Apple has gone to great lengths to make its next 'big thing' happen, including a long-year partnership with a Chinese company on EV batteries.
In February, Apple canceled the development of Project Titan, its autonomous car prototype. Around 2,000 people had worked on the mysterious billion-dollar project for a decade.
A new report from Bloomberg, quoting anonymous sources familiar with the matter, claims that Apple went as far as working with BYD, a Chinese automaker, on long-range EV batteries.
The companies allegedly started working together in 2017 with the idea of designing longer-range and safer-than-typical EV batteries for Apple cars.
According to Bloomberg, Apple contributed its advanced battery packs and thermal management expertise. BYD, on the other hand, brought its manufacturing know-how and advancements in lithium iron phosphate cell technology to the table.
BYD is a strong competitor to the American Tesla. While Elon Musk's firm remains by far the most valuable brand in the global automotive sector, BYD has been breathing down Tesla's neck in terms of recent car sales.
According to the latest Reuters estimations, BYD sold nearly 430,000 electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2024. That's just 18,000 vehicles fewer than Tesla. Notably, the gap in the prior quarter was 86,000 cars.
No wonder the partnership between Apple and BYD was kept secret. In February, around the time when Apple closed Project Titan, the US government started a probe into Chinese vehicle imports, alleging they might pose a national security risk.
Roger Grimes, data-driven defense evangelist at KnowBe4, said the probe is really just a "small part of a larger, valid concern of who collects information on who."
"Everyone's information...where they go, what they do, who they interact with is likely for ready sale on hundreds of sites and services and also under the ownership of multiple nation-states," said Grimes.
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