Apple Spent Years Secretly Developing EV Batteries With BYD

Apple spent roughly a decade and $10 billion developing an electric vehicle only to kill off the project earlier this year. It’s now been revealed the technology giant spent many years working with Chinese automaker BYD on advanced long-range batteries that it could use, and while there’s no electric Apple car coming to the market, the work between the two firms did help advance EV battery technology.

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The American tech giant and BYD reportedly started to work together in 2017 and built a battery system using lithium iron phosphate cells. It’s claimed that Apple engineers working on the project had expertise in advanced battery packs and heat management, while BYD used its lithium iron phosphate cell skills and manufacturing prowess to make the partnership work.

Read: The Apple iCar Is Dead After A Decade Of Development

Bloomberg reports Apple and BYD collaborated after engineers from the Chinese carmaker showed Apple executives early versions of the Blade battery currently used in its EVs. Apple was impressed and believed it could use the BYD cells with its own in-house battery pack design. Apple thought it could customize and improve the Blade battery to boost an EV’s range and had previously been working on cells using nickel and alkaline.

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Neither BYD nor Apple have confirmed their collaboration on battery tech, and while this doesn’t mean they didn’t, BYD insists that the Blade battery technology is its own design.

“The concept for the Blade battery originated with BYD engineers, who independently developed this LFP Blade battery. BYD holds complete property rights and patent rights for the Blade battery,” the carmaker said.

Despite the years of collaboration, Apple eventually walked away from its partnership with BYD and began exploring other options. In early 2021, news broke that Apple had engaged in talks with Hyundai about bringing its long-anticipated self-driving EV to life, but those discussions quickly fizzled out.

Earlier this year, Apple’s top executives officially decided to abandon the electric vehicle project altogether, marking the end of a decade-long effort.

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Opening image: John Byrnes/Carscoops