Concept claims 200 mph on electrons

LAS VEGAS (March 1, 2016) — A claimed 1,000 hp, a 0-60 time of under three seconds and a top speed of 200 mph, from a freshly minted electric car maker?

Well, it certainly all sounds wonderful, and it's what Faraday Future promised after pulling the cover off its first automobile just 18 months after the company was founded.

The FFZERO1 is a concept car that is half Le Mans prototype and half Ginsu knife drawer. The single-seater — just one example of the company's variable platform architecture — is powered by an electric motor at each wheel drawing juice from a floorboard full of batteries.

Earlier this year Faraday made its worldwide debut in a tent in a Las Vegas parking lot in the rain two days before the International Consumer Electronics Show officially opened. The car maker chose Las Vegas not just because its high-tech car fit the bill for such a high-tech show, but because it will build cars (not this one) in a billion-dollar factory it plans to build in North Las Vegas.

Notice how everything there was in future tense? That's because so far Faraday hasn't built anything. But it has plans, man, big plans.

While the FFZERO1 was the window dressing, the news in Las Vegas was how Faraday plans to stick out from every other car maker on the planet using its new Variable Platform Architecture (VPA).

A video showed how the VPA can be stretched or shortened to accommodate all wheelbases and any number of body styles, from this outrageous racer to luxury cars, mid-sizers — and we even thought we heard “pickup trucks” in there somewhere. The video showed battery packs being dropped in as the chassis lengthened for greater range. The VPA can accommodate drivetrains using from one to four electric motors, two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and various performance options.

“Virtually anything we want,” said Nick Sampson, senior vice president of R&D for Faraday Future. “VPA provides us with so many possibilities.”

The cars, trucks and SUVs wouldn't depend on just the flat chassis for rigidity, Mr. Sampson later clarified — the bodies would be designed to also stiffen the overall structure. Interestingly enough, Mr. Sampson did not say the new cars would be monocoques, but only that the bodies would assist the chassis in overall structural stiffness. Looking forward to hearing more about that.

But that's not all that will set the FFZERO1 apart. Faraday plans to make cars available on a per-use basis as part of a shared vehicle plan, instead of just selling or leasing them. Connectivity would go along with this AirBnB approach, wherein all your favorite playlists and seat positions would be clicked on as soon as you got into your Faraday, whichever model that might be.

Mr. Sampson said the first model — due out in two or maybe four years — would be a “premium product.” He gave no further details. We are looking forward to seeing what's next.

______________________________________________________________

This report recently appeared on the website of Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.