Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Car Production Slated for 2024 With 'Next Level' Battery Technology

ani4ani said:
Will it be shipped with a charger?
Click to expand...
How big a charger would it require, I wonder?

How many kilowatts does an electric car consume a day, on average? What percent of total electricity goes to cars? (And iPhones and internet for that matter?) Is that what’s causing blackouts and forest fires?
 
Konigi said:
They just need to do the magic triack they did with Apple Silicons on the M1s, and that will significantly improve the cars' battery life.

I'm afraid however the wheels of that car are going to be extra expensive (and not included in the original purchase).
Click to expand...
Lol. And it’ll have to stay plugged in all the time, because who would want it to leave their driveway? Get a Tesla.
 
AustinIllini said:
The stock price is so far removed from the software updates it's not even funny.
Click to expand...
Let me spell it out nice and simple for those who aren't getting my statement that the car industry is now a software industry (which is why TSLA is valued so high).
There's an old saying in software development - "9 women can't make a baby in 1 month".
Apple had been doing software for decades when they got into the phone business.
The market leaders hadn't. They'd just been making phones that were just phones.
They couldn't catch up with Apple because software development is a long and slow process.
Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft.

Same in the car industry, the market leaders have for nearly a century been kings of mechanical engineering.
Now cars are changing. Engines replaced with batteries and electric motors.
For the likes of GM,Ford,BMW,Merc to catch up with Tesla they'd need to have started developing software 10+ years ago. That's why TSLA is valued ridiculously high on the stock market.

Software is Apple's bread and butter. They've now earned their chops in silicon and have a respected design team.
The other thing you should remember/know about the car industry is that everyone in it buys each others parts.
Tesla's original roadster had a Lotus Elise chassis.
So not having a chassis, wheels etc isn't a block to entry for the likes of Apple.
In fact Apple could just licence its software to the incumbents who Tesla has let behind, I don't think they will, but it is an option.
 
sully54 said:
More important question is if a charger will be included. You think I'm trying to be clever but This is apple we're talking about. I honestly don't put it past them to charge extra for some sort of charging cable. their excuse might be that charging stations are already common enough that you can charge throughout the day and not need to charge at home.
Click to expand...
Apple Car Mini: $24,000
Apple Car: $29,000
Apple Car Pro: $38,000
Apple Car Pro Plus: $52,000

Mag Safe Charger for Apple Car sold separately: $25,000

Dongle for Apple Car Charger to work with the global universal standard: $20,000
 
  • Like
Reactions: sully54
Nick A said:
As a Model 3 owner I'm super excited about Apple developing their own car. If you've never driven a Tesla, before you comment, take a 10 minute test drive and you'll instantly understand the hype. From a driving perspective it's truly next generation and makes every other ICE car feel stupid in comparison.

Tesla's software is also leaps and bounds ahead of everything else right now. Developing the car is the easy part, the software is super challenging and I think Apple is the only company right now who is capable of creating software that can come close to challenging Tesla. Mass-producing batteries is also hard but it seems like Apple might have that already figured out.
Click to expand...
As long as the Apple Maps team isn't involved.... it was bad enough when Apple maps was driving people off cliffs, down closed roads, and onto the tarmac at aiports.... but the thought of it powering autonomous driving scares me.

Even worse, a Siri focused approach....
 
I just want to know two things:

First - If Tim is known to come by an Apple Store when folks are camping out for new iPhones and bringing pizzas for everyone, what's he gonna bring to the folks waiting in line for the new Apple car?

Second - How long will iFixit need to do a full tear down of the Apple car?
 
mannyvel said:
It's funny, the MagSafe on the 12 came from the failures of AirPower. You can't expect people to line up a charging coil that they can't see...and MagSafe is a neat, elegant way around that particular problem. The AW has a MagSafe sort of thing, but it occasionally fails (my wife clicks her AW in but it occasionally doesn't charge). The 12 one seems more reliable.
Click to expand...
I would call Mag safe a failure personally. Instead of plugging a cable into a port, it magnetizes to the back. Not exactly "wireless charging" as advertise and deceptive that iPhone are throttled from allowing high speed wireless chargers not made by Apple or licensing mag safe technology. It's a gimmicky and dumb ploy to sell overpriced accessories and for the first time in ages, I would say Apple didn't bring a refinement or improvement to an experience with it.

AirPower is an epic fail because Chinese knock off folks on Wish created working versions, yet Apple engineers couldn't pull of this feat, but they're going to revolutionize batteries. This after we all learned one of the ways Apple was "improving battery longevity" was by secretly throttling phones and iPads.

As negative I am sure I sound, I think an Apple car will be pretty awesome in style and features when/if it ever comes to fruition, but I don't think it's the unicorn some hope it will be.
 
Freida said:
I remember that time but I think we can both agree that this is way bigger and complex issue than a phone. Before iPhone Apple had some experience with devices. In fact, iPhone is just iPod with screen and calling features and they had many years developing certain parts so that was much easier to take on.

