Mike Peterson
Apple has reportedly made contact with multiple Korea-based electric vehicle component manufacturers for its "Apple Car" project.
The company is said to be in talks with Korean EV companies as part of a strategy to outsource manufacturing of first-party electric vehicles, The Korea Times reported Monday. A source said that Korean manufacturers of EV batteries and other components could benefit from Apple's strategy.
"As seen in Apple's smartphone business, the company is seeking business partners in Korea for its EV business," a source told the publication.
"Without partnerships with Korean vendors, Apple won't be able to complete its EV business plan. As far as I know, Apple has talked with LG, SK and Hanwha, but the talks are still in the early stages."
According to the report, Apple has had "advanced meetings" with SK Innovation, a subsidiary of SK Group specializing in EV batteries. The Cupertino company has also met with LG Electronics and auto parts manufacturer Magna International, which both have established a joint venture dubbed LG Magna e-Powertrain.
Apple is said to be considering a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery instead of a lithium-ion battery because the former technology is less likely to overheat and carries safety benefits.
Currently, no Korean makers produce LFP batteries, however. Because of that, industry sources expect Apple to go with a Chinese manufacturer for the technology.
On the other hand, The Korea Times suggests that the trade dustup between Apple and China could help make the U.S. a key region for manufacturing lines. The publication says that LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have already established or are in the process of building out battery plants in the U.S., while Samsung says it is considering it.
This isn't the first time that Apple has reportedly approached Korea-based automakers on an "Apple Car" partnership. The company was reportedly mulling a deal with Hyundai and Kia for "Apple Car" manufacturing, but those talks fell through — seemingly after news of the deal leaked.
Earlier in 2021, Apple was said to be "very near" signing a contract with LG and Magna on an "Apple Car" partnership. Magna, notably, was one of the first companies that Apple approached in the early stages of development of the rumored self-driving car.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
8 Comments
i hope apple designs the components themselves because the koreans’ ev technology is inferior to tesla’s
As soon as Apple figures out who talked they will be out of the picture. Stupid, stupid stupid.
This is very good news of progress.
I guess LG and SK Innovation are battery related talks.
Hanwha Advanced Materials is for carbon fiber or similar light weight materials.
I read that Hanwha was a Nikola partner but they are said to be good at lightweight EV materials.
Apple use to do battery research with a little Korean company called Orange Power which is apparently now out of business.
I wonder if they were bought out.
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/170179-75
In any case... Go Apple, go go go...
After watching recent Musk videos and reading about Tesla and SpaceX manufacturing capabilities, I am beginning to think Apple’s strategy of outsourcing manufacturing isn’t the right move here. Like Tesla, Apple is going to need to figure out new and innovative ways to manufacture major components of the vehicle. The design team will need to work very closely with manufacturing engineers. This would be done best internally to Apple.
After a few generations of AppleCar, Apple might consider handing over the technical data package for tooling and machining to a parts manufacturer. But they are going to need to go through their own “production hell“ in order to figure some things out that suppliers are unable to do at the moment.
This is all speculative of course, since Apple‘s intentions are very unclear at the moment.