Apple in Talks About Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

[MacRumors]

Apple has been engaged in discussions with charging station companies about their underlying technologies, according to Reuters.

The talks are largely unsurprising given that Apple is widely believed to be researching and developing its own electric vehicle, which could enter production by 2020.

Apple would of course need to provide a way to charge the so-called Apple Car's battery, possibly akin to Tesla's network of Supercharger partners in the U.S. and around the world.

Charging firms are treading carefully, the person added, wary of sharing too much with a company they view as a potential rival.

It is unclear whether Apple would want its own proprietary technology, such as Tesla Motors' Supercharger network, or design a system compatible with offerings from other market players.

The report offers few specific details about the discussions, but it does confirm that a "global engineering and construction firm" has already contacted Apple to offer its services. It remains unclear, however, if Apple would be open to a charging partner or prefer to create its own proprietary network.

"It would be natural to assume if Apple is going to have a full battery electric vehicle that creates a seamless consumer experience the way Apple does, the charging infrastructure and its availability would be of paramount importance," the source said.

The report also reflects upon a series of charging-related hirings that Apple has made in recent months, based on LinkedIn profiles, such as Nan Liu, described as "an engineer who researched a form of wireless charging for electric vehicles," and former Google charging expert Kurt Adelberger.

As more electric vehicles begin to arrive on the roads, it is expected that EV automakers will have to expand their charging stations to accommodate. Tesla, for example, currently has around 600 charging stations worldwide, which pales in comparison to the nearly 400,000 reservations for its lower-priced Model 3.

Apple is on track to spend a record $10 billion on R&D this year, which analyst Neil Cybart believes is a clear indicator of its electric vehicle plans. Cybart predicted the odds of Apple releasing an electric vehicle are at least 80 percent, adding that Apple has likely already spent at least a few billion dollars on the project.

"Apple is not spending $10 billion on R&D just to come up with new Watch bands, larger iPads, or a video streaming service," he wrote. "Instead, Apple is planning on something much bigger: a pivot into the automobile industry."

The majority of R&D may be taking place in Sunnyvale and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley area, near Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, with a recent report claiming the company is looking to purchase "large expanses of real estate" in the San Francisco Bay Area for the project.

Article Link: Apple in Talks About Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

 

[samcraig]

In a twist.. this is actually about setting up charging stations throughout airports and bus terminals for customers to charge their iphones.

 

[SoApple]

iCar?

 

[skinned66]

Such a pretty charging station wouldn't stay pretty for long thanks to vandals.

Well maybe not in Japan where the public has proven they can have nice things.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Will they use Magsafe connections?

 

[critter13]

Just buy tesla.

 

[KdParker]

Interesting. Sure would like some leaks about the design but I bet they really are doubling down on the Apple Car.

 

[jacobh101]

Regardless if they are getting in the AI car scene or not, the mere discussion of an AppleCar motivates and attracts world class talent to join their engineering teams. Plus working on these sophisticated algorithms helps further along a variety of internal projects.

 

[xkam1x]

Seeing Apple and Tesla mentioned together excited me. It is like Romeo and Juliet, meant to be together but kept separated by stubbornness.

 

[pat500000]

Does that come with the purchase of icar?

 

[realeric]

Apple car? No thanks. 16KWh for $64,900. 64KWh for $74,900, 128KWh for $84,900. You can't change battery because it's bonded. You can drive 16KWh iCar for 18 minutes. Schiller says it's enough because there are many charging stations.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Just buy tesla.

Agreed 100%.. Why does Apple need to build a car? Plus, with how serviceable their devices are now.. just imagine what they will do to a car.

 

[nagromme]

No matter what your electric brand of choice, having the biggest company in the world start putting chargers everywhere has to be a good thing for the industry! Hope that happens.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Will they use Magsafe connections?

Just long enough for the public to appreciate it, then switch to USB3C. And when someone steps onto the cable, it will crash your car to the floor, shattering it into untold numbers of pieces.

 

[2457282]

I have not owned a car for 2 years now. There is an 80% chance that I will buy a car in the next five years. If I do, I would buy an all electric vehicle. One of the things I would want is a universal charging standard. I don't want to pull up to a charging station and not be able to charge my car. that would be like pulling into the a gas station today and not being able to fill up because my car has a different system than what the gas station uses.

 

[LordQ]

US-only the first 5 years?

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Such a pretty charging station wouldn't stay pretty for long thanks to vandals.

Well maybe not in Japan where the public has proven they can have nice things.

The Tesla stations have been doing just fine. Apple stations wouldn't be a lot different.

 

[IvanX]

They should just station-pool with Tesla. End of.

 

[69Mustang]

Seeing Apple and Tesla mentioned together excited me. It is like Romeo and Juliet, meant to be together but kept separated by stubbornness.

That's a darn good thing too. I think Tesla and Apple together would make a horrible clash of personalities. Apple's all about secrecy and Tesla is pretty open. Besides, I like that Elon has a clear goal for Tesla. Whether he achieves it or not remains to be seen. Let Apple do their thing, Tesla do it's thing, and have competition drive someone to do something better.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

No matter what your electric brand of choice, having the biggest company in the world start putting chargers everywhere has to be a good thing for the industry! Hope that happens.

Are you believing that Apple's charger would work with any other electric car?

But, if it does, I agree with you... and will be just as enthusiastic.

 

[samcraig]

Seeing Apple and Tesla mentioned together excited me. It is like Romeo and Juliet, meant to be together but kept separated by stubbornness.

Both Romeo and Juliet died. Is that the outcome you seek?

 

[Rocketman]

No proprietary plugs! Be compatible with Tesla. They were first mover for a reason. They have an open standard.

 

[sputnikv]

here's an idea, why don't they all use the same standard instead of unnecessarily creating different plugs compatible with different charging stations

 

[Barry Bishop]

We need a bill to pass that mandates electric cars to use a standard protocol.

 

[meaning-matters]

Probably for the new, extremely thin devices.