Faraday Future finally starts production on FF91
Faraday Future has announced the start of FF91 production in its Hanford, CA, factory in central California, which it calls “FF ieFactory California.”
Earlier this month, Faraday said that it would finally start production by the end of March, pending millions of dollars of funding coming through.
Faraday says this is the last of seven major manufacturing milestones on a long road to bring the FF91 to production, a car that was originally unveiled in 2017 with the intention of 2018 production.
The Faraday FF91 was promised 1,050 horsepower, a 130 kWh battery capable of 381 miles of range, 200 kW charging, and self-driving capability. It also promised a 0-60 time of 2.27 seconds, which was faster than “other benchmark cars” (namely, Tesla) at the time.
These specs were quite eye-watering at the time and are still very good, though the shine has been somewhat taken off of them through five years worth of delays. But to Faraday’s credit, it seems to have kept the same specs as its original announcement without watering them down in the interim.
In the meantime, Faraday Future’s founder and former CEO Jia Yueting, otherwise known as YT Jia, found himself in difficult financial issues. Jia was replaced by Carsten Breitfeld, formerly of BMW and Byton, who was later replaced by current CEO Xuefeng Chen, known as “XF.”
Both XF and YT were on site for the livestream, with the two affixing a plaque to the first chassis to roll off the production lines.
Faraday has still not specified the price of its vehicle, but during the stream, execs praised the FF91’s luxury, and founder YT Jia name-dropped both Ferrari and Maybach, setting a rather high bar in that respect. Jia also said that Faraday wants to position itself well in the “high-value user market,” another signal that prices won’t be low.
Faraday has two tiers of preorders for its vehicle: $5,000 for the “FF 91 Futurist Alliance” tier and $1,500 for the “FF 91 Futurist” tier. The $5,000 tier is currently sold out, but Faraday says that interested buyers can sign up to be on the $1,500 tier and ask to be contacted by a member of the sales team if a spot opens up.
Immediately after the original announcement, Faraday announced it had received over 64,000 reservations in 36 hours. But these were unpaid hand-raises, and on a more recent check-in, the company claimed to have 14,000 unpaid reservations and only 401 paid reservations.
Despite these modest numbers, Jia stated today that “current production capacity falls far behind market demand.”
Faraday plans to open a store in Beverly Hills later this year, with sales efforts starting in Los Angeles and San Francisco first, then New York, and in Shanghai and Beijing in China.
The start of production was accompanied by a livestream on Faraday’s social media channels, which you can view below (the actual action starts at 46:49 in the video):
Electrek’s Take
When this car was originally announced, I noted that it included “every popular concept car feature from the last several years” – and even some new ones, like facial recognition technology which would automatically set music, temperature, scent and massage features if the car detects that you’re having a bad day.
It felt like a “kitchen sink” announcement, a car that was heavy on promises but would likely lag behind those promises in reality. So the delays before production are not a big surprise. I think almost nobody expected it to actually get on the road in 2018.
Personally, though, I didn’t expect it to ever get to production at all. It seemed unrealistic to me.
So Faraday should be commended for getting to the point it has gotten to, despite it seeming quite unlikely. It has at least produced a chassis, and it has a factory and some customers waiting for said chassis, at an as-yet-unannounced price and hopefully with the rest of the car attached. Now, the next step is to actually get the car onto the road, and into customers’ hands.
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Wind energy powered 20% of all electricity consumed in Europe (19% in the EU) in 2024, and the EU has set a goal to grow this share to 34% by 2030 and more than 50% by 2050.
To stay on track, the EU needs to install 30 GW of new wind farms annually, but it only managed 13 GW in 2024 – 11.4 GW onshore and 1.4 GW offshore. This is what’s holding the EU back from achieving its wind growth goals.
Three big problems holding Europe’s wind power back
Europe’s wind power growth is stalling for three key reasons:
Permitting delays. Many governments haven’t implemented the EU’s new permitting rules, making it harder for projects to move forward.
Grid connection bottlenecks. Over 500 GW(!) of potential wind capacity is stuck in grid connection queues.
Slow electrification. Europe’s economy isn’t electrifying fast enough to drive demand for more renewable energy.
