Faraday Future, maker of the long-delayed FF91 EV, reiterated its commitment to fund-raising, reporting Tuesday that operating losses in the second quarter had more than quadrupled.
The company posted an operating loss of $137 million for the second quarter, compared to $28 million for the same period a year ago. Overall, the second quarter financial report paints a grim picture.
With still no vehicle to sell and little near-term prospects to generate revenue, the company has warned several times this year that it is running out of money.
The perpetually tight company now has even less cash on hand, reporting about $121 million at the end of the second quarter, compared to the $505 million it reported at the beginning of the year.
Faraday said in a statement that it “forecasts it will require additional funding to continue operations by early September 2022 and will require additional funding through the remainder of 2022 and beyond 2022 to ramp up production of the FF 91 to generate revenue to drive the company toward cash flow break-even.”
Lack of funding has been just one of the impediments that delayed the launch of the beleaguered automaker’s first vehicle. Faraday’s future has been repeatedly jeopardized since its inception in 2014, but the company was unwavering in its vision, launching as a publicly traded company in July 2021 through a SPAC merger with Property Solutions Acquisition Group.
Just in the second quarter, the company removed founder and former CEO Yueting Jia as executive officer and began proceedings to force the former lieutenant governor of Nevada from its board of directors and fell under the oversight of the United States Department of Justice, as a result. of an SEC investigation to investigate whether Faraday misled investors.
It also narrowly avoided being delisted from the Nasdaq by filing its overdue 2021 annual report and first quarter 2022 financial results in May. Faraday’s submission of its second quarter results should encourage investors.
“Importantly, we have also updated our financial statements to meet NASDAQ listing requirements again,” CEO Carsten Breitfeld said in a statement Tuesday. “Fundraising efforts are underway and we currently expect to deliver the FF 91 to customers in the third or fourth quarter of 2022.”
The company said it had 399 “fully refundable, non-binding, paid deposits” for the FF91 as of June 30. The new start of production and the first deliveries of the FF91 have been postponed to the third or fourth quarter of 2022.
Despite the uproar, Faraday has big plans for the future, including a goal to open a factory in China by mid-decade to build two more models: an FF 81 sedan and FF 71 smart last-mile delivery truck.