Gardena electric car start-up Faraday Future announced Thursday that
it will build a $1-billion production plant in Nevada, a major move for
an upstart rival to Tesla Motors. The expansion comes on the heels of one from Tesla, which last year announced plans to build a $5-billion battery factory outside Reno. The state offered one of the largest incentive packages ever given by a state — $1.3 billion in tax abatements and other perks — to lure the Palo Alto electric car maker.
Faraday Future, which is backed in part by a Chinese media billionaire but has yet to build a car, was considering four states, including California, for the production facility. The final selection was influenced in part by a $335-million package of tax incentives and infrastructure investments offered by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, company representatives said.
Dag Reckhorn, Faraday Future's vice president of global manufacturing, said the incentives from Nevada were an “important piece” of the decision but not the only factor. He said Nevada was also appealing because of the ample land needed to accommodate the plant, and it was close enough to Southern California seaports.
“Nevada gave us the best overall deal,” said Reckhorn, a former director of manufacturing for Tesla's Model S. “It's still close to the West Coast, we have Highway 15. It's good for our supply chain — getting parts in and out of the plant.”
Along with Reckhorn, Faraday Future is run by a team of engineers and executives who hail from senior positions at Tesla and other luxury car companies, including BMW, Porsche and Volvo. One of the founders and major backers of the company is Jia Yueting, the chairman and founder of Leshi Internet Information & Technology, or LeTV, a major Chinese media company.
He said the company seeks to revolutionize the auto industry by “creating an integrated, intelligent mobility system that protects the earth and improves the living environment of mankind.”
The company will break ground on the Nevada factory within the first three months of 2016, Reckhorn said. He declined to say when the company expects to launch its first vehicles.
As a newcomer to electric vehicles, Faraday will be entering an unproven market that has still not been mastered by Tesla, which unveiled its first electric vehicle nearly a decade ago.
More established automakers such as Chevrolet, Nissan, Ford and Volkswagen are also racing to grab shares of the electric vehicle market.
That could make it even more difficult for an unknown brand such as Faraday to make a dent, experts said.
“Suddenly, this space has become a little bit crowded,” said Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com.
Unlike in 2008, when gas prices soared, Caldwell said consumers are returning to larger sport utility vehicles.
“During the gas price shock of 2008, everyone was dying to get out of their larger cars,” Caldwell said. “Now people are kind of free to choose what they want.”
The market share for electric vehicles has dropped from a high of 3.7% in 2013 to 2.8% today, according to Edmunds.com.
Stacy Morris, a Faraday spokeswoman, said the company is looking at a series of side businesses, including self-driving vehicles and mobile technology applications, that will make driving less of a chore.
“Right now, it feels like everyone is driving around in a cellphone, and everyone should be driving around in a mobile device,” Morris said. “You still feel like it's dead time, where you're not fully connected.”
Thilo Koslowski, vice president and automotive practice leader at Gartner, said Faraday is tapping into the market for “digital lifestyle convergence.”
“People are increasingly expecting to be connected wherever they are,” he said. “For driving, that is obviously unsafe, and not a great experience right now. That's where you will see a lot of innovation going forward.”
And in some ways, Faraday will be piggybacking off the work Tesla has already done: navigating an industry filled with established incumbents, Koslowski said.
“That's a pretty big chunk that comes off their plate,” he said.
Nevada's incentive package for Faraday is about a quarter the size of the one given to Tesla Motors last year.
The legislation for the tax incentives has not yet been filed, but the Legislature will soon be called into a special session to consider the package, said Jennifer Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.
She said the state is “confident in the business model” for Faraday, but that the company will not receive all the tax abatements until it has invested $1 billion.
By: Chris Kirkham & Ivan Penn.
The Best and Worst Star Wars Video Games.
For almost as long as there have been Star Wars movies, there have been Star Wars
video games. At their best, these games crystallize the childlike
thrill of swinging your own lightsaber, piloting your own X-Wing, and
fighting an epic battle between Sith and Jedi. At their worst, they can
be cynical cash-ins or incompetent clunkers destined for the Sarlaac Pit
of history.
With The Force Awakens about to hit theaters, we looked back over three decades of Star Wars
gaming to sort out the pure gold from the pure Bantha fodder. Turns out
there was quite a bit of both. In no particular order, here are the
best and worst Star Wars video games ever made.
By: Yahoo Games Staff.
Yahoo!’s Mayer Has Twin Girls.
Mayer and Bogue had their first child, a boy, in 2012, a few months after she took the helm of the biggest US Web portal. The CEO’s latest additions arrived just a day after she spoke to analysts and investors on a conference call and gave press interviews to discuss a major shift in Yahoo’s business strategy.
Mayer is likely to take off about two weeks after the birth - and then another week or so in connection with the holidays - before returning to the office, said a person with knowledge of her plans, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. Also, Mayer will stay engaged with the company as needed with her CEO duties, the person said.
Mayer’s decision to return to work quickly is her choice and makes sense given her role, said Barbara Yastine, co-CEO of Lebenthal Holdings in New York.
“She has pressure on her at work, she’s facing challenges and she’s the CEO, so she’s figuring out how to handle that with the rest of her life - and that’s fabulous,” said Yastine, herself the mother of twin girls, now 11, and who went back to work soon after they were born. “When you want to do something big and different, you find a way to do it, and there’s no such thing as balance -- you’re always juggling.”
Mayer’s announcement comes as other technology chiefs welcome new children into their lives, raising awareness about challenges surrounding work and family. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he’s planning to take two months of paternity leave after the recent birth of his first child. Last year, Max Schireson, CEO of database company MongoDB, said he was stepping down to spend time with his children.
Mayer’s company offers a relatively generous package for new parents, including allowing new moms who give birth as many as 16 weeks of paid leave.
By: