Apple may have played a part in BYD’s quick rise as a leader in New Energy Vehicles. According to an article published by Bloomberg, the maker of the iPhone secretly worked with the Chinese EV giant as a potential tech partner and supplier to its now-defunct car program.
The report, which cites an unidentified source, says Apple and the Shenzhen-based carmaker teamed up in 2017 to build a battery system using lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cells. Apple specifically chose LFP batteries because they were longer range and safer than prevalent EV batteries at the time.
Though Apple doesn’t own any of the tech used in BYD’s current Blade Battery—BYD holds complete property rights and patents to the tech—the report says Apple brought in their expertise in battery packaging and heat management to the table. Particularly, Apple found a way to stack the LFP cells the same way they do in their Mac laptops. And by combining BYD’s LFP tech and manufacturing know-how with their pack design, Apple believed it produced a safe, long-range battery system for its car project.
While Apple canceled their car program this year, BYD may have found itself benefitting largely from the tech giant’s decade-long car quest.
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