Recently an industry secret has come into light. It was revealed that Apple Inc. has collaborated with Chinese Automaker BYD Co. for years for its car project which is now cancelled. They have been working on long range batteries for EVs, according to people familiar with the situation.
BYD is the world’s biggest battery maker and has leading technology patents related to EV batteries. They have one of the most advanced and efficient battery pack systems which not only they use on their own cars but supply to other leading automobile makers such as Tesla. So it was no surprise why Apple chose BYD to collaborate for its now-cancelled EV project.
Key Details Regarding Apple-BYD Partnership
Apple and the Shenzhen-based company teamed up in 2017 to develop advanced battery technologies. The project was code named “Titan” and its primary goal was to create a long range and safer battery system using lithium iron phosphate cells, which were considered superior in safety and longevity compared to conventional EV batteries at that time.
As per reports, Apple contributed its knowledge in advanced battery pack design and thermal management. The company wanted to customise the battery system specifically for its envisioned electric vehicles. Whereas BYD provided essential manufacturing capabilities and advancements in lithium iron phosphate cells technologies. Their expertise was important in shaping the design of what would become known as the Blade battery, a key component in BYD’s electric vehicles today.
Though Apple doesn’t own any of the technology used in BYD’s current Blade batteries, it shows how far this partnership has gone and ambitions of the iPhone maker to produce a car. The tech giant reportedly spent $1 billion a year over the past decade on the vehicle project often seen as the companies ‘next big thing’, before it got scrapped in February of this year.
The partnership was led by Alexander Hitzinger from Apple and Mujeeb ljaz, who managed a team of about 50 engineers. On BYD’s side, Michael He served as the vice president overseeing battery business operations.
The insights from this partnership has helped BYD’s rise as a dominant player in the EV market. Blade batteries are now the key selling point of BYD cars. In 2023, BYD sold over 3 million vehicles, briefly surpassing Tesla as the world’s largest EV seller. BYD founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu, a battery engineer himself, is a billionaire.
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Despite years of working with BYD, unfortunately, Apple backed away from the partnership. The tech giant has fueled billions of dollars into the car project but ultimately abandoned it in February 2024 due to repeated delays and overwhelming market complexities.
This was seen as pretty embarrassing for the world’s most valuable company, but the decade-long hard work did find its application in the development of other Apple products such as the Vision Pro headset and the Neural Engine AI processor now present in most of the Apple devices. The work has also contributed to the company’s push into robotics.
Conclusion
The partnership between Apple and BYD shows how collaborative efforts can influence technological advancements even when initial projects do not come to fruition. While Apple’s ambition to make an entry into the automobile industry has ceased, the knowledge and experience it gained from working with BYD has had lasting implications for both companies.
