Reuters: ‘Apple Targets Car Production by 2024’

Stephen Nellis, Norihiko Shirouzu, and Paul Lienert, reporting for Reuters:

Apple Inc. is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. […]

As for the car’s battery, 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, the person said, which is inherently less likely to overheat and is thus safer than other types of lithium-ion batteries.

”It’s next level,” the person said of Apple’s battery technology. “Like the first time you saw the iPhone.”

My favorite story about the Apple car project — from before the reset heralded by the return of Doug Field — is that they actually had a concept for an Apple-designed and branded car. And they added it all up and it turned out to be so embarrassingly expensive that they had to seriously hit the reset button. That’s the way it goes, no shame in that.

I’m quite certain that Apple has a very talented team, a division even, working their asses off on this, and might well come up with the iPhone of cars. But I’ll take all Project Titan related news with a grain of salt until we see something real.

★ Monday, 21 December 2020