CES 2017: Faraday Future Shows Off 'FF 91' Connected Electric Car for 2018 Release

[mdriftmeyer]

Please stop claiming EV is saving the planet. These cars are significantly more environmentally detrimental due to mining resources for the batteries alone and currently something like 25% of total global carbon emissions comes from producing electricity today. EV could be a solution in the future, but today they are only a burden on an aging energy grid that is too slow to change to renewable non-polluting sources of energy. EV today is for pretentious ass-hats that don't have a clue about the planet while thinking their $100k car is saving it.

Yes, currently hybrids are the smart bet. But in ten years, EV will be cleaner.

 

[jimbobb24]

Please stop claiming EV is saving the planet. These cars are significantly more environmentally detrimental due to mining resources for the batteries alone and currently something like 25% of total global carbon emissions comes from producing electricity today. EV could be a solution in the future, but today they are only a burden on an aging energy grid that is too slow to change to renewable non-polluting sources of energy. EV today is for pretentious ass-hats that don't have a clue about the planet while thinking their $100k car is saving it.

I agree electric cars don't save the planet - but I don't care. I still want one because they are no worse for the planet (or are so close on the good/bad scales it hardly matters) and in 10 years will be running on solar power and run quiet with less breakable parts.

You don't understand how these things work at all. For EV to work through growing pains means an evolution of technology and you can't have that without these stages. Learning to walk isn't easy.
Example: Aluminum and glass recycling took many years to become beneficial. Investing in tech, both financially and socially, is how things move forward. There are people out there already charging Tesla's off solar grids. And the Tesla may very well be the best car in the world and that's coming from a guy who owns the fastest sedan on the planet.


R.

Glass recycling is not beneficial. Aluminum has almost always been. But I get your point. I think electric cars are awesome. We will adapt. I don't like the government subsidizing them since that takes money from average people and gives it to super rich people (maybe a subsidy based on income) who buy Teslas. But soon the subsidies will not matter. Solar is finally coming (no not that crap on your house which is a dead end waste of resources - the big plants) and the grid is going to be transformed. Sure, we will still have oil forever because of its amazing energy density, but more and more electric is going to be the default for most people.

 

[123]

So what if a car is 0000.1 seconds faster than a Tesla. Is that all a car is? It's like saying a PC tablet is better than a Mac Ipad because it opens a an application 0000.1 seconds faster? What about the other parts of the car? The control, cost, features ect..

It is the "most connected car", don't forget... I wonder, though, why they think people would be impressed by a statement like this. We all know that features are useless without proper concepts, usability and quality implementation.

If they have the most advanced set of features besides actually driving the car, I would have expected them to demo them or at least show some convincing concepts. Not a drive-home button that doesn't work and a vague video about being able to watch tv everywhere.

 

[JamesPDX]

I'm planning to install solar to charge my $40K Tesla, and also power most if not all of my home. There's EV today and EV next year (when my Model 3 should be delivered).

Remember when pretentious ass-hats stockpiled incandescent bulbs because they wanted to burn as much coal as possible producing light as inefficiently as they could? They framed their high utility bills so they could show them off to all their friends.

Oil prices are going up again, judging by the prices I see at the pump.

Just a little OT, but...

Unless you're driving a vintage car, a Ferrari, etc. There's no reason to buy anything but regular gas: Check the sticker on your car. It was engineered for a particular octane. Putting high-octane in a Toyota Corolla is actually bad for it because of pre-ignition, etc. Anyway, market prices are cyclical and somewhat artificial.

In the United States, this is why continental freight should be by heavy-rail as much as possible instead of triple-trailers. (Like several Xeons instead of 100x millions of throttled iMacs.)

People actually framed their utility bills? Please post Flickr, Instragram, etc. links. Charging an EV will certainly use more Kwh than using a few 60w incandescent bulbs around the house. Don't forget all this cell phone/laptop/PadPod charging and computer usage. The gaming console, the 4k TV, the high-speed washing machine, etc. There's no free lunch.

Regarding lighting, it's the output lumens not the watts that matter.

https://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl#instructions

 

[fs454]

Please stop claiming EV is saving the planet. These cars are significantly more environmentally detrimental due to mining resources for the batteries alone and currently something like 25% of total global carbon emissions comes from producing electricity today. EV could be a solution in the future, but today they are only a burden on an aging energy grid that is too slow to change to renewable non-polluting sources of energy. EV today is for pretentious ass-hats that don't have a clue about the planet while thinking their $100k car is saving it.

Yeah, it's not as radical as you explain it to be. They're not significantly more detrimental.

 

[123]

Not sure whether the best way to capture the speed of a vehicle with a camera is via close-up of the back or from the side while moving along with the vehicle...

Epic fail, only thing even worse was when they drove a race driver off stage to demonstrate the car's speed.

There are always things that may go wrong in a presentation. But not even thinking about how to actually make the thing look good/fast to people on the internet, like huge timer screens, better camera angles, static camera positions, split screens, side by side races... I am just wondering what else they didn't think about. To me it seems impossible to give a presentation as bad as this one and actually build a great product.

