by Stephen Rivers
- An early Faraday Future FF91 prototype caught fire inside its Los Angeles headquarters.
- Firefighters battled the blaze for 40 minutes before the damaged building red-tagged.
- Faraday claims the battery was not responsible, citing wiring or a 12-volt short.
Faraday Future is back in the news, but not for the reasons it would prefer. Early on the morning of September 28, an early FF91 prototype caught fire in the company’s headquarters. Nobody was hurt, but we can’t say the same for the building, which is now off-limits for workers.
More: This Used Faraday Future FF 91 Sold For $235,000
The Los Angeles Fire Department received a call at 4:37 a.m. about the blaze and managed to extinguish it within 40 minutes, says TechCrunch. Sprinklers inside the building helped slow the fire, but not before an explosion blew out part of a wall. Firefighters had to force entry into the building, and once the fire was out, an inspector red-tagged the property.
Early Prototype Up in Smoke
After the fire, the company quickly moved to temper concerns with a public statement. It stressed that the battery pack wasn’t involved and pointed out that the vehicle in question was an old prototype.
Internally referred to as B40, the company said the car is about nine years old and that “its interior materials do not meet the flammability standards of production vehicles. This beta prototype is entirely different from FF 91 production vehicles, and therefore, we believe this incident will not result in any recall of production models.”
The brand will conduct a full investigation, and for now, they think the fire started due to a short circuit in the showroom wiring itself or a loose connection in the vehicle’s 12-volt system.
Not the First Fire
This isn’t the first time Faraday Future has faced a blaze involving one of its test cars. Back in 2022, another prototype reportedly went up in flames, though few details ever emerged about that event other than a set of photos. For a company already fighting for stability, each incident adds to a growing cloud of doubt.
The latest fire comes at an especially volatile time for the embattled company.
Statement on Fire Incident at Faraday Future Satellite Office Building
In the early morning of Sunday, September 28 (PST), a fire occurred at FF’s satellite office building at our U.S. headquarters. The company attaches great importance to this matter and would like to provide…
After the FF91 turned out to be a flop, Faraday Future has been working on plans to federalize and sell a Chinese-made van with a screen on its face. In recent months, it’s come under fire for a controversial crypto-related pivot and for allegedly missing payments for the property where the fire happened. The lease ended at the end of September.
While the company says the fire poses no risk to production vehicles, it’s certainly not going to restore trust or confidence in owners, landlords, and shareholders alike.
