Previous to ending its much-discussed electric-vehicle venture, Apple labored with Chinese language automaker BYD on batteries, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
A partnership between the 2 firms began round 2017, in line with the report, with the purpose of growing lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells for the Apple automotive. BYD has a lot expertise with this tech, claiming cooling and security enhancements for its Blade battery launched in 2020.
BYD Han EV
Apple reportedly assigned Alexander Hitzinger to the hassle. Hitzinger was technical director of the Porsche 919 hybrid race-car venture earlier than becoming a member of Apple as head of product design for its particular initiatives group, a place he held from 2016 to 2019 earlier than returning to the Volkswagen Group, the place he labored on autonomous driving and an Audi EV venture.
The group additionally reportedly included 50 engineers led by Apple’s Mujeeb Ijaz, with Michael He, Vice President of BYD’s battery enterprise, representing that firm. A bigger group, rumored to be about 2,000 folks, labored on the automotive venture itself. Generally known as “Undertaking Titan,” had been mentioned in media studies since 2014, though little concrete info was ever launched.
BYD Han EV
Apple reportedly moved away from the partnership and commenced exploring battery tech from different firms. Two studies in 2021 claimed Apple was looking for LFP batteries from each BYD and fellow Chinese language agency CATL, with potential U.S. manufacturing. Experiences in December 2020 additionally claimed Apple was pursuing a “monocell” design for batteries that freed up extra space.
After reportedly being scaled again to a primary automobile with out previously-hoped-for autonomous driving, Apple cancelled the electrical automotive venture earlier this 12 months. Apple’s additional involvement within the auto business will doubtless be restricted to the CarPlay phone-mirroring system it at present provides to automakers.
