Apple Car Could Become A Reality By 2024

Reports state the tech giant is particularly keen on a new battery design that reduces cost and improves range

• Self-driving EV to be a consumer offering, instead of a robo-taxi service.

• Apple Car will come with a ‘monocell’ battery design that uses fewer modules to free up space for more active materials that would increase range.

• No official statement from Apple on future products, but this information was revealed by sources close to the project.

• Apple could partner with existing carmakers to build the actual car and focus more on the autonomous driving tech and user experience.

Talks of Apple building its own electric car first surfaced in the public domain in 2015 under the guise of Project Titan. Since then, not much has been seen or heard of this new product except in 2019, the project was downsized in terms of personnel. Now, sources at Apple have reportedly said the company is looking to produce a passenger vehicle by 2024.

According to the report, the Apple car could utilise its own battery technology. The new battery design is said to be central to these automotive plans as it could significantly reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range.

Most eclectic car manufacturers have tie-ups with electronics companies that have decades of experience in making batteries and cells. The EVs from these manufacturers use battery packs comprising hundreds and hundreds of cells, which are similar in design to the batteries in our remotes but built for a different purpose. However, Apple plans to use a ‘monocell’ design that bulks up individual cells in the battery to free up space inside the pack. It would allow for more active material than pouches and modules, thereby offering more range too.

Apple’s automotive plans now contrast that of its biggest tech rival, Google. The search engine’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, is also working on a self-driving EV but that one is more of a robo-taxi to act as a driverless ride-hailing service. Imagine Uber/Ola but without a driver. The supposed ‘iCar’ would actually be a car that people can own or lease or subscribe to.

However, the company has not released any official statement on its future products so the Apple Car could still be far from reality. Certain speculations suggest the tech giant could simply work on autonomous driving tech and then partner with an existing car manufacturer to build the car itself.

Following this news, Elon Musk tweeted that he had reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook to acquire Tesla while they were struggling to get the Model 3 to production but Cook refused to take the meeting. According to Musk, Tesla’s current value is ten times what it was at that point in time. The underlying sentiment here seems to be that Apple will not be welcomed with open arms if they consider approaching Tesla for their own autonomous EV project. 

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