There is little doubt that Apple Car is coming, eventually. Although the Cupertino tech giant has not announced the project, several sources have reported that the company is diligently trying to resolve challenges related to the EV’s supply chain.
The latest report claims that the company’s battery manufacturing partners, CATL and BYD have refused to establish battery plants in the United States, exclusively for Apple.
Allegedly, Apple is developing a new lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP) battery technology for Apple Car with a mono-cell design to give a longer range and will be less likely to overheat. That makes them a safer option than other types of lithium-ion batteries. The Cupertino tech giant also wants to manufacture the batteries in the U.S. which is reportedly an issue for its Chinese manufacturing suppliers.
Cost concerns make Apple Car battery suppliers pull out of the deal with Apple
In July, it was reported that Apple is in talks with Chinese battery suppliers, CATL and BYD for Apple Car’s battery production. Now, sources claim that those talks have failed because of Apple’s requirement to set up plants in the U.S. As per the report, CATL is hesitant to build a plant in the U.S. because of the political tension between China and the U.S and the cost of setting up a product development team for Apple Car, only. BYD has also refused to build a new manufacturing plant.
CATL, the world’s No.1 maker of batteries for EVs, has been reluctant to build a U.S. factory due to political tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as cost concerns, said one of the people with direct knowledge of the talks. The Chinese firm has also found it impossible to set up a separate product development team exclusively working with Apple due to difficulties in finding sufficient personnel, the person added.
BYD, which has an iron-phosphate battery plant in Lancaster, California, declined to build a new factory and team that would solely focus on supplying Apple, said two of the sources.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, CATL is the world’s leading manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles (EV) and BYD is also a major manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and currently Tesla’s supplier for LFP batteries. That is why Apple is still trying to convince the manufacturers. The report states:
The firms informed Apple sometime in the past two months that they were not able to meet its requirements, the people said. But the U.S. company has not given up hope of resuming talks with either CATL or BYD , according to one source.
This is another major hurdle in Apple Car’s production; after several unsuccessful talks with potential manufactures of the EV, Apple has decided to manufacture the car independently. Recently, Apple Car chief Doug Field joined Ford Motors which is considered a huge setback for the project.
