the FF91 was capable of learning users' personal preferences to provide a customized experience. The vehicle is also said to come with some self-driving features, including the ability to park itself. The company says the vehicle boasts more than 30 sensors, including 10 front- and rear-facing cameras, 13 long- and short-range radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and one high-definition 3D lidar sensor.

The company showcased its autonomous tech by having the FF91 park itself during a live demonstration.

The Los Angeles-based Faraday Future, which is backed by the Chinese company LeEco, had been hyping the reveal for sometime by teasing videos and images of the car in action. But despite the hype, there has been growing speculation as to whether the company can actually deliver production vehicles.

Several senior executives have recently left the company, including the president of product marketing and growth and the global chief brand and commercial officer.

In November, Faraday also had to halt construction of its car factory in Nevada after falling behind on its payments to its contractor Aecom. Also in November, LeEco's CEO, Jia Yueting, said in a letter to Reuters that the Chinese firm was facing a "big company disease" after expanding at an "unprecedented rate."

During a tour of Faraday Future's Los Angeles-area headquarters attended by Business Insider in December, however, the company said its car could go into production sometime in 2018.

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