--- title: "Electric Car Startup Faraday Future Is Circling the Drain" description: "An internal email obtained by The Verge reveals Faraday Future is still desperately looking for funding while extending the furlough." date: "2019-02-27" modified: "2019-02-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/faraday-future-insolvent-furlough" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "electric car market" - "electric cars" - "farady future" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Electric Car Startup Faraday Future Is Circling the Drain ![An internal email obtained by The Verge reveals Faraday Future is still desperately looking for funding while extending the furlough.]() *\Image: Faraday Future\* ## Faraday Past Electric car startup Faraday Future has been in financial free fall for months now. The company placed [hundreds of employees]() on unpaid leave or furlough in October — and hundreds more followed [two months later](). And things are not looking up. An internal email [obtained by]() *The Verge* paints a gloomy picture: the company is still desperately looking for funding, and extending the furlough. ## Desperate for Funding The company has been hit with a round of high executives leaving the company last fall. Nick Sampson, a co-founder who quit in late October, [wrote]() that "the company is effectively insolvent," in an email to staff. "Funding efforts have taken longer than the Company initially anticipated," reads the email newly obtained by *The Verge*, describing how the company has been in a series of discussions with "potential investors" to raise money for "debt financing and equity funding." ## Power Struggle Most of a 2017 advance of a $2 billion commitment from Chinese real estate giant Evergrande has been spent, **according to an [October filing]() with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange**. The rest likely won't ever change hands due to an [ensuing power struggle](). In an [agreement in December](), Evergrande allowed the company to continue to find funding, but without its help. Will the startup ever be able to release its [ever-delayed FF91](), a $200,000 luxury SUV, to the masses? It seems increasingly unlikely. **READ MORE:** [Faraday Future says hundreds of furloughed employees won’t return to work next week]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on Faraday Future:** *Faraday Future, Once Called “Tesla-killer,” Scrapping Big Nevada Factory as Cash Crisis Deepens* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()