Faraday Future is not dead yet, state official says startup has now invested $160 million in its factory

Despite highly publicized financial and legal troubles both before and after its big reveal at CES last month, it seems like Faraday Future is still alive and moving forward with its electric vehicle factory in Nevada.

A state official recently disclosed that the company invested $160 million in the factory, but they currently have little to show for after that sizeable investment. 

Earlier this month, we shared a report suggesting that Faraday Future was downsizing its electric vehicle factory in the US following financial problems.

The company now explains that it still plans to build the 3 million square feet state-of-art factory, but that it will proceed in two phases.

Steve Hill, the head of the governor’s office of economic development, which is responsible for the incentive packages given to both Tesla and Faraday Future for their factories in the state, confirmed the news to a local paper last week:

But instead of moving immediately to build a huge factory, Hill said they’re planning to “phase the construction of their facility” and will break ground this spring on a 650,000 square foot factory that will open in 2018 and be able to make up to 12,000 cars a year.

Even though the size is more reasonable, 2018 is still an aggressive timeline.

More surprisingly, Hill says that Faraday Future already “has invested about $160 million so far, purchasing the property at Apex and funding the engineering and utility work there.”

The company hired AECOM to manage the construction of the project and as of the third quarter last year, they had only spent $6 million on the project.

As of earlier this month, the company had only completed the mass grading of the location at APEX North Las Vegas industrial park. There were no permanent buildings or foundations.

But the company claims that it will “soon” start “the second phase of Stage 1 Manufacturing Project”, which includes the construction of the first facility Hill was referring to and that should enable the manufacturing of the company’s FF 91 electric crossover.

The state gave the startup an incentive package worth $215 million in tax credits and abatements, and $120 million in infrastructure improvements at the industrial park where the project is underway.