New Californian Electric Carmaker Seeks to Steal Tesla's Thunder

An electric car startup based on California is hot on the heels of Tesla, and promises to deliver its first models of electric car in 2017.

Budding electric carmaker Faraday Future is making waves with its plans to challenge Tesla's preeminence in the electric car market, including a project to build a $1 billion factory in the US.

Like Tesla, the company is named after a 19th century inventor, in this case chemist and physicist Michael Faraday, who made a string of important scientific discoveries including electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator.

The company is led by a team of former Tesla executives, as well as car designers from BMW and General Motors. Having launched in 2014, it expects to have around 500 employees by the end of this year. 

"We are very excited to make our $1 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing—and this is just phase one," stated the company on Thursday. 

The carmaker announced it is looking for a location for its first manufacturing facility, where Faraday aims for the first cars to roll off the production line there in 2017.

This Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 photo shows the Faraday Future building in Gardena, California. Faraday Future has been hunting for a place to build what it says will be a $1 billion manufacturing plant for a new line of cars. Four states are contenders and the company says to expect an announcement within weeks

© AP Photo / Nick Ut

"In addition to producing vehicles, the company plans to explore other aspects of the automotive and technology industries, including unique ownership and usage models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving," Faraday explained.

The company's rapid growth and deep pockets have led some observers to investigate its origins, with some speculating that the firm is no more than a front for Apple. 

Faraday wants you to believe it's not a front for the Apple Car, but probably is https://t.co/92bHm2Nxea pic.twitter.com/Cm5GMEsB3P

— The Next Web (@TheNextWeb) November 7, 2015

 The Los Angeles Times has also investigated Faraday, and names its CEO as Jia Yueting, chairman and founder of Chinese entertainment company LeTV, whose interests include online video, internet TV, smart gadgets and smartphones. 

Last month LeTV announced plans to release its first electric vehicle at the Beijing auto show in April 2016. Reportedly called 'Mule Car,' the vehicle has already undergone testing in the US.