Apple worked with China’s BYD to develop EV batteries

Prior to ending its much-discussed electric-vehicle project, Apple worked with Chinese automaker BYD on batteries, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

A partnership between the two companies started around 2017, according to the report, with the goal of developing lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells for the Apple car. BYD has much experience with this tech, claiming cooling and safety improvements for its Blade battery introduced in 2020.

BYD Han EV

Apple reportedly assigned Alexander Hitzinger to the effort. Hitzinger was technical director of the Porsche 919 hybrid race-car project before joining Apple as head of product design for its special projects group, a position he held from 2016 to 2019 before returning to the Volkswagen Group, where he worked on autonomous driving and an Audi EV project.

The team also reportedly included 50 engineers led by Apple’s Mujeeb Ijaz, with Michael He, Vice President of BYD’s battery business, representing that company. A larger team, rumored to be about 2,000 people, worked on the car project itself. Sometimes referred to as “Project Titan,” had been discussed in media reports since 2014, although little concrete information was ever released.

BYD Han EV

Apple reportedly moved away from the partnership and began exploring battery tech from other companies. Two reports in 2021 claimed Apple was seeking LFP batteries from both BYD and fellow Chinese firm CATL, with possible U.S. manufacturing. Reports in December 2020 also claimed Apple was pursuing a “monocell” design for batteries that freed up more space.

After reportedly being scaled back to a basic vehicle without previously-hoped-for autonomous driving, Apple cancelled the electric car project earlier this year. Apple’s further involvement in the auto industry will likely be limited to the CarPlay phone-mirroring system it currently supplies to automakers.