After Reuters’ report that Apple may build their own car employing a new battery technology in the next four years, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he once tried to sell Tesla to Apple. He said,
“During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to [Apple CEO] Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value),” Musk tweeted. “He refused to take the meeting.”
Although we do not know what Elon Musk meant by “darkest days,” the Model 3 production delays were their biggest nightmare. The company reported a loss of $619 million in the third quarter of 2017. They only developed 260 units out of a planned 1,500.
Regarding Apple’s car, it will reportedly have a “monocell” battery design with bigger single cells compared to the present EVs. It will offer the extra range at a much less cost.
It is still unclear if Apple will actually develop their own car. They can easily back off again under the pandemic-hit scenario.
Apparently, the tech giant wanted to build a car and start deliveries in 2019. However, in reality, they laid off most of the people from the development team in the same year.
Seeing Apple’s interest in automotive patents, we still believe they are cooking something in their labs.
Source: MotorAuthority