Apple worked with a Chinese company for years to develop a battery system for a car project that was later shelved
Bloomberg says this because it says Apple was working with BYD Co., a car company based in Shenzhen, to make batteries that use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells.
Apple gave its engineering know-how, especially in areas like managing heat and making advanced battery packs, and BYD gave its manufacturing tools and its own LFP technologies.
Bloomberg says the battery was meant to have a longer range and be safer than most EV cells.
It was said that Apple had spent about $1 billion a year on the car project since 2014, but the company shelved its plans in February.
The effort wasn’t a complete waste, even though it didn’t work out. According to Bloomberg, lessons learned about batteries from the car project helped other Apple teams make the Vision Pro and Neural Engine chips.
