Nobel Prize winner and the pioneer behind Lithium-Ion batteries, Akira Yoshino has said that Apple could announce its foray into the automotive space as soon as 2021. In a recent interview with Reuters, he made the prediction. Yoshino, who is an honorary fellow at Japanese chemical firm Asahi Kasei, won the Nobel Prize in 2019 for chemistry in lithium ion batteries. He spoke about the future of electric vehicles and he noted that the IT industry was increasingly looking at mobility. He specifically noted that Apple would be the one to look out. "The one to look out for is Apple. What will they do? I think they may announce something soon. And what kind of car would they announce? What kind of battery? They probably want to get in around 2025. If they do that, I think they have to announce something by the end of this year. That's just my own personal hypothesis," he said.
It is no secret that Apple has been working on an autonomous electric car since 2014 which is internally dubbed project titan. The project has had a topsy-turvy history but since 2020 reports of an Apple branded car have just gathered momentum. The project is now under John Giannandrea, the senior VP of AI and machines learning strategy who used to be in charge of Google Search before his Apple stint till 2018.
The iPhone maker has been working on an autonomous electric car for almost a decade now
Apple has been reportedly developing unique battery technology and it is in advanced conversations with South Korean manufacturers for manufacturing of the car. This could like be Hyundai with whom Apple had talks before too as Apple has been interested in the E-GMP skateboard which was co-developed with Californian start-up Canoo, which Apple tried to even acquire unsuccessfully.
Apple even hired the co-founder of Canoo, Ulrich Krantz, who helped BMW develop its electric cars. It also has former Porsche and Tesla executives in senior roles and also roped in its product head of Apple Watch, Kevin Lynch, who previously was the CTO at Adobe for the project.
It has been reported the Apple Car will come in the 2024-2025 time period with production starting earlier. The one thing that may push back the launch is the fact that Apple is behind the likes of Tesla and Google when it comes down to autonomous driving as its test vehicles have logged just a fraction of the kilometres as its potential rivals.
Yoshino in the broad ranging interview even spoke about the potential of fuel cell technology in cars, wireless charging for cars and innovations in battery technology.
The 73 year old has been working on batteries for over 50 years
“There are two major areas of innovation that would be the key. One would be new cathode materials and anode materials. The second one would be the system where the EV is used. In other words, how people will be using the EVs, and how they charge them and discharge them,” he explained.
He said that wireless charging for cars is possible with integration in parking lots and also some roads as well. He added that the tech would work well in tandem with autonomous cars.
“I think the biggest potential is in sharing. If autonomous electric vehicles can become practical, that will cause a huge change in the way people use vehicles,” he said of autonomous cars. He added that autonomous vehicles from a longer term perspective could start using fuel cells in the 2030 to 2050 period because issues like costs and technology would be solved by then.
