Apple Secretly Developed Long-Range EV Battery Tech with China's BYD

[MacRumors]

Apple secretly collaborated with Chinese automaker BYD to develop long-range electric vehicle battery technology as part of its now-nixed Apple Car project, according to Bloomberg.

Beginning around 2017, the partnership focused on creating a battery system using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. The joint effort aimed to produce batteries with longer range and improved safety compared to typical EV batteries of the time. Apple reportedly brought expertise in advanced battery packs and heat management, while BYD contributed manufacturing know-how and advancements in LFP cell technology.

The collaboration was part of Apple's since-canceled car project, which the company invested approximately $1 billion per year in over the past decade. Although Apple doesn't own the technology used in BYD's current Blade batteries, the partnership reportedly influenced the development of BYD's battery systems.

The project is said to have been led by Alexander Hitzinger on Apple's side, with a team of about 50 battery engineers overseen by Mujeeb Ijaz. Michael He, vice president of BYD's battery business, led the efforts for the Chinese company.

Despite the years of collaboration, Apple eventually moved away from the partnership and explored systems from other battery makers. Apple ultimately canceled its car project in February 2024 after executives decided it was not a viable project.

While Apple's car ambitions didn't materialize, the battery development work reportedly contributed to other areas of the company's technology portfolio, including the Vision Pro headset and Neural Engine AI processor. Read our Apple Car roundup for more details about the canceled project.

Article Link: Apple Secretly Developed Long-Range EV Battery Tech with China's BYD

 

[Ctrlos]

While Apple's car ambitions didn't materialize, the battery development work reportedly contributed to other areas of the company's technology portfolio, including the Vision Pro headset and Neural Engine AI processor.

The car never existed. It was always about Vision Pro.

 

[breenmask]

and then they realized they had no shot against Elon and cancelled the project.

 

[peneaux]

If the technology was good to create/improve Apple Vision device, why not improve every single Apple device?

If they didn’t mention Vision, I would think it was improvement not feasible for smaller devices.

Apple cares so much about the environment that such technology could make ICE cars obsolete. I guess Toyota at least walk the talk with the Camry 51 mpg.

It’s been a while since I stopped believing empty promises.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

The car never existed. It was always about Vision Pro.

They have received thousands of patents the many projects under the Titan umbrella.

 

[gpat]

How would Apple's competence be relevant in developing a new technology for EV batteries?
This is just propaganda to validate BYD cars towards Americans.

 

[Techwatcher]

So we’re just casually helping develop EVs in China now huh

 

[DMG35]

Apple, how about you develop a long range battery for your phones.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Apple spent $10B on the cancelled car project. Their investment Didi alone was $1B.

 

[timber]

If the technology was good to create/improve Apple Vision device, why not improve every single Apple device?

If they didn’t mention Vision, I would think it was improvement not feasible for smaller devices.

Apple cares so much about the environment that such technology could make ICE cars obsolete. I guess Toyota at least walk the talk with the Camry 51 mpg.

It’s been a while since I stopped believing empty promises.

LFP doesn't seem well suited for the Vision Pro. It has a lower energy density than NMC batteries.
It's a cheaper solution for large (compared with other applications) batteries.
And it's a sort of trademark of Chineses EV manufacturers (despite currently being used around the World).
I doubt Apple developed anything. They probably were using BYD as a supplier. It's like saying Apple developed OLED screens or camera sensors.

 

[StoneJack]

Make BYD Great again!

 

[3Gmatt]

Interesting. BYD make excellent batteries.

 

[wanha]

and then they realized they had no shot against Elon and cancelled the project.

No. Apple realized FSD won't be possible for at least a decade and thus cancelled the project which was built around FSD. This is not conjecture, this has been reported by several sources.

Elon is either yet to realize this, or - more likely - he's realized it but just continues the grift anyway.

 

[wanha]

So we’re just casually helping develop EVs in China now huh

If by working together with Chinese companies to develop new tech "we" are "helping" them, then sure, it happens all the time

 

[SnowPenguin]

How would Apple's competence be relevant in developing a new technology for EV batteries?
This is just propaganda to validate BYD cars towards Americans.

I am guessing they were mostly financing the development.

