FF91 is Faraday Future’s last big roll of the dice at CES

With CES about to get underway in Las Vegas, the talk of the town has been the debut of the Faraday Future semi-autonomous electric vehicle (EV) that logged a faster track time than Tesla’s fastest model.

Faraday Future briefly hinted at the controversy at the closing of the event.

Last November Aecom, the company responsible for building the $1 billion Faraday Future factory stopped work and the the company has also had internal rumblings with three executives quitting.

The audience were also treated to a live, indoor drag race which showcased the car’s speed compared to a Bentley, a Ferrari and the Tesla S P100D.

Connectivity: Faraday Future made a big deal out of the connectivity features in the FF 91.

“We’re not stopping with automotive”, said Nick Sampson, Faraday Future’s senior vice president of R&D and engineering.

Prior to CES (Consumer and Electronics Show), which begins on Thursday, it was claimed the four-door vehicle also features a “driverless valet” system – where the driver can leave and order it to park itself. Faraday claims that the FF 91 can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.39 seconds, which would put it ahead of the Tesla Model S.

Faraday Future’s first auto is brimming with futuristic features like a camera built into the B-pillar on the driver’s side. The FF 91, as the electric vehicle is called, wowed attendees and managed to calm concerns surrounding the embattled, Chinese-backed company – for now, at least.

Faraday has become a controversial start-up after publicly struggling with financial issues and executive staff departures since presenting a concept electric supercar at CES a year ago which it claimed could be capable of speeds up to 200mph.

The company is the brainchild of Jia Yueting, a billionaire Chinese investor who is also the founder of tech company LeEco.

Here are six things you need to know about the Faraday Future FF 91.

A former Faraday Future worker told the Financial Times in late-November that, even if a production vehicle is shown in Las Vegas, delivering it to customers in 2017 was “not possible”, adding: “If CES goes badly, it’s all over”.

The production timeline is ambitious given the complexity of the vehicle as well as the company idling construction of the elaborate multibillion assembly plant that is scheduled to produce the FF 91. That will guarantee you a slot once deliveries commence in 2018, but Faraday didn’t reveal the final MSRP.

The crossover SUV, dubbed the FF91, features 130 kwh of battery energy, giving it more than 378 miles of range, the company claimed.