The Apple Car was an expensive lesson for the tech Giant: not everyone is cut out to be an automaker. It turns out that building a car isn't that hard, at least if you have the money to throw at it, but the other parts of the deed—sales, service, and support—isn't that easy. Maybe that's why it was scrapped. Despite the car being cancelled, its spirit lives on in the battery system of BYD today.
Welcome back to Critical Materials, your daily roundup for all things EV and automotive tech. Today, we're chatting about Apple's secret project to develop the battery for its nixed car, Tesla's new VP pick, and folks who sneak into the Tesla-only Vegas Loop. Let's jump in.
30%: Apple Secretly Worked With BYD For The Apple Car Battery
Ah, yes—the Apple Car. We've all heard the rumors of what once was, but never will be. The literal multi-billion-dollar project that was scrapped by Apple earlier this year for...well, reasons unknown. It turns out that the project was a lot closer to fruition than most people thought, and Apple had even worked with industry leaders to develop a proprietary battery system for the car.
Project Titan, as it was called internally, tapped Chinese auto giant BYD for this task according to a new report from Bloomberg. The folks in Cupertino saw BYD as a leader in the battery space and together, the pair would go on to design a battery system which reportedly inspired BYD's modern blade-style battery packs.
The history between the two goes back to 2017 when the duo first entered into talks. The consensus was to build a long-range LFP battery pack that was safer and cheaper to manufacture (both characteristics of LFP packs today). The result? BYD's blade battery system.
Here's the skinny from Bloomberg:
The technology that Apple developed with BYD would have been highly customized for the once-planned vehicle, according to the people. As part of the secret partnership, Apple engineers brought expertise in advanced battery packs and heat management, [said people familiar with the matter]. BYD contributed manufacturing know-how and advancements using [LFP] cells.
According to statements made by BYD to Bloomberg regarding the report, the idea of a blade-style battery system originated with BYD's engineers. The company holds all rights and patents for the Blade battery system today, however, the report indicates that an early prototype of the system was previewed to Apple executives who then used their own engineers' expertise to customize the pack to the car's needs—including enhancing the range.
The partnership was said to be led by Alexander Hitzinger, a former racing engineer for Porsche who worked on Project Artemis (which morphed into the Audi Grandsphere concept), and Mujeeb Ijaz, a senior executive who left Apple to design a high-density EV battery capable of longer ranges.
So how exactly did Apple go from hero to zero after spending a billion dollars annually on a failed car project, and what happened to the partnership? More from Bloomberg:
Despite years of working with BYD, Apple backed away from the partnership and considered systems from other battery makers, the people said. The overall car project suffered numerous delays, and the economics of the EV business eventually proved too daunting.
Today, the Blade battery system serves as the underpinnings of nearly every modern EV in BYD's portfolio. It's not only a smart packaging system, but it's marched BYD into becoming a leader in the EV space thanks to packing long range into an affordable package. In fact, BYD has sold over 3 million EVs and hybrids just last year.
So, yes, the Apple Car project is dead. But its spirit (and some of that generous Apple partnership money) lives on in the development of BYD's cars. And who knows, maybe some of those secrets have already made it to Apple products we're using today.
60%: Tesla Taps Elon Musk's Inner Circle For New VP
Elon Musk hasn't been shy about his need for loyalty across the company. In fact, he's previously let go of employees that he felt didn't pass his "excellent, necessary and trustworthy test" (like the entirety of the Supercharging team back in April). And with a number of executive departures over the last few months, either something is pushing talent out, or Musk's test is taking its toll on the company's high-ranking officers.
At least one person has passed Musk's critical evaluation: Omead Afshar. Elon's long-time confidante, who previously worked in the "Office of the CEO," was recently promoted to oversee operations in both North America and Europe, according to the Wall Street Journal. This position was previously a responsibility of a position once filled by Tom Zhu who was recently moved to a VP position in China following Tesla's layoffs and management shakeup.
Here's what WSJ has to say:
Omead Afshar, who joined Tesla in 2017, is now a vice president in charge of sales and manufacturing with senior executives in those two regions reporting to him, according to people familiar with the changes. He has assumed some responsibilities formerly held by Tom Zhu, Tesla’s senior vice president for automotive, who earlier this year went back to China.