 

[lenningj]

byd ? no thanks

 

[BigEndian]

How would Apple's competence be relevant in developing a new technology for EV batteries?
This is just propaganda to validate BYD cars towards Americans.

have you ever taken your EV battery apart? It is made up of exactly the same kind of cells you find in much smaller devices, so there is a lot of very relevant experience especially in the management of battery consumption, charging and lifespan.

The power architecture of cars is very different with typically very high voltage/current systems, but ultimately the battery is just a very large collection of small cells.

 

[senttoschool]

and then they realized they had no shot against Elon and cancelled the project.

No, they realized EVs are a low margin business and in order to get to a high margin business, full self driving is needed.

 

[Celtic-moniker]

and then they realized they had no shot against Elon and cancelled the project.

Uh. You are aware that BYDs blade batter has started to be used by Tesla in lieu of their less durable older chemistry, right?

 

[MusicMan5150]

If this story is true, Tim Cook needs to step the **** down… right now. Covertly using Apple engineers to give China and the CCP a $10 Billion research and development gift (in order to keep access to their massive market) is essentially what was done here. The pro-China bean counter needs to go. His (more than) decade of grift while riding Steve Jobs’ coat-tails and releasing yawn-inducing, iterative product updates needs to come to an end. Tim has ZERO new ideas worth pursuing and he’s dragging his feet while wasting BOATLOADS of Apple’s R&D money. This is all while continually cashing in stock options, annually, worth tens of millions at a time for himself. Worst of all, he is handing advanced technology to America’s #1 global enemy. — IT’S TIME TO RETIRE, TIM. You’re out of ideas and you’re really beginning to look a bit like a traitor to America, buddy. Now… take THAT to the bank.

 

[russell_314]

Uh. You are aware that BYDs blade batter has started to be used by Tesla in lieu of their less durable older chemistry, right?

A lot of people don’t realize that BYD also licenses their battery technology out to other companies including Tesla. In about 7 to 10 years when it’s time for me to buy another Tesla, it might have battery technology developed by Apple. I think that would be pretty cool!

 

[russell_314]

If this story is true, Tim Cook needs to step the **** down… right now. Covertly using Apple engineers to give China and the CCP a $10 Billion research and development gift (in order to keep access to their massive market) is essentially what was done here. The pro-China bean counter needs to go. His (more than) decade of grift while riding Steve Jobs’ coat-tails and releasing yawn-inducing, iterative product updates needs to come to an end. Tim has ZERO new ideas worth pursuing and he’s dragging his feet while wasting BOATLOADS of Apple’s R&D money. This is all while continually cashing in stock options, annually, worth tens of millions at a time for himself. Worst of all, he is handing advanced technology to America’s #1 global enemy. — IT’S TIME TO RETIRE, TIM. You’re out of ideas and you’re really beginning to look like a bit like a traitor to America, buddy. Now… take THAT to the bank.

China is far ahead of the USA when it comes to EV battery development. The USA is late to this game and lagging way behind other countries for EV adoption. This is one case where China is helping us. American companies are licensing patents on Chinese battery technology.

 

[Harry Haller]

Hopefully the hype about SSBs doesn’t turn out to be like the hype about AI that Apple researchers discovered.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/16/the-race-for-next-gen-ev-batteries-may-soon-pivot-to-semi-solid-state.html

Apple study exposes deep cracks in LLMs’ “reasoning” capabilities

Irrelevant red herrings lead to “catastrophic” failure of logical inference.

arstechnica.com

 

[MusicMan5150]

China is far ahead of the USA when it comes to EV battery development. The USA is late to this game and lagging way behind other countries for EV adoption. This is one case where China is helping us. American companies are licensing patents on Chinese battery technology.

“This is one case where China is helping us.” — Suuuuuuuuuuure they are. 👍 …🙄

 

[russell_314]

Hopefully the hype about SSBs doesn’t turn out to be like the hype about AI that Apple researchers discovered.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/16/the-race-for-next-gen-ev-batteries-may-soon-pivot-to-semi-solid-state.html

Apple study exposes deep cracks in LLMs’ “reasoning” capabilities

Irrelevant red herrings lead to “catastrophic” failure of logical inference.

arstechnica.com

There’s flaws in every technology. When Apple actually develops AI that’s in the same realm as everyone else then I’ll believe anything they say. I love Apple but I’m suspicious of the motivations with this. To me this sounds like oh no, we couldn’t do it so we’re going to say what our competition is doing is bad