Faraday Future Will Test at Pikes Peak This Month

When we first encountered Faraday Future, an electric startup that aimed to take on Tesla, our first reaction was that the product was indeed inventive, but that its future was uncertain. Capital streams were unreliable, senior leadership was cloaked in mystery, executives and chief engineers came and left, and the product itself was a challenge to get built. Faraday Future, however, has persisted and has announced that it will begin its latest round of testing at one of the most grueling races in the world: The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Faraday Future’s Pikes Peak testing will see the company’s FF 91 development car race up the infamous mountain course as part of the rather unique testing regimen the company has set forth. According to Faraday Future, Pikes Peak was chosen to “further facilitate the internal engineering development of the vehicle (FF 91).” Furthermore, “A track that climbs 4,720 feet from the starting line, with a total of 156 turns, stands as an essential proving ground for the vehicle’s thermal control systems.”

While track testing is now routine with most new automobiles, taking a development mule — and an electric one at that — from a little-known manufacturer surrounded by controversies to a hill climb such as Pikes Peak isn’t the norm. What makes this decision slightly more mysterious is the statement from Nick Sampson, Faraday’s senior vice president of R&D, who said, “Testing the performance of [the] FF 91 in real-world conditions sets the bar even higher as we bring the vehicle to market in 2018.”

We’re not sure how Pikes Peak classifies as real-world conditions, but the most interesting piece of that statement is that Faraday believes the car will be ready and available to the public by 2018. This is a remote possibility given a number of factors; including a massive cash shortage which has led it to seek an additional $1 billion in venture capital, cancellation of the company’s San Francisco facility, the constant executive and engineering tumult, and the fact that it hasn’t even begun construction on its main factory in Las Vegas, according to a recent Business Insider report.

Nevertheless, the company is confident that its hill climb endeavor will aid the FF 91’s development, as the hill climb’s conditions and challenges present an “ideal setting to further develop the electric propulsion system and supporting thermal systems,” according to Sampson. The FF 91 will run in the exhibition class, where manufacturers are allowed to run prototype and pre-production vehicles that also meet the Climb’s safety and construction technical regulations.

In conjunction with its race preparations and running in the hill climb, Faraday has also launched a new YouTube series called “Testing the FF 91,” where it will detail the rigorous testing regimen the company is employing. The first video can be seen below and you can see the FF 91 in the sheetmetal June 25 at the 95th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Source: Faraday Future

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