CES 2025: The Nine Lives of EVs
Can it be just nine years ago that wannabe EV maker Faraday Future introduced the FF01 “supercar” on a dark drizzly evening at a pre-CES event held in a Las Vegas parking lot surrounded by a chain link fence and located across from the Luxor Hotel?? Can it be that Faraday Future is preparing to reprise this soggy event next week at CES 2025 on the strength of $30M in financing?
According to Carscoops.com, Faraday Future has announced a new “mainstream brand” called Faraday X and will display two prototype mules before the opening of CES 2025 in Las Vegas on January 5th.? Carscoops reports that Faraday X claims to have secured $30M in financing of which $7.5M was immediately made available with another $22.5M in cash commitments that appear to be contingent on meeting some unspecified objectives.
Carscoops: “During the (CES) event, the brand will also ‘provide updates on its FX strategy.’ Faraday Future is remaining tight-lipped about its immediate plans, but we know it wants to launch two more affordable EVs dubbed the FX 5 and FX 6. The first is ‘expected’ to be priced between $20,000 and $30,000, while the latter should cost between $30,000 and $50,000. Interestingly, both battery-electric and range-extended powertrains will be offered.”
Nine years ago, Faraday Future promised a driving future characterized by a vehicle platform dubbed the so-called VPA architecture capable of assuming many different shapes to enable a broad automotive product portfolio.? Uh-huh?? Okay.? The company also promised an adaptive and adaptable driving environment intended to engage and entertain driver and passengers alike.? Right.
The company also announced plans for enhanced safety systems and a “tablet on wheels” platform for content delivery and the communication of contextual information.? Just 18 months into its journey to EV nirvana at the time, Faraday Future claimed to have 750 employees and was “weeks away” from breaking ground on a $1B vehicle manufacturing facility in North Las Vegas.? Sure.
Since that rainy Vegas evening, Faraday Future has sold or given away a grand total of 15 cars to customers or influencers.? Sweet!? The company owes suppliers millions of dollars.? Good luck!
The Faraday farrago continues.? But, seriously, $30M?? I don’t think so.
Meanwhile, the dynamic duo of Fisker and Karma will continue to play out at CES 2025.? Google’s AI tells us that “Henrik Fisker’s company produced the Fisker Karma, a luxury electric sports sedan, starting in 2011.? However, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after its battery supplier went bankrupt.”
Karma Automotive emerged from the ashes of Fisker Automotive.? The company brought the Revero plug-in hybrid to market, based on the original Fisker Karma.? Henrik Fisker took another shot at the EV game in 2016 with Fisker Inc.? This initiative also ended in bankruptcy.
Inside EVs reports that fleet operator, American Lease, agreed to buy 3,200 unsold Fisker Ocean EVs for about $46M.? American Lease provides vehicles to drivers for ride-hailing services in New York.
American Lease is reportedly taking responsibility for restoring and maintaining cloud connectivity to the vehicles along with support for maintenance, spare parts, and software updates.? In other words, writes Inside EVs, “American Lease will also get access to the proprietary software systems needed to maintain and update its fleet of Oceans.” (The Fisker Owners Association opposed American Lease's proposal to no avail.)
Which brings us to Karma Automotive, which has not only survived the demise of Fisker but intends to thrive in its new incarnation under new president Marques McCammon with a combination of what he calls:
Says McCammon, former vice president for global automotive at Wind River (since acquired by Aptiv) and global managing director for automotive and industrial for Ricardo plc, regarding Karma’s latest incarnation:
“On SDV, we are using our vehicles as a host for SDV concepts that get stalled under the weight of much larger corporate organizations.? Since my time at Wind River, I have been focused on developing and deploying real SDV architectures at scale.
“The issue is software and tech companies tend to lack a vehicle-level host with which to pilot the next and the new.? As an industry, we fight over control of turf in the vehicle stack that preserves individual agendas more than advancing the holistic industry perspective.? I want to use (Karma’s) meager though statistically scalable volumes to move minimal viable products to discovery-level scale.” Karma has already validated this vision with existing OEM relationships.
As part of the effort to explore and exploit those objectives, Karma will bring its new Invictus EV (which some describe as a souped-up Revero) to the COVESA (Connected Vehicle Systems Association) event at the Bellagio during CES 2025.? Among the applications Karma will demonstrate will be a next generation crash response solution from RoadMedic and the RoadMedic partner network.
An even more important partnership with Intel will be emphasized by Karma. The two organizations announced a bilateral collaboration to co-develop SDV architecture (SDVA) to underpin upcoming vehicles such as the 2026 Karma Kaveya super-coupe, and to demonstrate and validate critical concepts to advance open standards.
Karma’s McCammon will assist Intel Fellow and Vice President Jack Weast in showing how AI-enhanced high-performance computer, intelligent power management, and software-defined zonal controllers built on an open eco-system “enables a more sustainable, scalable, and profitable automotive future,” in the words of Karma press materials.
As part of Intel Automotive’s presence at the Venetian Hotel, Karma says it will show its co-branded inverter which will incorporate Optimal Pulse Pattern programming to control the vehicle’s e-motors to improve efficiency.? A simulated dyno test will demonstrate powertrain management and energy telemetry including wheel torque, wheel speed, power and efficiency including torque ripple reduction and range boost.
Karma has wisely chosen a powerful partner.? Intel’s presence at CES 2025 will be substantial including:
Keynote – January 6 – 8:30 a.m. – Venetian Delfino Ballroom, Level 4F – invitation only – “AI Inside for a New Era”
Intel Technology Showcase – January 7-9 – various times – registration required.
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Conference Talks – “Advancing AI Everywhere for Everyone;” “GenAI for Everyday Experiences;” "AI PCs: Discover a New World of Experiences.”
Karma/Intel Session: “Intel Automotive from Silicon to Solutions: Intel’s Whole Vehicle Advantage to Solving the Software-Defined Vehicle Transformation” – January 7 – 3:30-4:30 p.m. – Venetian – Delfino Ballroom
Intel event details and registration: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/ces-2025-pioneering-ai-driven-innovation-work-mobility.html#gs.ix7zy8
The resilience of EVs and the durability of EV ambitions is a worthy coda to CES 2025 even before the event begins.? In the words of British poet William Ernest Henley ("Invictus"):
Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.
I'll see you in the cab line.
Multi-patented inventor, Wireless Technology, Software and Systems Architect, ADAS, Automotive.
1 个月Intel comes and goes with automotive, until they find a shinier thing, like AI.
I suppose some care about SDV. How many bags of mulch can I stack in it? Can I get an OTA to expand the cargo area?
Technology Consultant
1 个月Great post Roger C. Lanctot ! It’s hard to compute that it was indeed 9 years ago the FF made such a big splash - it was my first time at CES and the future of fully self driving EVs seemed so bright back then. Looking forward to another week of watching the Uber / Lyft app spinning trying to find a ride. Come down and say hi (or should that be Bonjour?) at our booth in Eureka Park ??