Tesla, the popular electronic automobile company, with an estimated $600 billion value was once on the verge of bankruptcy and at the company’s lowest point, its CEO Elon Musk wanted to sell the company to Apple. Musk took to Twitter to reminisce the “darkest time” for Tesla Model 3 program and shared that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook refused to even meet Musk to discuss the acquisition.
Musk tweeted his past experience in response to the news of an alleged Apple Car. Yesterday, Reuters reported that Apple plans to launch its own passenger self-driving automobile by 2024. It was detailed that Apple is working on a new battery design to utilize all components of a battery to be more power-efficient. Therefore, in his reply to a tweet on Apple Car, Musk specifically targeted the alleged unique design of Apple’s battery for its own car.
Apple still reputedly planning to build an iCar.
The apparent secret sauce:
They watched the livestream of Tesla’s battery day;
They also took notes;
Then those notes were exclusively leaked to Reuters.So they could hire, hoping to begin production by
[checks notes]
2025. pic.twitter.com/VQubNAl5Ds
— Brett Winton (@wintonARK) December 21, 2020
Elon Musk approach Apple to buy Tesla
Tesla CEO, Musk did not mention a date of the alleged proposal to Apple to buy the company but wrote that it was during the Tesla Model 3 program. The Model 3 program began in 2017 at the same time Apple’s automotive project Titan was reviving after a slow and misguided start. As per reports, Apple begun project Titan in 2014 to design an autonomous vehicle but leadership and production issues forced the company to switch its focus on developing software for self-driving cars by other manufacturers.
However, in 2018 Tesla’s former engineer Doug Field joined Apple’s project Titan and now the division is head by Apple’s AI and ML chief, John Giannandrea. With level-headed leadership, it is rumored that the Cupertino tech giant is ready to pursue its dream of an electronic vehicle with a revolutionary battery to compete with the only successful electric car manufacturer, Tesla.
Apple plans 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, one of the people said.
Apple’s design means that more active material can be packed inside the battery, giving the car a potentially longer range. Apple is also examining a chemistry for the battery called LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, which is inherently less likely to overheat and is thus safer than other types of lithium-ion batteries.
And that news has caught Elon Musk’s attention. Musk claims that the alleged “monocell” design is impossible to achieve and his company is already using iron-phosphate batteries in medium range cars. He further added that Cook even refused to take a meeting to discuss the acquisition of Tesla back in the day when the manufacturer was struggling with finances.
During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2020
Interestingly, the developer Jelmer Verhoog designed the Tesla Model 3 car on Apple ARKit in 2017 on iOS 11, and astronauts of SpaceX Crew Dragon were recorded using iPad mini in their spacecraft.
Apple has not commented on the news of Apple Car and has not responded to Musk’s claim. It must be kept in mind that Musk is known for making outlandish claims on Twitter which have affected Tesla. Previously, he tweeted about the high value of his company’s shares which resulted in a 9% drop in its share.
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