Can Faraday take on Tesla?

It takes a brave business plan to take aim at electric car industry darling Tesla – especially considering the number of start-ups that have simply shorted out chasing the EV dream.

Think Aptera, think Think and think of the flaming heap that Fisker ended up in – it’s a hard row to hoe, even with deed pockets.

Auto start-ups appear at about the same speed as models are added to the Takata airbag recall – but a new one that’s sparked a media storm claims to have a billion in the bank.

Huge amounts of speculation around just where Faraday Future is getting its money have set the Silicon Valley gossipscape on fire – including some making the bold call that the company is simply a front for Apple’s electric car ambitions.

It’s not exactly behaving in stealth mode though – with a bold website, and a flood of press releases proclaiming that four of its VPs are Tesla veterans.

Faraday is even ramping up interstate competition by saying California, Nevada, Georgia and Louisiana are in the running for phase one investment in the form of a cutting-edge factory.

The LA Times may have cut through the hype though – pinning Chinese tech squillionaire Jia Yueting down as one of the companies backers.

Wherever the moneybox may be, Faraday Future is starting as it means to go on, with 400 employees on the books and the business headquartered where in the same high-rise once occupied by Nissan’s suited staffers in Gardena, south of Los Angeles.