Apple worked with Chinese automaker BYD for years as part of its now-canceled car project, developing long-range batteries that helped lay the groundwork for technology used today, according to people familiar with the situation.
Apple and the Shenzhen-based company teamed up around 2017 to build a battery system using lithium iron phosphate cells, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort hasn¡¯t been disclosed. The technology was designed to be longer-range and safer than typical electric-vehicle batteries at the time.
Though Apple doesn¡¯t own any of the technology used in BYD¡¯s current Blade batteries, the partnership shows just how far the iPhone maker went in its efforts to produce a car. The tech titan spent roughly $1 billion a year over the past decade on the vehicle project ¡ª often seen as one of the company¡¯s ¡°next big things¡± ¡ª before scrapping it in February.
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