 

[d4rkc4sm]

absolute shiet, this car

 

[IJ Reilly]

Unless you're driving a vintage car, a Ferrari, etc. There's no reason to buy anything but regular gas: Check the sticker on your car. It was engineered for a particular octane. Putting high-octane in a Toyota Corolla is actually bad for it because of pre-ignition, etc. Anyway, market prices are cyclical and somewhat artificial.

Premium seems to be the new regular, in terms of the octane requirements of many new cars today. One of the reasons I just went EV is because every ICE car I looked at was a premium drinker. I often ran my old premium drinker on mid-grade, and it ran okay that way for some years, but not so much when it got older.

 

[frankgrimes]

I'd rather stick to the German big dogs or some finr italien stallions for that price tag.

I don't want automatic driving, I want to feel the engine and feel like I'm in total control of my car. Cool future concepts for sure but just like Tesla too expansive and way ahead of it's time.

 

[CaptRB]

Just a little OT, but...

Unless you're driving a vintage car, a Ferrari, etc. There's no reason to buy anything but regular gas: Check the sticker on your car. It was engineered for a particular octane. Putting high-octane in a Toyota Corolla is actually bad for it because of pre-ignition, etc. Anyway, market prices are cyclical and somewhat artificial.

In the United States, this is why continental freight should be by heavy-rail as much as possible instead of triple-trailers. (Like several Xeons instead of 100x millions of throttled iMacs.)

People actually framed their utility bills? Please post Flickr, Instragram, etc. links. Charging an EV will certainly use more Kwh than using a few 60w incandescent bulbs around the house. Don't forget all this cell phone/laptop/PadPod charging and computer usage. The gaming console, the 4k TV, the high-speed washing machine, etc. There's no free lunch.

Regarding lighting, it's the output lumens not the watts that matter.

https://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl#instructions

Uh, no. Many modern high performance cars run optimally on higher octane gas. My gas guzzling Hellcat requires 91 as a minimum and runs better at 93.


R.

 

[doelcm82]

Unless you're driving a vintage car, a Ferrari, etc. There's no reason to buy anything but regular gas: Check the sticker on your car. It was engineered for a particular octane. Putting high-octane in a Toyota Corolla is actually bad for it because of pre-ignition, etc. Anyway, market prices are cyclical and somewhat artificial.

I've never driven a car that required anything other than regular gas, though I did drive some back in the days when "regular" meant leaded.

 

[Digital Skunk]

You may not buy the "hype of trickle down technological advancements", but it has been part of the auto industry for decades. You wouldn't have anti-lock brakes, disc brakes, power steering, collision mitigation braking and steering, etc., if it weren't for the fact that some automakers invest in these advancements and a customer base is willing to pay for them - and generally pay significant amounts to be early adopters.

Totally different analogy. We aren't talking about safety features that prove themselves after a few years.

EVs have been around for decades and the prices have yet to come down.

An electric Ford focus still costs $8000 - $10,000 more than the conventional.

 

[mrhick01]

I was thinking the same exact thing.... that was difficult to watch.

You guys have been so spoiled by the brilliance of Steve Jobs that everything else is junk.

Just keep in mind that nobody in his generation had his package of developmental genius and marketing.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

These things need to make some kind of noise though. Even a fake digital vroom. Most of the world jay walks and I've almost been hit by electric cars because I didn't hear them coming.

 

[Flood123]

absolute shiet, this car

Oh man that sucks. I was hopeful. When you drove it and got to play around with it a bit what was it that you didn't like?

 

[jmgregory1]

Totally different analogy. We aren't talking about safety features that prove themselves after a few years.

EVs have been around for decades and the prices have yet to come down.

An electric Ford focus still costs $8000 - $10,000 more than the conventional.

You weren't specific in your post - but I would say - related to the electrification of vehicles, that there has been almost zero developments for battery powered transportation to filter down and drive lower priced electric cars. Really, we're still stuck at the point where we've got batteries that pound for pound provide less energy density compared to gasoline, even if the shift from lead acid to new lithium-ion batteries provided some benefits in longevity and speed to charge. So things really haven't changed much.

Tesla certainly has shown us that electric cars don't have to be poor performing appliances like a Prius. And they certainly appear to be taking their lessons learned in order to offer up lower priced vehicles, much like Mercedes has done with other car-based technologies they've developed over the years.

 

[mi7chy]

These things need to make some kind of noise though. Even a fake digital vroom. Most of the world jay walks and I've almost been hit by electric cars because I didn't hear them coming.

People need to pay attention, follow the law and don't wear earplugs if breaking the law. You can still be hit by silent bicyclists, joggers, etc. if you don't. As a last resort Tesla is good at detecting and avoiding violators but don't count your life on it since not all EVs are Tesla.

