Reuters has no doubts: the Apple car is upon us, to the point that the iPhone giant is already at an advanced stage of negotiations with CATL, the largest manufacturer of automotive batteries in the world, and BYD, the number 4 of the planet. The news comes after the latest rumors that Apple’s car project continues to fall apart. And actually marks (yet another) change of course. The crisis of the Apple car, the flight of engineers, the cancellation of the project, every now and then we talk about it again, it’s true. But the Cupertino giant is not new to sensational twists. And the stance of an institution like Reuters, founded in 1851 and with 15,000 employees, certainly cannot be ignored, also because the colossal agency is sure of the ongoing negotiations and claims to have four different people as (confidential) sources. .
And there are also indications on the deal itself: Apple would like batteries made in the United States, but the suppliers don’t. The three companies refused to comment on the news. And – it must be remembered – Apple itself has not yet made a public announcement about its auto plans.
But CATL, which already supplies batteries to the world‘s leading carmakers, including Tesla, has repeatedly declared itself reluctant to build a factory in the United States due to political tensions between Washington and Beijing, not to mention the concerns that arise from the costs production. On this, however, BYD did not pronounce itself.
At the news of the possible agreement, however, BYD shares took off, up 5.4% on the Hong Kong stock exchange and 6.5% on the Shenzhen one. The same goes for the CATL which managed to reverse the loss-making trend by scoring a sensational 0.5% more. We certainly know – according to Reuter – that Apple is in favor of using lithium iron phosphate batteries which are cheaper to produce because they use iron instead of nickel and cobalt which are more expensive. As is known the debut date of the highly anticipated Apple Car: 2024.
The news of the battery manufacturing negotiations, among other things, comes at a particular time: now the US government is trying to attract the production of electric vehicles within its borders. The $ 1.7 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by US President Joe Biden includes a $ 174 billion budget to boost the domestic electric vehicle market. All with tax credits and various subsidies for battery manufacturers. Meanwhile, many battery manufacturers are ramping up production to meet the surge in global demand as car makers accelerate the shift to electric vehicles to try to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations. And, according to the recent SNE Research report, it will be Chinese battery manufacturers that will grow at a faster rate than their foreign competitors thanks to the further expansion of the world‘s largest electric vehicle market.
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