Start-up company Faraday has selected a site north of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, to be the location for a USD1-billion plant to build electric vehicles (EVs), according to media reports. A press conference, hosted by the governor of Nevada, has reportedly been scheduled for today (10 December) to provide more details of the planned plant. A letter on the project has been sent by Yueting Jia, founder of China's Leshi Internet & Technology Company (LeTV), to Nevada legislators describing the company's intentions and identifying himself as one of a group of investors in Faraday, according to reports by Associated Press, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal. Production at the plant is scheduled for early 2017 and the company has promised the investment will create 4,500 jobs, according to the reports. Faraday has also sent invitations to a live-streamed introduction of a prototype car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2016. The event will be on 4 January and will showcase a "new concept inspired by our design and engineering vision", says Faraday. The letter also says that Faraday intends to achieve profitability not only through sales of the vehicle, but by selling in-car entertainment as well.
Significance: Faraday has been laying the groundwork for the EV venture since 2014, hiring more than 400 staff and occupying offices in Gardena, California, US, as well as in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Beijing, China. Reports of the company's plans have been trickling out since July. Faraday will be facing a more competitive EV market than manufacturer Tesla did at the time of its launch, with traditional OEMs since expanding their EV offerings, Tesla continuing to improve its offering, and car manufacturers making significant gains in connectivity and in-car entertainment. The new company may arrive with an innovative model and a unique approach, but it will have a much more competitive field to face than did Tesla when it first launched the Model S.
