Tesla raised 20.4B. Apple has almost 10X more sitting around in cash.
Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
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Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
Electric vehicles are _incredibly_ simple to begin with so a decent chance. But I also think that the electric car space is already very simple. Apple would be going head-to-head with Tesla which has already stripped away almost everything into a large dash-mounted monitor.
The looks of Tesla cars are conservative. Their cars look as much like gas-powered cars cars as early cars looked like carriages. I think there’s space for innovation there. The new Citroen Ami, for example, is a bolder design ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Ami_(electric) ), but I think one can do better.
Unfortunately, in the US your safety in the Citroen is questionable as you might get absolutely blasted by countless 4,300 lbs. / 1950 kg. SUVs[0] around you.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Highlander#/media/File:...
_6.6.20.jpg){kind=link}
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#263Apple 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.
One could look to Apple's tv show catalogue as an example of them entering a new industry without much experience. They don't really have expertise in it, and it's probably suffering as a result. But then, they also have a ton of money to burn on it, so it's not without its merits. I think this will be very hard for them to do, and I think they'll look like they're making dumb mistakes for a while. But if they really want to go this way, they'll probably succeed in some form.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#264I wonder if Foxconn will have to start building the city to support this very soon.
Also I wonder if your car will look so beautiful, be so shiny, that you buy a case for it... will it come in peel off plastic (actually most cars already had this on their bonnets at least when shipping...).
Will it be machined out of a single block of aluminium?
(More clichés welcome)
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#265Apple 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 sc…
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Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#266Can't wait. Go for it Apple.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Everything else is better done as knobs and buttons. Apple is quite good at knobs and buttons, and what may eventually become interior finishes.
When they decide to implement a hardware control, it's usually done well. But their records is hit-and-miss in my opinion. Good: iPod click wheel, iPhone side buttons/switches, old chiclet keyboards, trackpad. Bad: Butterfly keyboards, AppleTV remote is awful (swipes and edge-clicks for all sorts of things), their mice have always been a pain to use (wanna right click? Better lift your left finger completely away fro…
A volume knob thats a blown up version of the wheel on the Apple Watch would be something.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#268It's interesting that this mentions lithium iron phosphate batteries as a "breakthrough technology". That echoes what BYD in China has been saying recently.[1] Lithium-iron isn't a new technology. It was popular for industrial power tools for a while. It is safer than lithium phosphate, not being prone to thermal runaway, but has less energy density. BYD has been able to get the energy density per unit volume up, but…
> The article also suggests that Apple would have a "manufacturing partner". After all, iPhones are made by Foxconn.
> So this may just be Apple selling BYD cars outside China.
In this case BYD would not just be a "manufacturing partner". Apple would simply be selling an OEM product.
Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Electric vehicles are _incredibly_ simple to begin with so a decent chance. But I also think that the electric car space is already very simple. Apple would be going head-to-head with Tesla which has already stripped away almost everything into a large dash-mounted monitor.
The looks of Tesla cars are conservative. Their cars look as much like gas-powered cars cars as early cars looked like carriages. I think there’s space for innovation there. The new Citroen Ami, for example, is a bolder design ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Ami_(electric) ), but I think one can do better.
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Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources
#270An iPhone with 4 wheels