Faraday Future signs lease for California factory to build EV
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Faraday Future has signed a lease on a former tyre factory in Hanford, California. The company has been pushing ahead with its plans to build a luxury EV, the FF 91, but has struggled with funding and recently pulled out of building a factory near Las Vegas. It is said to have received a $13.75m emergency loan from Innovatus Capital Partners, but will need many millions more to meet its promise of delivering a market-ready FF 91 by the end of 2018, which is expected to have a base price of more than $100,000.

Faraday Future announced on Monday that it has signed a lease on a turn-key manufacturing facility in Hanford, California, south of Fresno. The company has been hyping its plans to build a luxury electric vehicle called the FF 91 that would compete with high-end Teslas, but it has struggled with funding and production. Faraday recently pulled out of plans to build a massive factory north of Las Vegas as well as plans to negotiate a deal for another new factory location in Vallejo, California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Faraday Future received an emergency loan from an investment firm to the tune of $13.75 million, using a claim to the company’s Gardena, California headquarters as collateral. The company will need to raise millions more to deliver market-ready FF 91s by the end of next year, as it has promised to do. Stefan Krause, Faraday Future’s Chief Operating Officer, told the Times that having an assembly line will attract additional investors, as it “makes it more real” for them.

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The warehouse being leased was originally a tire factory, first built by Armstrong Rubber Co. in 1962 and purchased by Italian tire maker Pirelli in 1985. Pirelli shut the factory down in 2001 for economic reasons, and tenants have been various since then, most recently including a potential pot-growing operation.

This weekend, the electric vehicle manufacturer invited its employees out to the site. More than 300 showed up, according to Faraday Future’s press release, to help “begin the process of site clean-up and embrace the company’s new manufacturing home.”

The company cited the turn-key nature of the Hanford factory, which does seem like a better fit for Faraday Future than previous plans to build all-new facilities. “After Saturday’s event, Faraday Future will continue the process of site preparations, including planning, refurbishment, and permitting,” a company press-release noted. “Following the move-out of current tenants in late November, the company expects significant movement to ramp-up on site in early 2018.”

The manufacturing facility is a million square feet “and will employ up to 1,300 workers, over three shifts, over time,” the company added.

Faraday Future’s VP of Global Manufacturing, Dag Reckhorn, also commented, “Our new production facility is the latest demonstration of our commitment to getting FF 91 on the road by the end of 2018. Despite significant headwinds on the path ahead of us, we are laser-focused on that one key milestone.”