Since 2020, it has been heavily speculated that the Cupertino tech giant has revived Project Titan to develop its passenger electric vehicle (EV) presumably called Apple Car. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a new patent “Charging station with passive alignment mechanism” to the tech company which details the charging mechanism and system to power the EV.
Based on industry sources and information revealed in patents, it is expected that Apple Car will be an autonomous EV designed for individual use like Tesla or a shared experience like a taxi or carpool vehicle. It might be powered by a revolutionary battery technology that will deliver a longer range on lower power consumption, auto-pilot technology, LiDAR scanners to measure the distance between itself other vehicles and navigation, and objects on the road, an all-glass top, a sunroof with adjustable transparency, and more. Now, for the first time, we also have an idea of how it might be charged.
Apple Car would plug in the charging station via a releasable connector
The filing describes a charging assembly for Apple Car or electric vehicle including a charging station, charging plug, and releasable connector. Unlike a Tesla, Apple’s EV will plug in the charging station via a connector, a large-scale MagSafe charging system.
A charging station for an electric vehicle includes a passive alignment mechanism that includes a longitudinal translation stage that allows motion in a longitudinal direction, a charging plug connected to the passive alignment mechanism, and a releasable connector. The releasable connector resists motion of the longitudinal translation stage in a connected position when a magnitude of an external force applied in the longitudinal direction is below a threshold.
The releasable connector moves from the connected position to a released position to allow motion of the longitudinal translation stage when the magnitude of the external force applied in the longitudinal direction is above the threshold.
Apple EV is expected to launch by 2025- 2027. However, TF analyst Ming-Chi Kuo hinted at a possible delay when he commented that the Apple Car team needs to “reorganize” soon if it wants to launch the EV by 2025.
Read More:
