An ambitious California-based startup called Faraday Future unveiled a mysterious electric vehicle (EV) concept called FFZero1 early this year but no comprehensive details emerged thereafter. Now, the plot is thickening as the company inked a partnership with LG Chem to build lithium-ion cells, which could possibly power that vehicle.
Faraday's collaboration with the South Korean company has been the subject of rumors since last month. It was only now, however, that the development was officially confirmed. Faraday touted a battery technology that has unique chemistry requirements, potentially allowing for the highest energy density ever within the industry.
"LG Chem worked closely with Faraday Future to develop a tailored cell chemistry to optimize the range and safety of our mass production battery hardware," Tom Wessner, Faraday Future's VP of global supply said in an official statement.
An important technology that could boost Faraday's EV involves the so-called VPA platform, which according to Forbes, is a flexible architecture that could form as the basis for a broad range of vehicles. A more detailed account was provided by Faraday, which linked the latest information about the battery manufacturing agreement to this platform.
The company stated that VPA includes a scalable modular battery structure that can easily be integrated and modified into the adaptable platform. This insight allows the public to appreciate the photo of a battery that Faraday posted in its Twitter account. See it below.
A galvanizing new partnership announcement coming tomorrow. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/1lRbgM6kKu
— Faraday Future (@FaradayFuture) Oct. 2, 2016
One should note that most electric vehicles today rely on pouch or prismatic cells. The image shown above is more like a cylinder and LG Chem is believed to be manufacturing this type for the first time. The company, one should note, has been providing pouch cells to at least 20 car manufacturers including General Motors.
Emergent innovations and the VPA platform could propel Faraday Future to a dominant position in the EV market in the future, potentially sustaining a credible challenge to existing players such as Tesla. This is because its model seems more attuned to mass production, allowing for the manufacture of groundbreaking electric vehicles as well as the flexibility to modify the output according to public demand.
To demonstrate this, one could turn to Faraday's potential capability to manufacture several EV variants and models at the same time. Under VPA, the company's chassis technology along with its assembly line will only have to be tweaked in order produce EVs in different designs and configurations. Aiming to take advantage of this capability, the company is now building a massive facility in the outskirts of Las Vegas.
At this point, Faraday Future has not confirmed whether the LG Chem battery is for the FFZERO1 or whether this vehicle is due to hit the roads soon. The company also did not provide any pricing estimates for its vehicles, only hinting that it will be very competitive.
