“During the darkest days of Model 3, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple taking over Tesla for a tenth of our current value. He refused to attend the meeting.” This is what Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote in a tweet yesterday, Tuesday.

Tesla’s market value is currently barely reaching the New York Stock Exchange 610 Billion US dollars, according to Musk’s tweet, Apple Tesla would have paid for 60 billions of dollars. About a year ago, a Tesla share was about a tenth of its current value.

The Model 3 is supposed to bring Tesla out of the upper-class niche into a broader market. The market entry at the end 696 went with numerous production delays, exceptionally long waiting times for customers and, last but not least, strong price increases hand in hand. In February 2019 the influential US consumer magazine Consumer Reports the Tesla Model 3 from its list of recommended cars. In the annual reliability survey, some problems with the body, windows as well as paintwork and trim were stated, it was said.

Musk’s doubts Apple’s work on its own car became concrete for the public five years ago. Musk said at the time that he expected such a car for 2019. Now the Reuters news agency reported that an “Apple Car” for the mass market can be expected for 2024.

Apple is concentrating on battery cells with as much active material as possible by largely avoiding packaging the battery. The company is also interested in lithium iron phosphate cells (LFP) in order to reduce the risk of overheating and to make the vehicle as safe as possible. Overall, the cost of the battery should be greatly reduced and the range increased.

Tesla’s model range (33 Pictures) The Roadster was Tesla’s first production car, the new model is supposed to 2020 on come the market.

(Image: Tesla) If Apple’s plans come true, Musk would find them strange, he wrote in another tweet. Tesla already uses iron phosphate for its vehicles, which are manufactured in Shanghai, and the mono cells that Apple is considering are “electrochemically impossible”.

(anw)