- 54 min ago (Updated 25 min ago)
- Julien Russo
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Apple continues to work on its Apple Car project, the company is developing its own technologies in-house, but relies heavily on partnerships with the major players in the sector. According to a recent report, a team of engineers from the Apple Car Project flew to several appointments in South Korea.
Apple intends to partner with several South Korean companies
Digitimes hit hard again with a new report that provides some details on what is happening on the project right now Titan. According to the latest indiscretions, Apple has sent a team of engineers to South Korea, a business trip supposed to stay secret and which aimed to approach several local businesses.
Among the groups met on site, the report explains that the firm had previously organized meetings with LG Electronics, SK Group and several other firms which could be useful on the evolution of the autonomous car project.
Discussions would have been entirely devoted to ambitions Apple automobiles as well as possible partnerships groups able to join the Apple Car supply chain.
Another report, this time from Korea Times mentions the statements of a senior executive, who allegedly explained during the interviews that Apple is actively seeking business partners located in South Korea, that for activities related to electric vehicles (yes, he spoke in the plural when mentioning the Apple Car project).
This same person claimed that the Apple Carriages project could encounter difficulties if the quest to find Korean suppliers were to fail. For the Cupertino company, creating these partnerships is a necessity.
But that’s not all ! The other indiscretions speak of meetings very “advanced” with LG Electronics and SK Group, it could involve financial negotiations for the annual production of parts essential to the construction of vehicles.
South Korea is world famous for its production of batteries in lithium-phospate de fer, a battery technology that brings many advantages such as:
- The stored energy density which is much more important than any other battery (the autonomy aspect could therefore meet our expectations with the lithium-iron phospate battery);
- Lightness, lithium is a metal which is very light and which could therefore find its place more easily in the Apple Car;
- This type of battery has no memory effect, result, it becomes possible to recharge the battery to 30%, 40%, 50% … without risking losing its efficiency. The batteries found in many electric vehicles can lose capacity if recharged while they are still at a satisfactory level.
We now estimate that Apple has been working on the Apple Car project for about 8-9 years, the first serious rumors appeared in 2012.
The development of an electric vehicle for a company with no knowledge in this field may take a lot of time. Especially since Apple has very high quality requirements high for its products, be it the iPhone, the Mac or the Apple Car, the Cupertino company prefers to take a year longer rather than signing a contract with a company that does not meet its requirements.
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