Apple Secretly Worked With Chinese BYD on EV Battery, Tesla, Ford

American devices maker Apple had worked with Chinese automobile company BYD for years in the project to make electric cars. Apple has canceled this project. For this, the company had worked with BYD to develop a long range battery.

Bloomberg quoted people with information about this as saying that Apple And China’s BYD had a tie-up to make battery systems using lithium iron phosphate cells. This technology was designed for long range and safe electric vehicle batteries. However, Apple does not own any of the technology used in BYD’s existing Blade batteries. This tie-up shows how much progress Apple had made in its project to make electric cars. The company had spent a lot on this project in the last decade.

However, this tie-up between the two companies was not disclosed. Apple and BYD spokespersons declined to comment, however, BYD said in an e-mailed statement that the concept of the Blade battery was that of its engineers. BYD has complete patents and other rights on this battery. Blade system is used in BYD cars. The tie-up between these two companies was planned almost a decade ago.

Apple was looking for core technologies for its electric car project. BYD engineers showed an early version of the Blade battery to company executives. Apple liked the energy storage capabilities and security of this technology. After this, the company had demanded customization in it to increase the range of EV. Apple was earlier working on different batteries. Elements like nickel and alkaline were being used in these. The company had also invested a lot in battery pack design and engineering. It wanted to put as many cells as possible in the battery. Sales of electric vehicles have increased rapidly in the last few years. America and China are among the big markets of EV.