Apple is looking to manufacture batteries for “Apple Car” in America and may work with Taiwanese makers rather than those based in China, DigiTimes reports, citing “industry sources.”
Back in December, Reuters reported that Apple is targeting 2024 to start production of a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology.
Apple’s new vehicle battery design could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range, the report stated, citing “a third person who has seen Apple’s battery design.” Apple is said to be planning to use a unique “monocell” design that bulks up the individual cells in the battery and frees up space inside the battery pack by eliminating pouches and modules that hold battery materials.
Apple’s design puts more active material packed inside the battery, giving the car a potentially longer range. Apple is also reportedly examining a chemistry for the battery called LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, which is inherently less likely to overheat and therefore safer than other types of lithium-ion batteries.
“It’s next level,” the person described Apple’s battery technology to Reuters. “Like the first time you saw the iPhone.”
Nuying Huang and Yusin Hu for DigiTimes:
Taiwan-based Foxconn or Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Aleees), both of which plan to set up factories in the US, stand a chance of working with Apple on car batteries, the sources said.
Apple reportedly was looking to work with China’s two largest battery suppliers,CATL and BYD, but Apple’s insistence on using US-made batteries for Apple Car is making such partnerships seem unlikely, said the sources.
Apple may want a separate supply chain for lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP) from lithium-manganese-cobalt-oxide battery (MNC), which could propel Taiwanese LFP suppliers to set up factories in the US sooner. Foxconn (Hon Hai) and its partner Gigasolar have prioritized the US among other markets, while Aleees, an anode material supplier and a member of the Foxconn-led MIH EV development platform, is also looking to open factories in the US, the sources said.
MacDailyNews Take: “Apple Car” is coming – and likely powered by “next level” American-made batteries!
Apple’s innovation with Car must be in how that battery is charged. Historically, Apple’s “next big thing” is the special innovation that changes an industry, not just a new product. The existing players are plodding along, satisfied with the status quo, before Apple changes the game. Within a few years, Apple’s innovation becomes the standard design.
Macintosh made mouse-based graphical user interface available and practical when the norm was typing cryptic commands at MSDOS prompt. iPod changed how we listen to music and iTunes Store changed we get that music. Before multi-touch iPhone, smartphones were miniaturized PCs, complete with tiny keyboard and mouse-equivalent pointer, interface even had tiny menus and windows. A “smartwatch” wasn’t very smart before Watch, and headphones were just headphones. iPads steadily replace laptops for most people’s needs.
Car must be more than just another Tesla. Apple wouldn’t be doing it without an industry-changing innovation. Charging an electric car is the top inconvenience and barrier to wider adoption. Customers just accept it, auto-industry does nothing about it. I think Apple will somehow make powering Car more convenient than filling a gas tank at the pump.
The Apple Car will charge with a proprietary MagSafe puck that costs $1,000. It will take twice as long as any other car and you may periodically get the notification “not your Apple Car”, but it will come with a custom spinning rainbow rims.
Thank gid for that the longer term implications of doing deals with Chinese manufacturers using Apple (or others) isp in non US factories really should be be a lesson well learned by now. If the West is going to be remotely significant in even a generation we need to get serious about not putting short term profit against what is now medium let alone long term self destruction. Even Taiwan companies operating in Asia is rapidly becoming a big risk considering a Chinese takeover is purely a matter of time.
For a company that claims health and wellness is their future, churning out a vehicle seems to go against that vision.
The only way one could purchase such a thing is to order it and have it self drive to you.
Still don’t believe there will be an apple branded car.
Maybe they’ll use Tesla trucks to haul them??
Or perhaps Fords, GMCs or Ram Trucks. You are aware that all vehicle manufacturers are transitioning away from internal combustion engines within the next decade… much less for some companies. If Apple can patent a significantly better battery than the others, it can be there with them.
As usual, you miss the humor.
And it’ll most likely be rail anyhow.
Apple may be successful in disconnecting from China re: battery manufacturing, but there’s still a hard-to-break link with China’s wealth in rare earth materials…used for batts and other components in EVs.
Maybe Apple’s new batt tech sidesteps this link to some degree, but per the article, it seems like it’s a redesign using the common/expected materials?
Hey Digsy! Enjoy your good health living in your cave and cooking over the fire.
Meanwhile, “spyinthesky” has it just about right and let’s enjoy the ride.
Oh yeah, ken1w put up a great post as well.
Will we ever learn to stop listening to the hype.. Even if Apple did find some magical way to improve the battery, it’s never going to have the range or refuel time of gasoline or even hydrogen based cars like the Clarity.
You’re always going to wind up somewhere, sucking up electric grid time for a while to go the next couple hundred miles if you’re lucky.
Finally these cars will always cost way more than most average consumers can afford or are willing to spend..
You just described all mobile electronics & electric power tools. Always dead when you go too far. Yet… Are those too expensive, too much hassle compared to hydrocarbon power? I don’t see you shopping for a gasoline powered cell phone or electric drill.
Fact is, maintaining gasoline infrastructure is hugely expensive. It will be cheaper to push electrons around the grid where needed when the transition gains steam. Highly congested urban centers will be the first to say sayonara to petrol stations. Cities that we’re never designed for the gas car will be elated to ban gas, embrace local electric transport, and breathe clean air again.
And just like the expensive chargeable mobile phone has replaced your land line, economics will soon favor the electric car. For many urban use cases, electric stuff is already the best value, and the competition is only getting more intense. It may take longer for automobiles to change over than phones did, primarily due to the need to install 240V home & public chargers, but you soon won’t have any problems finding a charge in any major city. in 5 years or less gasoline powered cars may not have a lifetime cost advantage for suburbanites either.
Automakers will scale up production like PC makers did, driving down costs quickly so now everyone can afford a computer. I recently test drove a VW ID4 and it was superb. Cheaper and better in many ways than Tesla IMHO, way better than the last dozen cute utes I’ve been subjected to. Definitely a great choice for the average commuter in the USA looking for a practical 4 passenger vehicle. You would have to live in a wilderness or be a long haul trucker to find the range inadequate.
I agree with you, thought, don’t believe the Apple fanboy hype that Apple can break into the car industry. They already missed the opportunity to get into the market with a production-ready product before the big car makers. Apple may be trying to set themselves up to be a CarOS provider to other marques, but even that isn’t a likely opportunity. No other successful mainstream automaker is going to rely 100% on some 3rd party software house like Apple for all the secret sauce. The big boys are building battery factories now so they can own the design of all the key pieces — hardware and software. Apple will be lucky to keep themselves relevant on the dashboard.