Like most startups, Faraday Future hasn’t had the smoothest ride since its inception in 2014. And its future isn’t guaranteed to be full of sunshine, rainbows, and profits, either. Faraday has yet to start producing its flagship FF 91, but it may not need to build as many when it does get started.
Earlier this week, Faraday Future released its first quarter financial results for 2022. In the report, Faraday noted that it had only received 401 pre-orders for the EV as of March 31, 2022. The company was accused of have inflated the number of pre-orders in the past, but that’s not happening here.
Most shockingly, these pre-orders might not even turn into actual sales. Faraday notes in its financial results that these pre-orders are “fully refundable” and “non-binding”. Faraday is asking for a deposit of $5,000 for the FF 91 Futurist Alliance Edition and $1,500 for the FF 91 Futurist.
Faraday still has a ways to go before cars start rolling off the assembly line. Production of the FF 91 is expected to start in the third quarter of this year. Faraday built its first production-bound FF 91 in February, which the company will use for final engineering validation and certification. Faraday previously said production would begin this summer.
The FF 91 will be Faraday’s first model, and it will be its flagship offering. It will pack three electric motors that propel the car to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in a claimed 2.39 seconds, with the powertrain developing 1,050 horsepower (772 kilowatts). Faraday also boasted that the car would have over 300 miles (482 kilometers) of range.
It seems that a growing number of automakers are willing to offer customers the ability to reserve or pre-order vehicles long before they even start rolling off the assembly line. Ford has racked up 200,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning. Pre-orders for the first edition of Chevrolet’s electric pickup were filled in just 12 minutes. However, GM was coy about the actual number of reservations. Faraday, on the other hand, only has 401.