Reporter of the Economic Business: Li Xing Reporter of the Economic Business Business: Sun Lei
On September 22, Faraday Future (FFIE, stock price of US$0.75, market value of US$244 million) announced that its first mass-produced model, FF 91 Futurist, has obtained the official range rating of US Environmental Protection Agency EPA, with a pure electric range of 381 miles (about 613 kilometers).
Compared with the battery life test standards under NEDC and WLTP conditions, the EPA test conditions include four links: urban conditions, high-speed conditions, intense driving conditions, and optionally tested air conditioning conditions, which are more close to the actual road conditions of daily use. Compared with
, the battery life of FF 91 Futurist far exceeds that of Tesla Model Y. Public data shows that under EPA standards, the 2022 Tesla Model Y rear-wheel drive version has a range of 244 miles (393 kilometers), a long-range version has 330 miles (531 kilometers), and a high-performance version has 303 miles (488 kilometers).
"The integrated power system and lithium-ion battery pack equipped with FF 91 Futurist effectively converts battery energy, provides power to the vehicle and effectively recycles and reuses braking energy to optimize and extend the range." Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as FF ) Global CEO O Bi Fukang introduced that completing the EPA official certification of the US Environmental Protection Agency is a huge step in the mass production and delivery of FF 91 Futurist.
It is reported that FF 91 focuses on the pure electric luxury car market, with prices in China and the United States expected to be 2 million yuan and 200,000 US dollars respectively. In response, on September 23, a staff member close to FF told the reporter of " Daily Economic News " that as of now, the market price of FF 91 in China and the United States has not been finalized and has not been announced to the public.
FF 91 is expected to deliver
in the fourth quarter, according to FF's latest business plan, FF 91 will start delivering in the fourth quarter of this year. At the same time, the relevant testing, verification and certification of FF 91 will also be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. "FF 91 Futurist is currently manufacturing quasi-production vehicles at FF ieFactory California in Hanford." FF said.
htmlOn August 30, FF announced that all the equipment required for mass production of FF 91 is in place, and other related equipment required to comprehensively increase production is expected to arrive at the factory later this year. "As the equipment is in place one after another, FF has made substantial progress in the installation of equipment in the main manufacturing area of the factory vehicles." Bi Fukang said.
Image source: Image provided by the company
It is worth mentioning that the mass production time of FF 91 was originally planned for the third quarter of this year. Regarding the reasons for the delayed delivery, FF explained in response to reporters that due to the delay caused by the supply chain issues disclosed previously, the company needs additional funds to release FF 91, and the mass production time has also been affected. However, the specific mass production and delivery time of FF 91 also depends on the funding arrangement and the resolution of supply chain problems. The 2022 financial report released by
FF shows that as of June 30, 2022, FF's total assets were approximately US$588 million, including US$121 million in cash. It is worth noting that FF still had $276 million in cash at the end of the first quarter of this year. As of August 9, the company's cash balance was only US$52.2 million, including US$1.6 million in restricted cash. "The company has taken actions to protect cash flow , including reducing expenditures, extending payment cycles and implementing other similar measures," said Bi Fukang.
It is worth noting that although FF has taken measures to maintain its current cash position, it is expected that by early September 2022, it will still require additional funds to continue operations, and additional funds need to be raised for the remainder of 2022 and beyond 2022 to support FF 91 production and revenue generation, and put the company on a path of breaking even cash flow.
For this reason, while promoting the mass production process of FF 91, FF is also accelerating the promotion of financing activities. In its second quarter 2022 financial report, FF revealed that FF is seeking to raise $325 million from currently underway financing projects to supplement cash on hand. It is expected that between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, an additional US$368 million (equivalent to approximately RMB 26.133 billion) will be required to launch FF 91.
htmlOn August 16, FF announced that it had successfully signed a final agreement on a new financing mechanism, with a financing plan of up to US$600 million having received US$52 million.Official data shows that as of August 26, 2022, FF's cash balance in the United States was US$47.2 million and restricted cash was US$1.5 million.received "death threat" in raising funds
"At present, the company is actively discussing additional financing matters with multiple investors." Bi Fukang emphasized that the time and amount of additional funds raised may affect the time and rate of factory output increase, which may also greatly affect the expected output.
However, the process of raising funds by FF was not as smooth as expected. Public information shows that on September 22, the FF official website issued a statement saying that the company's efforts to introduce new funds have been affected by "completely unfounded false allegations." For personal gain, some directors are plotting to push the company into unnecessary bankruptcy, resulting in litigation and even escalating to "physical violence and death threats." At the same time, FF also revealed that the company has been fighting with major shareholder FF Top Holding, which is believed to be associated with the company's co-founder Jia Yueting .
Image source: Enterprise image provided by
As FF's largest shareholder, FF Top Holding is a shareholder organization that holds more than 20% of FF's equity and approximately 36% of the voting rights. Previously, FF Top Holding had submitted a power of attorney for the removal of FF director Brian Krolicki and executive chairman Susan Swenson.
FF Top Holding believes that over the past year, FF's operating performance has not improved. This poor performance was largely due to the dereliction of duty of former FF independent director Brian Krolicki, and the board members who were allied with him.
Not only that, Sean Smart Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evergrande Auto, the second largest shareholder of FF, also submitted a 13D announcement to the US SEC on September 16 (i.e., an announcement for shareholders to hold more than 5% of the company's shares individually or in combination), indicating that it has sent two consecutive letters to the FF board of directors, urging the convening of special shareholders' meetings and annual shareholders' meetings as soon as possible, and reiterated that FF Top Holding, as the largest shareholder of FF, has fully possessed the relevant rights to remove independent director Brian Krolicki and chairman Susan Swenson in accordance with the shareholder agreement.
The above-mentioned relevant staff close to FF told reporters that the issuance of Shiying's company's announcement conveyed to the outside world the behavior of the FF board of directors' unqualified and incompetent, which in turn caused huge losses to the interests of FF company, employees, shareholders and investors, which has caused strong dissatisfaction among shareholder groups such as FF Top, the company's largest shareholder, and the second largest shareholder, Evergrande .
Daily Economic News
