Apple’s EV Project Went Poof… But Did They Secretly Help Build “China’s Tesla”?

Oh, Apple. The company that gave us the iPhone, the iPad, and the... wait, what about the car? Yes, that car. The one they've been secretly pouring almost a billion bucks a year into for nearly a decade. The one that was supposed to make Tesla's Cybertruck look like a kid's science project. Well, as we all saw back in February, that car is officially not happening. Apple’s long-rumored electric, self-driving car, aka “Project Titan,” is now just a ghost story whispered around Silicon Valley, the ultimate “what if” in tech history.

Well guess what? A new report has surfaced, pulling back the curtain on a hush-hush collaboration between Apple and Chinese automaker BYD. Turns out, Apple wasn’t just dabbling in self-driving tech… they were knee-deep in developing long-range electric vehicle batteries. And this wasn’t your typical “we’ll throw some cash at it and see what happens” kind of deal. No, Apple was in the battery game for real.

(Source: Fox Business)

It all started back in 2017, when Apple was still dreaming of an autonomous future. Enter BYD, China’s answer to Tesla and the current reigning champ of EV sales in China. 

Together, the two powerhouses teamed up to create a custom battery system using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, which, if you don’t speak “battery nerd,” basically means batteries that last longer and are safer. These bad boys would’ve given Apple’s dream car some serious range without the risk of your vehicle turning into a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (remember those ticking timebombs?).

(Source: NBC News)

So, what went wrong? Well, it wasn’t exactly the battery tech. The partnership lasted a solid few years, and Apple poured $1 billion annually into the project, according to sources familiar with the situation (you know, those shadowy figures who somehow know everything but never want to be named). Apple’s engineers brought expertise in battery management, while BYD offered their manufacturing chops, contributing to what eventually became BYD's Blade battery (basically, a system that now powers millions of cars).

Despite this promising partnership, Apple hit the brakes (pun very much intended) earlier this year, officially scrapping its self-driving car project in February. This was a rare high-profile failure for Apple, the company that can seemingly do no wrong. And while BYD went on to sell 3 million electric and hybrid cars in 2023 using the Blade system, Apple left the car business like a bad first date.

One reason Apple backed away? The economics of building a full-blown electric vehicle were daunting, to say the least. Even for a company with deeper pockets than Scrooge McDuck, the costs were piling up faster than BYD’s EV sales. Plus, the project had its fair share of “oopsies”. Numerous delays, leadership changes (shoutout to Alexander Hitzinger, who jumped ship in 2019), and Apple’s usual obsession with secrecy didn’t help matters.

Okay, so no Apple Car is coming to a driveway near you. But was all that cash spent in vain? Not entirely. The battery tech Apple helped develop with BYD contributed to products like the Neural Engine AI processor, and it even informed the development of BYD’s Blade battery, now a cornerstone of their electric vehicle empire. BYD’s founder and resident billionaire, Wang Chuanfu, can thank Apple for a slice of that success.

Apple, on the other hand, has shifted its focus. You may not be driving an iCar, but you can bet your bottom dollar Apple is still tinkering in the auto space. There’s even talk of some fancy new camera system for cars in the works, and who knows? Maybe the next Apple product will take a different kind of bite out of the automotive industry.

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Stock.News has positions in Apple and Tesla.