Faraday Future Only Has 401 Preorders for Its First EV
What's happening
Faraday Future's latest financial report shows that it has just 401 preorders for its FF 91 electric car.
Why it matters
Faraday Future has spent the last half-decade trying to get its car into production, and an internal review over misleading preorder figures has helped uncover how much demand the company actually faces.
What's next
Faraday Future hopes to have the FF 91 in production in Q3 2022, but the company has missed past targets, so we'll see if it can get it to stick this time.
What a long, strange trip it's been for Faraday Future. It's been five years since the company unveiled its first EV, the FF 91, and it's not yet in production. In that time, the company has faced trials and tribulations aplenty, and it appears there are still a few holdouts waiting to get their hands on an FF 91.
Faraday Future this week reports that it has just 401 preorders for the FF 91. The deposits, which are fully refundable and nonbinding, require a prospective buyer to cough up either $1,500 for a Futurist trim or $5,000 for a Futurist Alliance Edition.
While preorders and deposits are part and parcel with many new EVs from a variety of automakers new and old, reservations are an interesting point in Faraday Future's recent history. In February, the startup's chairman and some executives stepped down following an internal probe that sought to determine if investors were misled through vague preorder figures. FF claimed it had more than 14,000 reservations, but many did not involve down payments at all, with only "several hundred" actually involving a financial transaction. And now, we know that number is 401.
On the financial side, Faraday Future reported a $149 million operating loss in Q1 2022, which is nearly $130 million higher than its loss in Q1 2021. FF attributes this to boosting its engineering, design and testing services, in addition to boosting headcount. The startup reports $706 million in total assets, including $276 million cash on hand.
That said, Faraday Future's Q1 press release points to progression in some key areas as it hopes to get the FF 91 out the door in the third quarter of this year. FF unveiled its production-intent body, in addition to receiving a dealer and distributor license from the state of California, which will allow it to engage in online sales nationwide. Faraday also signed a 126-month lease for a store in Beverly Hills, California, and the automaker is currently hunting down a second location. It also secured a contract to manufacture its second vehicle, the FF 81, which is slated to debut in 2024.
We first saw the FF 91 at CES 2017, when the company rented out a massive stadium-sized tent and featured a drag race against a Tesla Model S. Restructuring and new investors breathed life back into FF in 2019, and the following year, we were able to take a short drive in the FF 91 during CES 2020. Late last year, we caught up with CEO Carsten Breitfeld and discussed the company's next steps as it creeps toward production.
Solar Installer Guides
Other Energy Saving Guides
Our Experts