Remember Faraday Future? The California-based EV startup carmaker has had a tumultuous history. It revealed its first car, the FF 91, back in 2016 (I actually got a ride in a prototype during CES in 2017). But due to a multitude of financial and managerial troubles, it didn’t start deliveries until seven years later. So far, it’s only sold a handful of cars. More recently, the company has pivoted to selling rebranded Chinese vans with screens for bumper covers.
While the future of Faraday Future is unclear, I know for certain something that can’t help: Prototype cars exploding and damaging headquarter buildings. But that’s precisely what happened on early Sunday morning, according to a report from TechCrunch.
There are no photos or videos of the incident available online, but it was serious enough for the fire department to restrict access to the building. Firefighters had to force their way in, and the flames were extinguished around 5:17 a.m. From TechCrunch:
The fire was extinguished in 40 minutes, and no injuries were reported. Damage to the building — a smaller two-story structure next to the larger portion of the headquarters (pictured above) — was severe enough that the city’s Department of Building and Safety has “red tagged” it, meaning it may need structural work before it can be occupied again.
“We are aware of a fire at our facility yesterday, there were no injuries to FF staff, and no evacuation was required, and the specific cause and origin of the fire is under investigation,” John Schilling, Faraday Future’s communications director, wrote in an email to TechCrunch.
Yikes! As TechCrunch points out, this building used to be owned by Faraday Future, but the company sold it to generate cash flow in 2019, electing to turn around and lease the facility from its new owners, which it’s done since. The current owners, Rexford Industrial, actually sued Faraday over late payments last year and attempted to evict the carmaker. The two sides eventually settled.
When that settlement occurred, Faraday’s lease was supposed to expire at the end of September 2025 (two days ago). The current status of the lease is unclear, and even Faraday’s spokesperson didn’t have an answer for TechCrunch when asked about whether they’re still legally tenants. Someone’s gonna have to pay for damages either way.
Following the incident, Faraday Future released a lengthy statement on X (formerly Twitter) claiming an FF 91 show car caught fire, and that building surfaces “sustained minor damage, while all windows remained intact.” The company says something similar about the car itself:
Regarding the condition of the vehicle, its overall structure remains intact. The subframe, including the tires and wheels, battery pack and cabin floor, also remains largely undamaged. This is clearly different from fire or explosion incidents typically associated with battery packs.
Based on our preliminary analysis, we have found no evidence that the battery pack was the cause of the fire or explosion for now. Early indications suggest that possible causes might include an electrical short circuit in the showroom wiring or a short circuit related to a loose connection in the vehicle’s 12V low-voltage system.
It should be noted that the vehicle involved, designated as B40 (B for Beta, meaning early engineering prototype), was one of the earliest FF 91 beta vehicles. Its powertrain and battery pack (using 18650-type cylindrical cells) have been in service for nearly nine years, and its interior materials do not meet the flammability standards of production vehicles. This beta prototype is entirely different from FF 91 production vehicles, and therefore we believe this incident will not result in any recall of production models.
Faraday goes on to say it takes safety seriously and that it plans to conduct a full investigation to find out the root cause of the fire. Even if it does end up recalling every FF 91, I suspect it’ll only take about an hour’s worth of phone calls to reach every owner.
Top photo: Faraday Future
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I’m surprised anyone noticed.
Faraday Future, there’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile – are we going to hear about something happening at the headquarters of Keller or Davis next?
What terrible luck. They finally manage to make ONE, and it blows up.
Fiery Faraday Future flop.
Many farads were discharged there.