A car is much bigger animal to tame and I doubt Apple has what it takes as they have zero experience with aerodynamics, breaking systems, driving comfort, engines etc. This beast is just another league and if Apple wants to take a bite (and I feel they should) then it will take them years to perfect it to the level that people will abandon Tesla for them.

I think their success could better start with a platform and later venture into fully fleshed car.

Anyway, competition is always good. I just don't think they will be on the top just like they were with the iPhone. In 10 years time we could revisit this conversation but until then its Tesla, VW, etc.
Click to expand...
Yeah, so the Chinese manage to build cars in new factories, from scratch tooling, without your benefit of brakes, comfortable seats, engines, etc. BTW, this will be a battery-powered--i.e. NO ENGINES--vehicle. Component systems are purchased by most manufacturers from third parties anyhow, Magna Steyr, ZF, etc. There is literally *nothing* that cannot be done by a new manufacturer.
 
Last edited:
farewelwilliams said:
You're not getting it. If Apple underestimated the overheating issue of AirPower, what makes you think thermal issues in a giant battery pack of a moving car is easier to solve?

A phone can be dropped and nothing will explode. A car with a battery pack can crash and burst into flames. Not the same comparison.
Click to expand...
Apples v Oranges. Battery packs may implement fans, cooling systems, passive air flow, etc. Not a deal breaker.
 
mr_matalino said:
I remember when Steve Jobs wanted to to be insanely great at a few products. I feel like Apple is trying to be a Swiss Army knife at technology. That doesn’t work out well. Ask Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Microsoft is still worth $1.69 Trillion.
 
farmboy said:
Apples v Oranges. Battery packs may implement fans, cooling systems, passive air flow, etc. Not a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
for one, battery pack is the size of the bottom side of the car.
second, the system needs to deal with temperature sensors, amount of charge cycles. temperature sensors, and different SOC for each cell. not all cells are being charged/discharged at the same time and cells need to be properly managed.
third, many of the thousands of cells are going to fail over the life of the battery pack. should a cell die, swell, or even catch fire, the pack should automatically disconnect that cell safely and the rest of the battery should work.

completely different beast.

tesla's model 3 doesn't even have a fan BTW. and model y's heat pump draws heat away from the battery and can be used as a heating source for the cabin. extremely efficient.
 
davie18 said:
Reading this article does get me seriously hyped. The line of it being similar to the first time you saw an iphone especially, I have honestly never had that feeling about a consumer product since the iphone. Technology has stagnated the last few years imho. Even next gen consoles are just like better resolution and FPS and the graphics are a bit more shiny, but not profound change from what I can see, in the whole experience.

The originaly iphone definitely felt that way when the first time I saw it I just thought 'wow, this is the future', it felt like such a leap at the time as something just a year before I would never have thought would become a product so soon.

If apple do manage to pull off an apple car that does truly bring down the cost of electric cars down to make it more accessible for the masses, and not only that, but makes it a great car as well with amazing featues, safety, design, and comfort, then I believe it would be apple's greatest ever accomplishment by far. It would steal Elon's thunder for sure, but I bet he would be the first to applaud it.

I do however remain enormously skeptical. I'll never believe this until I see it. There have been so many apple rumours over the year that amounted to nothing (remember the apple TV (as in an actual TV made by apple) rumours for so many years?). But I do absolutely hope this one turns out to be true.
Click to expand...
I bought a Tesla Model Y earlier this year and I also had an original iPhone back in 2007. I get the exact same feeling everyday while driving the car like I did when using my original iPhone. The car is years ahead of its time - just like the original iPhone was. Everyone else is scrambling to catch up now (Rivian, Ford's Mustang Mach-E, etc), just like all the other phone manufacturers after the iPhone's debut. I'm ready for competition though - it will only make Tesla stronger if it wants to survive. That being said, I am very interested in what Apple will have to offer in regards to an EV.
 
the branding for apple and Tesla are so strong it'll actually be fascinating to watch how the car sells.


If Apple can create a reliable EV, I suppose I *could* be interested in buying it. The reliability of Teslas are a joke and a non starter for me no matter how rich I am, or how much I care about the environment. I'm not interested in turning on my car wondering if today is the day I'm going to get error messages rolling at 65mph on the highway.

Otherwise im sorry, Ill stick to the ultra quiet, ultra reliable, non privacy invading versions that Lexus offers.
 
kepler20b said:
the branding for apple and Tesla are so strong it'll actually be fascinating to watch how the car sells.


If Apple can create a reliable EV, I suppose I *could* be interested in buying it. The reliability of Teslas are a joke and a non starter for me no matter how rich I am, or how much I care about the environment. I'm not interested in turning on my car wondering if today is the day I'm going to get error messages rolling at 65mph on the highway.

Otherwise im sorry, Ill stick to the ultra quiet, ultra reliable, non privacy invading versions that Lexus offers.
Click to expand...
I hear Taycans are pretty reliable.
 
in an article about an Apple product, there are 17 mentions of ”Apple“. In case we forgot we are on a site about Apple...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back