Price: $250k
Battery life: changes depending on if we have a new model
Color: Rose gold or black
Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
41–50 of 699 posts
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#42The Tesla Model 3 already embodies the minimalism, software focus, and vertical integration that have driven Apple's success in the phone market. Right down to the custom SoC and capacitive touchscreen in lieu of buttons. I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be. Also, 2024 still seems aggressive to deploy self-driving for real.
Having recently sold my Tesla Model 3 I can say there is a lot to be desired with that car. The biggest lesson from Tesla is that cars are not cellphones. Having one display off to the side, without buttons, that does everything is an awful experience in a car. I hope that Apple learns that lesson. I think if they had gone first they might have made that mistake too, but now that it's been tried they can find interesting ways to innovate that don't break the experience.
I also don't think they will try for self-driving out of the gate. I know a good number of the experts in this field and no one thinks full autonomy is ready. The moat that Waymo has built with their particular kind of testing and iteration is diametrically opposed to how companies like Tesla, Lyft, Uber etc have tried to do self-driving. Even they are going to be restricted to the easiest of locals for years.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#43This is starting to make increasingly more sense even though Apple making a car seemed laughable a few years ago. Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience. Apple Card was perhaps a dipping of the toes moment. In theory, Tesla shouldn't be worth what it is because the tech behind it is increasingly getting commoditize…
> Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience.
Also: insane supply-chain management chops, a skill that is more and more transferable - especially for electric cars.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#44The Tesla Model 3 already embodies the minimalism, software focus, and vertical integration that have driven Apple's success in the phone market. Right down to the custom SoC and capacitive touchscreen in lieu of buttons. I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be. Also, 2024 still seems aggressive to deploy self-driving for real.
>I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be. There's room for more than one car company like this. If Apple brings high quality, tight fit and finish, elegant design, software focus, vertical integration (including their new M1 processor tech), logistics support (charging station network, maintenance, etc), and "next-level batteries" to the mix, then I'm sure they'll find space in the market. If Apple ca…
>logistics support (charging station network, maintenance, etc)
Honestly, if Apple bought out the existing non-Tesla charging networks and dedicated even a sliver of their UX talent to improving the charging experience, they would really push things forward. This is, of course, assuming that buying the charging networks would make it past the anti-trust people.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple could outright buy GM or Ford with cash.
But those would be terrible car companies to buy imo.
why? they have the experience manufacturing huge numbers of vehicles and apple has the experience manufacturing products with good experience and build quality. Get gm to build the drivetrain and the body to apple spec, apple builds the interior themselves.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#46From what I understand, lithium iron is actually less power dense than the latest lithium ion, but it can handle more charge cycles and it’s less volatile nature allows manufacturers to break away from the commoditized cells paradigm. It’s not considered a good choice for eg ebikes because of the density issue.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#47"It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles." Does Apple have enough money (cash, line of credit capability) to simply buy an automaker? I can see where it would make the most sense to partner but having an option to buy at a later point could bring advantages to Apple.
No need to buy an automaker, there's companies that have a car factory to build cars on contract for auto companies.
One example is VDL in Born, Netherlands making BMWs. That contract ends in a few years iirc, so they could produce Apple cars by then perhaps.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#48The Tesla Model 3 already embodies the minimalism, software focus, and vertical integration that have driven Apple's success in the phone market. Right down to the custom SoC and capacitive touchscreen in lieu of buttons. I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be. Also, 2024 still seems aggressive to deploy self-driving for real.
A big differentiator will obviously just be the apple brand. There's going to be a huge number of people who just want to be seen driving around in an apple-branded car. And a lot of those people are currently tesla fans
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#49Apple has been in and out of the car game for a few years now, with executives coming and going. What I'm about to say will be as meaningful as this hear-say article, but I feel that Apple management, and its shareholders, have no idea what it means to build a car. Things like this need 100% commitment from the management, Cook just doesn't seem like the guy to do it.
> but I feel that Apple management, and its shareholders, have no idea what it means to build a car
I feel like people pretend that building a car is way harder than it actually is in 2020.
All the components to build a car are readily available. A person can buy the parts on their own and put them together in their garage. It isn't like they have to go get a pick axe and start mining ore to create everything from scratch. Apple just needs to buy the components that already work, and then do what they do best and perfect that parts that haven't been perfected. In this case, the battery, the motor, the onboard computer, and the software. And based off what Apple has built in the past, these are the things that Apple would be REALLY good at.
It isn't like they have to invent tires and drive shafts.
I know I undersold the difficulty of making a car in this comment, but come one, Apple is 87 times more valuable than Ford. They have enough cash on hand to buy Ford 5 times. Money might not solve all problems, but it really really helps.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#50"It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles." Does Apple have enough money (cash, line of credit capability) to simply buy an automaker? I can see where it would make the most sense to partner but having an option to buy at a later point could bring advantages to Apple.
They do not have to buy an automaker.
There is for example "Magna" a canadian-austrian automotive supplier [0][1] which also produces complete cars for their customers (contract manufacturing) [2]. Magna has started producing electric vehicles recently, for example the Jaguar i-Pace.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_International