Brussels-based trade association WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson summed it up: “The EU must urgently tackle all three problems. More wind means cheaper power, which means increased competitiveness.”
Permitting: Germany sets the standard
Permitting remains a massive roadblock, despite new EU rules aimed at streamlining the process. In fact, the situation worsened in 2024 in many countries. The bright spot? Germany. By embracing the EU’s permitting rules — with measures like binding deadlines and treating wind energy as a public interest priority — Germany approved a record 15 GW of new onshore wind in 2024. That’s seven times more than five years ago.
If other governments follow Germany’s lead, Europe could unlock the full potential of wind energy and bolster energy security.
Grid connections: a growing crisis
Access to the electricity grid is now the biggest obstacle to deploying wind energy. And it’s not just about long queues — Europe’s grid infrastructure isn’t expanding fast enough to keep up with demand. A glaring example is Germany’s 900-megawatt (MW) Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm. The turbines are ready to go, but the grid connection won’t be in place until 2026.
This issue isn’t isolated. Governments need to accelerate grid expansion if they’re serious about meeting renewable energy targets.
Electrification: falling behind
Wind energy’s growth is also tied to how quickly Europe electrifies its economy. Right now, electricity accounts for just 23% of the EU’s total energy consumption. That needs to jump to 61% by 2050 to align with climate goals. However, electrification efforts in key sectors like transportation, heating, and industry are moving too slowly.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has tasked Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen with crafting an Electrification Action Plan. That can’t come soon enough.
More wind farms awarded, but challenges persist
On a positive note, governments across Europe awarded a record 37 GW of new wind capacity (29 GW in the EU) in 2024. But without faster permitting, better grid connections, and increased electrification, these awards won’t translate into the clean energy-producing wind farms Europe desperately needs.
Investments and corporate interest
Investments in wind energy totaled €31 billion in 2024, financing 19 GW of new capacity. While onshore wind investments remained strong at €24 billion, offshore wind funding saw a dip. Final investment decisions for offshore projects remain challenging due to slow permitting and grid delays.
Corporate consumers continue to show strong interest in wind energy. Half of all electricity contracted under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in 2024 was wind. Dedicated wind PPAs were 4 GW out of a total of 12 GW of renewable PPAs.
Read more: Renewables could meet almost half of global electricity demand by 2030 – IEA
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss the official unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y, Mazda 6e, Aptera solar car production-intent, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):
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The Chinese EV leader is launching a new flagship electric sedan. BYD’s new Han L EV leaked in China on Friday, revealing a potential Tesla Model S Plaid challenger.
What we know about the BYD Han L EV so far
We knew it was coming soon after BYD teased the Han L on social media a few days ago. Now, we are learning more about what to expect.
BYD’s new electric sedan appeared in China’s latest Ministry of Industry and Information Tech (MIIT) filing, a catalog of new vehicles that will soon be sold.
The filing revealed four versions, including two EV and two PHEV models. The Han L EV will be available in single- and dual-motor configurations. With a peak power of 580 kW (777 hp), the single-motor model packs more power than expected.
BYD’s dual-motor Han L gains an additional 230 kW (308 hp) front-mounted motor. As CnEVPost pointed out, the vehicle’s back has a “2.7S” badge, which suggests a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint time of just 2.7 seconds.
To put that into perspective, the Tesla Model S Plaid can accelerate from 0 to 100 km in 2.1 seconds. In China, the Model S Plaid starts at RBM 814,900, or over $110,000. Speaking of Tesla, the EV leader just unveiled its highly anticipated Model Y “Juniper” refresh in China on Thursday. It starts at RMB 263,500 ($36,000).
BYD already sells the Han EV in China, starting at around RMB 200,000. However, the single front motor, with a peak power of 180 kW, is much less potent than the “L” model. The Han EV can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.9 seconds.
At 5,050 mm long, 1,960 mm wide, and 1,505 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,970 mm, BYD’s new Han L is roughly the size of the Model Y (4,970 mm long, 1,964 mm wide, 1,445 mm tall, wheelbase of 2,960 mm).
Other than that it will use a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pack from BYD’s FinDreams unit, no other battery specs were revealed. Check back soon for the full rundown.
Source: CnEVPost, China MIIT
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