Tuesday, July 13, 2021 8:46 am11 Comments

• News

Apple is looking to manufacture batteries for “Apple Car” in America and may work with Taiwanese makers rather than those based in China, DigiTimes reports, citing “industry sources.”

Back in December, Reuters reported that Apple is targeting 2024 to start production of a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology.

Apple’s new vehicle battery design could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range, the report stated, citing “a third person who has seen Apple’s battery design.” Apple is said to be planning 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.

Apple’s design puts more active material packed inside the battery, giving the car a potentially longer range. Apple is also reportedly examining a chemistry for the battery called LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, which is inherently less likely to overheat and therefore safer than other types of lithium-ion batteries.

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

Nuying Huang and Yusin Hu for DigiTimes:

Taiwan-based Foxconn or Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Aleees), both of which plan to set up factories in the US, stand a chance of working with Apple on car batteries, the sources said.

Apple reportedly was looking to work with China’s two largest battery suppliers,CATL and BYD, but Apple’s insistence on using US-made batteries for Apple Car is making such partnerships seem unlikely, said the sources.

Apple may want a separate supply chain for lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP) from lithium-manganese-cobalt-oxide battery (MNC), which could propel Taiwanese LFP suppliers to set up factories in the US sooner. Foxconn (Hon Hai) and its partner Gigasolar have prioritized the US among other markets, while Aleees, an anode material supplier and a member of the Foxconn-led MIH EV development platform, is also looking to open factories in the US, the sources said.

MacDailyNews Take: “Apple Car” is coming – and likely powered by “next level” American-made batteries!