In the fledgling market of electric cars, so much of what keeps them from being adopted on a wider level relates back to the battery. As Tesla CEO Elon Musk has put it, the next big disruption isn?t a new car?it?s a new battery.
And now Faraday Future, a California-based, Chinese-funded upstart EV maker, has shown that it understands the importance of battery technology in its future. It has formed a partnership with battery giant LG Chem that, according to a collective release posted yesterday, ?represents a joint commitment between both companies to collaborate on the development of EV battery technology, resulting in the world?s highest energy density for a production automotive battery.?
The partnership is ancillary to a massive $2.4 billion deal under which LG Chem will supply cells for Faraday Future?s packs. The company is also building a $1 billion factory in Nevada to assemble its vehicles, and it reported earlier this year that it?s been running test mules. We recently spied its Tesla Model X?fighting crossover, heavily camouflaged in the Mojave Desert. Furthermore, Aston Martin has partnered with Faraday?s parent company, LeEco, to work together in developing Aston?s RapidE concept electric vehicle. The LG Chem cells would likely be bound for a production version of the FFZERO1 supercar, based on the concept car first shown at CES early this year, as well as for that crossover. Both vehicles, in theory, could be built on the Variable Platform Architecture (VPA...