The move is a step up for the 37-year-old Afshar, who had previously worked in Tesla’s office of the CEO. As in his earlier position, he will report directly to Musk.
Afshar became less visible at the electric-car maker starting in 2022 and in recent years has held roles at two of Musk’s other companies, SpaceX and X, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Afshar most recently held a key role in the development of Tesla's new headquarters and flagship Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. His then position pivoted to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the facility.
One interesting note is the role that Afshar played in a Tesla scandal circa 2022. Specifically, the ordering of "special glass" for a "special project"—reportedly for the personal use of CEO Elon Musk—was described as a "house for Musk." Tesla launched an internal probe related to the matter, and several employees were dismissed as a result.
Despite reports of Afshar being on the chopping block, Musk's then-chief of Staff wasn't fired, but just kind of fell off the radar. Reports of Afshar migrating to other Musk & Co companies (like SpaceX and social media platform X) surfaced, but now the exec isn't just back at Tesla, he's also been promoted.
One has to wonder: is Musk's approach to surrounding himself with inner-circle staff a risk to Tesla's governance? Just like Tesla's board gunning for Musk's $56 billion pay package, a bit of friendly separation and pushback from other executives can help to keep a car company from becoming a clouded echo chamber or AI and robotaxis. Unless that's the direction it wants to go.
90%: People Keep Sneaking Into The Vegas Loop
Traffic sucks. There's no way to sugarcoat that. The unfortunate reality is that as long as we have human drivers, we'll have some form of traffic—and that's something Elon Musk wanted to solve with another one of his endeavors, The Boring Company.
One example of TBC's work can be found at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Coined the Vegas Loop, the 2.4-mile tunnel system exists so folks can take a ride through a tight, single-lane underground tunnel system in a human-operated Tesla (no, they're not self-driving). That being said, the tunnels have had some unwelcome guests over the past two years.
According to a report by Fortune, the Vegas Loop has had 67 incidents involving trespassers since 2022, including skateboarders and cars that have tailgated Teslas into the tunnel stations according to Fortune's Freedom of Information Act request filed with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
For those unfamiliar, the loop isn't open to just any car. The tunnel system has a fleet of Teslas operated by The Boring Company, which is meant to transport convention-goers quickly underneath all of that typical Vegas traffic. But since 2022, at least 22 cars have "inadvertently" followed the Teslas back into the stations—some of which were rideshares or drivers who thought they were entering a parking structure.
In most cases, the vehicles were spotted and immediately directed back out by staff. Only one unauthorized vehicle resulted in what TBC described as a "tunnel intrusion."
One incident involved someone who snuck in to take photos while the loop wasn't in operation. Another involved two individuals sleeping in one of the stations. Security eventually arrived to address the concerns. As mentioned above, a skateboarder also managed to gain access to a tunnel in one incident.
In each case, it appears that no law enforcement actions were taken. Fortune says that a police spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was not aware of any incident in which an officer was dispatched by the agency.
The data gathered by the FOIA is the result of monthly reports submitted to the LVCVA by Musk's tunneling company. The reports disclose events like "property damage, theft, technical issues, or injuries, near-misses, and trespassing or intrusions," according to Fortune. Incidents are outlined and have a brief description of what happened, but appear to be inconsistent in the details in each report.
So what's the moral here? Well, for starters, stay out of the loop. Interrupting public transit is never a good idea, especially when that transit is still human-operated on a single-lane road underground.
One has to wonder what kind of implications this could have if more of these tunnel systems pop up around the world. Fortunately, TBC says that it's working to install more security measures (like license plate readers) to "eliminate the opportunity for inadvertent intrusion."
100%: Did Apple Mess Up By Cancelling Its Car?
Project Titan cost Apple billions of dollars. The quest is to manufacture the equivalent of one million iPhone Pros to fund every year. And it turned out to be a flop that never made it to the public.
In an era where everyone wants to build an EV, it's interesting to see Apple weigh its risks and decide "nope, this isn't for us" after dumping so much money into it. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi SU7 is selling extremely well overseas.
So let's hear your opinions: did Apple miss an opportunity by not building its car? Or did it dodge a bullet by not dealing with the recall, service, and sales headaches that Sony will undoubtedly face?
Contact the author: rob.stumpf@insideevs.com
