With a new CEO and a plant that’s almost complete, Faraday Future may finally start producing cars.
Embattled electric vehicle manufacturer Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. has given the world a sneak peek at its Hanford, Calif. production facility, releasing a video featuring CEO Carsten Breitfeld and providing a surprisingly candid tour of the progress so far.
Faraday Future (FF) says the Hanford complex is part of a new class of modern, highly connected production facilities.
“We continue to make exceptional progress on construction and development in our Hanford manufacturing plant, and we are getting closer to our start of production (SOP) later this year,” said Breitfeld in a press release. “Main body lines, e-coat systems, paint ovens and conveyance are all in place for start of production and we continue to build production-intent vehicles that will be used for further testing and validation.”
FF is installing a sophisticated electrocoating process in its paint shop, which the company says will produce superior paint finish and durability.
In the body shop, construction and equipment installation are nearly complete in the final vehicle manufacturing areas, and the company’s robots are in the final commissioning and validation stage. FF claims that it will adopt a customized, luxury-focused production setup with manufacturing technology and automation to rival the world’s top luxury automakers.
Faraday has installed manufacturing equipment from China-based intelligent manufacturing equipment provider Guangzhou MINO Equipment Co., Ltd., including MINO’s body-in-white (BIW) automatic welding lines, powertrain and new energy manufacturing equipment, electrical automation and robotics.
The following video demonstrates the plant, showing processes such as robotic assembly in the body shop as well as a glimpse into how FF has set up the facility.
Since going public last July, FF has accomplished five manufacturing milestones and is in the process of achieving the sixth and final milestone prior to start of production. The first vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly line by the end of 2022.
However, this is the company’s second attempt to develop a manufacturing footprint in the U.S., with its first attempt to build a greenfield development facility in North Las Vegas collapsing after a series of significant financial difficulties, delaying the initial 2017 launch of its flagship vehicle and culminating in the personal bankruptcy of Faraday’s founder Jia Yueting in 2019.
The Hanford plant, known as “FF ieFactory California,” is on the site of a former Pirelli tire plant that was closed by the tire maker in 2001. The factory is slated to build Faraday’s flagship EV model, the TechLuxury FF 91 EV sedan, and is expected to employ up to 350 workers and have the ability to assemble 10,000 vehicles when operating at full capacity.
