California-based electric car start-up Faraday Future has reportedly managed to raise $900 million from India's Tata Group. The amount would translate into 10 percent of its shares. Though the report hasn't been confirmed by either Faraday Future or Tata Group, Chinese automotive news aggregator Gasgoo claims media sources in China have reported the deal.
Faraday Future unveiled its first technology-heavy concept car, the FF 91 at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The electric SUV was a total head-turner at the event and it has won over 64,000 bookings within 36 hours of its launch.
However, the start-up venture has been in the headlines recently, for all the wrong reasons though. It was looking to raise $1 billion after leading investor Jia Yueting, the CEO and founder of Chinese tech giant LeEco experienced cash crunch.
Adding salt to the injury, chief financial officer of the firm Stefan Krause resigned in October and chief technology officer Ulrich Kranz's contract was terminated. Meanwhile, Faraday Future informed that the developments have not impacted by ongoing research and development process.
If the involvement of Tata Group is anything to go by, it will be a great relief to the start-up which is considered as a worthy rival to Tesla Motors in the EV world.
FF 91 is an all-electric crossover designed to take on the likes of the Tesla Model X. Faraday Future claim FF 91 can sprint from 0-60mph (0-96.5kmph) in just 2.39 seconds making it the fastest electric vehicle in the world. For the uninitiated, EV specialist Tesla's fastest model, Model S, needs 2.5 seconds to cover the same distance.
Under the floor pan, the FF 91 uses Variable Platform Architecture (VPA) chassis with batteries in the floor and an electric motor for each. FF 91 houses a battery pack of 130kWh which is significantly higher than Tesla's battery pack of 100kWh. Faraday Future claims the powertrain will generate 1,050bhp and a whopping 1,800Nm of torque.
Source: gasgoo/ motorauthority