 

[IJ Reilly]

You weren't specific in your post - but I would say - related to the electrification of vehicles, that there has been almost zero developments for battery powered transportation to filter down and drive lower priced electric cars. Really, we're still stuck at the point where we've got batteries that pound for pound provide less energy density compared to gasoline, even if the shift from lead acid to new lithium-ion batteries provided some benefits in longevity and speed to charge. So things really haven't changed much.

Tesla certainly has shown us that electric cars don't have to be poor performing appliances like a Prius. And they certainly appear to be taking their lessons learned in order to offer up lower priced vehicles, much like Mercedes has done with other car-based technologies they've developed over the years.

The cost and weight of Li-ion batteries have come down dramatically in the past few years, and figure to continue to decline. The Chevy Bolt holds 60Kwh of batteries in a car that sells for $30k. That wasn't possible a year or so ago. Battery energy density doesn't compare to fossil fuels and likely never can, since in effect, fossil fuels are storing millions of years of energy in the carbon. But they don't really need to achieve the same density given that electric propulsion is vastly more energy efficient. The loss to heat for electric is around 5% compared to around 70% for combustion.

I don't know that Tesla necessarily proved anything about electric motors that we didn't already know. They are inherently very quick to deliver torque.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

People need to pay attention, follow the law and don't wear earplugs if breaking the law. .

Jaywalking isn't illegal in 99.99999999% of the world. Paying attention...yeah but most people hear something coming from a distance before they see it. This is natural behaviour that predates the existence of civilisation. It's not easy to give up a natural instinct.

 

[banfiz]

They are saying this is a Tesla killer

Not at $180,000 its not.
That's three times the price for 100 extra miles a charge and less than half a second after to 60mph.
Thats one hell of a premium!
Yes its smart, especially when the lights are turned down LOL

 

[Digital Skunk]

You weren't specific in your post - but I would say - related to the electrification of vehicles, that there has been almost zero developments for battery powered transportation to filter down and drive lower priced electric cars. Really, we're still stuck at the point where we've got batteries that pound for pound provide less energy density compared to gasoline, even if the shift from lead acid to new lithium-ion batteries provided some benefits in longevity and speed to charge. So things really haven't changed much.

Tesla certainly has shown us that electric cars don't have to be poor performing appliances like a Prius. And they certainly appear to be taking their lessons learned in order to offer up lower priced vehicles, much like Mercedes has done with other car-based technologies they've developed over the years.

I'm sorry about that. And you are right about all of this. It is true that Tesla made EVs super appealing.

 

[mi7chy]

Jaywalking isn't illegal in 99.99999999% of the world. Paying attention...yeah but most people hear something coming from a distance before they see it. This is natural behaviour that predates the existence of civilisation. It's not easy to give up a natural instinct.

Beg to differ. Peace, tranquility and Darwinism predated everything you stated.

 

[JamesPDX]

These things need to make some kind of noise though. Even a fake digital vroom. Most of the world jay walks and I've almost been hit by electric cars because I didn't hear them coming.

Welcome to Portlandia!

 

[groovyd]

LOL at the epic failure to self-park at the end of the presentation

 

[JamesPDX]

Premium seems to be the new regular, in terms of the octane requirements of many new cars today. One of the reasons I just went EV is because every ICE car I looked at was a premium drinker. I often ran my old premium drinker on mid-grade, and it ran okay that way for some years, but not so much when it got older.

I wonder if it's the ethanol content. My late father-in-law ran a few very successful gas stations since the 1950's and there was something he told me once about how the leaded fuel/zero ethanol gas was better for the engines that were designed for that spec. But also that a lot of new vehicles being released were "calibrated" or otherwise "firmware-locked" to run like crap unless you were putting in what is essentially an "artificially high" octane to get a particular performance. (A real feat would be to get those Hellcats, etc. to run on regular gas.) People would drive their Hummers and Escalades into his station, want them filled, then they would bitch about the PPG. He had this cool ski-boat and we'd fill it up at this riverside boat-fuel station. He told me that stuff was totally ethanol-free because otherwise you'd ruin the engine. So when in doubt, just go with the sticker on the fuel door. Hey kids, don't use acetone! 😉
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Secretive electric car company Faraday Future today held a press event at CES 2017 where it unveiled its first production vehicle, the autonomous FF 91. The unveiling comes just as Faraday Future has been rumored to be "on the brink of collapse" amid financial difficulties and employee departures.

Faraday Future has been a bit of a mystery despite its ambitious plans to remake transportation with a fleet of intelligent electric cars. Unfounded speculation had at one point suggested Faraday Future might somehow be related to Apple and its Project Titan vehicle efforts, but Faraday's partnership with Chinese electronics company LeEco, which has electric car ambitions of its own, proved otherwise.

Nick Sampson, senior vice president of R&D and engineering at Faraday Future, took to the stage tonight to discuss Faraday's work over the past two and a half years on "reformatting the future of mobility" with a focus on disruption.


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Article Link: CES 2017: Faraday Future Shows Off 'FF 91' Connected Electric Car for 2018 Release

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