Faraday Future Will Compete in Formula E Next Season
The secretive Tesla competitor is about to go fast.
Faraday Future may not have a car on sale yet, but the ambitious Tesla competitor revealed on Friday that it plans to race in the next Formula E electric car season.
Faraday Future will partner with the Dragon Racing Formula E team, competing in the 2016/17 season onwards under the name “Faraday Future Dragon Racing.” The partnership will see Faraday Future contributing its research and development team to try and improve the Dragon Racing platform, contributing data analytics expertise to refine vehicle simulations.
“Partnering with Dragon Racing allows us to further showcase our electric vehicle leadership and technical capabilities in one of the most exciting Formulas in the world,” said Nick Sampson, senior vice president at Faraday Future. “I clearly see Formula E as the right venue to challenge our engineers and technologies in the most extreme performance conditions.”
The first race for the combined team is scheduled for October 9 in Hong Kong. In the 2017/18 season, the pair will implement more Faraday Future components, potentially including the Echelon Inverter that will be used in the company’s consumer cars.
“We are extremely proud to be part of this exciting alliance with Dragon Racing,” said Marco Mattiacci, chief commercial officer at Faraday Future.
The secretive Tesla competitor has made some bold claims in the past about its in-house technologies. In May, the company said that it was aiming for up to 30 percent better car battery range than its competitors, which would give it a considerable edge.
Faraday Future has yet to actually release a car, though. The company plans to follow a similar path to Tesla, releasing high-end models before expanding out. The closest we’ve come to a feasible, releasable car is the FFZERO1 concept car on display at CES 2016. Unfortunately, it was not a model intended for consumer release, and chances are it may never see the light of day in showrooms.
