(Bloomberg) – Apple has been collaborating with Chinese automaker BYD for years as part of a now-cancelled car project, laying the foundation for the technology it uses today, according to people familiar with the situation. They were developing a long-distance battery that would be useful for
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Apple and the Shenzhen-based company partnered around 2017 to build a battery system using lithium iron phosphate batteries, the people said, asking not to be identified because the efforts have not been disclosed. . This technology was designed to provide greater range and safety than common electric vehicle batteries at the time.
Although Apple doesn’t own the technology used in BYD’s current Blade batteries, this partnership shows how much effort the iPhone maker has put into car production. The tech giant had spent about $1 billion a year over the past decade on the vehicle project, considered one of its “next big things,” before canceling the project in February.
The technology Apple developed with BYD was highly customized for previously planned vehicles, the people said. As part of the secret partnership, Apple engineers brought in advanced battery pack and thermal management expertise. BYD contributed manufacturing know-how and advances using lithium iron phosphate batteries, known as LFPs.
Spokespeople for Apple and BYD declined to comment on the battery collaboration. However, BYD said in an emailed statement that “the blade battery concept was conceived by BYD engineers, who independently developed this LFP blade battery.” BYD retains full ownership and patent rights to the Blade battery. ”
Currently, BYD’s entire car lineup is equipped with the Blade system. The system uses a battery pack design that leverages lessons learned from Apple’s efforts, according to people involved in its development.
The seeds of Apple’s BYD partnership were planted about a decade ago when the American company was looking for core technology for its cars. BYD engineers previewed an early version of the Blade battery to Apple executives, who praised the technology’s safety and energy storage capabilities. Apple ultimately explored customization that could extend the EV’s range, the people said.
At the time, Cupertino, California-based Apple was already working on several different batteries using elements such as nickel and alkali. They were also investing millions of dollars in battery pack design and engineering to accommodate as many cells as possible. The companies sought to combine their separate pack and cell efforts to produce a safe, long-range battery system for Apple cars.
On Apple’s side, the partnership was led by Alexander Hitzinger, a former senior executive at Volkswagen AG and Porsche who oversaw product design for the car project from 2016 to 2019. The company also enlisted the help of Mujeeb Ijaz, a veteran of a failed US company. Battery startup A123 Systems LLC worked for Apple from 2014 to 2020.
Ijaz oversaw a team of approximately 50 battery engineers working on the project. His counterpart at BYD was Michael He, vice president of the company’s battery business.
Blades are now a signature feature of BYD cars and a major selling point. The company hopes to take advantage of improved range, relative safety and lower costs to sell 3 million electric and hybrid vehicles in 2023, up from 179,054 three years ago. .
The company is now China’s largest automaker by sales and briefly overtook Tesla as the world’s top EV seller. BYD founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu is himself a billionaire and a battery engineer.
Despite working with BYD for years, Apple backed away from the partnership to consider systems from other battery manufacturers, according to people familiar with the matter. The entire car project was delayed multiple times and ultimately the economics of the EV business proved to be very difficult.
When Apple canceled its car project, it was a rare debacle for the world’s most valuable company. But this decade-long effort has proven beneficial in several ways. Beyond the battery insights gained from this work, it also helped develop products such as the Vision Pro headset and Neural Engine AI processor, which are now in most Apple devices. This research also contributed to the early stages of the company’s robotics efforts.
–With assistance from Danny Lee.
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