The Apple Car is really coming: in 2024, with a 'revolutionary' battery
Source: HW Upgrade added 22nd Dec 2020
The Apple Car will be made, if it is true that now also Reuters is talking about it. Apparently, Cupertino will use a battery with ‘next level’ technology
of Rosario Grasso published on 22 December 2020 , at 10 : 31 in the Apple channel
Apple
More and more confirmations on Apple Car , to the point that now Reuters is also talking about it. Titan is a project that has emerged for some years now, corresponding to a ‘ electric car to autonomous driving with advanced features. If for a long time the rumors have stopped, in the recent period more and more details about the project are returning to peep out on the various sites of technological information, and not.
Apple Car, in production starting from 2024
According to Reuters, Apple plans to start high-volume production of its new technology vehicle in 2024. At the heart of the project is a single cell battery that the news agency defines “revolutionary” . We favored this setting to make sure that the as much as possible of active material can be contained inside the battery , increasing the battery capacity and consequently extending the autonomy of the vehicle.
Furthermore, such a structure would free up space inside the battery by eliminating the modules containing the materials. Apple is also exploring the possibility of using a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry , which is less likely to overheat and is therefore safer than other types of lithium ion batteries . Although this type of battery does not match lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density, it would still represent a big step forward.
Apple Car, a revolutionary battery
This is because LFP batteries do not require cobalt , the supply of which is becoming increasingly difficult. More than 60% of the world supply of cobalt, in fact, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is an intense exploitation of child labor for extraction. “It’s a next level battery, like it was for the first iPhone” Reuters source said.
Car would have more LiDAR sensors to scan the surrounding area and power the autonomous driving system. In addition to procuring these components from external suppliers, Apple may reuse the LiDAR sensors it has developed for iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro , in order to achieve competitive advantages.
The development of such a cutting-edge battery technology would have prolonged the vehicle tuning. As is also the case in the world of technology, in fact, Apple did not want to release a product on the market that was not immediately available to everyone.
According to Reuters, the project has resumed progress at full speed since Apple fired 200 employees of the Project Titan team . Probably, in fact, from that moment Apple has turned to external partners to speed up the work. At the same time, again according to the assumptions of the news agency, the pandemic in progress could lead to other delays, up to a downsizing of the project.
In the latter case we refers to the fact that Apple may be limited to providing its technology to other established auto makers , as it already does in the case of Apple CarPlay .