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Chinese billionaire behind Faraday Future secures $600 million for LeEco EV business
Following reports that Faraday Future has stopped construction of its $1 billion North Las Vegas factory, Chinese billionaire Jia Yeuting who backed the company has secured $600 million to support his other electric vehicle company, LeEco, after the company expressed financial woes last month. The source of financing is reportedly from personal investments through Jia’s classmates at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing.
Yueting has created a bewildering array of companies. He started out with LeShi, popularly known as “the Chinese Netflix.” That company made several fortunes selling electronic devices like televisions and cell phones in China. It also produced streaming content for people to watch through the company’s set of new digital devices.
When Jia decided to venture into the electric car business, he pivoted the company and formed LeEco in China. That company has been showing off a concept car entitled LeSee — a large four door luxury sedan similar to the Model S. The prototype made an appearance at a splashy event in San Francisco last October but the self-driving concept car refused to function properly and failed to dutifully follow Jia down a runway to the stage.
Jia also created Faraday Future, the company that stunned the automotive world by introducing a 1,000 horsepower single seat supercar that looked more like a jet fighter than a car at the CES show last January. Since then, there have been reports of test mules spotted on the streets of Los Angeles where the company’s headquarters is based. Earlier this month, Faraday Future showed glimpses of what is says will be its first production car through a series of cut-scenes of the vehicle driving along a track.
Jia has also invested heavily in San Francisco startup Atieva. That company has been bragging that its powertrain is superior to anything else out there. There is a video of a Mercedes van dubbed Edna out drag racing a Tesla Model S and a Ferrari. Atieva recently changed its name to Lucid. It purports to be working on an all new large luxury sedan to rival the Model S. The company may be owned by Jia, but is headed by Peter Rawlinson, a former lead engineer at Tesla who was heavily involved in the development of the Model S.
Le.com, a digital platform for television and activities, LeMall.com, a web shop with LE-branded electronics, LeCloud cloud computing, LeEco Microcredit internet finance, and LeAuto, a connected car system are other ventures backed by Jia.
In a letter to shareholders recently, Jia admitted to “blindly speeding ahead” into new ventures. That seems a bit of an understatement. The question now is whether the new financing will be used to shore up his core businesses that actually makes money or be thrown into the money pit known as the car business? And how this will impact the future of Faraday Future is anyone’s guess.
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
