Faraday Future is building a fleet of prototypes, more vehicles spotted testing in the wild

Every time we publish an article about electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, the first comment is always a variation of “where is the car?” or “vaporware”. That’s because EV enthusiasts were mostly disappointed after the company stumbled out of stealth mode at CES 2016 by unveiling the not-really-meant-for-production FFZERO1 concept.

They want to see an actual car they can potentially buy and we can now report that the company is closer than ever to show what it is really working to offer to consumers.

The heavily-camouflaged crossover prototype has been spotted a few times in recent months, but sightings have increased in the past few days as Faraday continues testing the vehicle on public roads.

Sources within FF’s supply chain told Electrek that the startup took delivery of several aluminum body-in-white for the same vehicle as the prototype seen in the sightings.

An Electrek reader sent us some pictures of the car spotted around Los Angeles this week:

The vehicle is still heavily camouflaged, but we get a good idea of the size and shape. We can also see a sensor on the roof toward the back and two slots for front-facing sensors in the rearview mirror cutout.

Sources, again within FF’s supply chain, told Electrek that the company is trying to have dozens of pre-production vehicles ready early next year, but an official unveiling of a prototype could happen as soon as toward the end of Q4 2016.

The crossover/SUV is expected to enter the luxury segment, potentially a competitor to Tesla’s Model X, but likely even more expensive – though the startup is considering different ownership models that could reduce the entry price.

Additionally, we recently reported that Faraday Future reportedly signed a massive $2.4 billion supply contract with LG Chem for battery cells and its partner, LeEco, recently raised $1.08 billion USD to finance its electric car effort.

Update: and here’s a video:

Spotted a #FaradayFuture car in the wild. Better than any Pokemon I've caught so far. Gotcha @FaradayFuture pic.twitter.com/Rh55t0ZtPX

— Paul Tao (@paultao) September 23, 2016