Apple's Talks For EV With CATL & BYD In Limbo

BYD and CATL have not agreed to Apple's terms for the supply of batteries and the negotiations are in limbo right now.

By Sahil Gupta

1 mins read

Published on October 22, 2021

Highlights

BYD and CATL have not agreed with Apple for LFP batteries
Apple wants them to have dedicated facilities in the US
Alternatively, Apple is looking at Panasonic as a potential supplier

Apple's plans of deploying LFP battery chemistry in its monumental effort to develop an autonomous electric car have faced another setback as it faces issues with CATL and BYD - two of the biggest battery manufacturers in the world. Apple has been exploring the use of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathode chemistry - but it seems like both CATL which is by far the largest battery manufacturer in the world, and BYD have told the company that they can't agree to its terms. Apple reportedly wanted the two to set up dedicated facilities for itself in the US with dedicated staff. "After they refused to set up teams and build U.S. plants that would solely cater to the tech giant, the firms informed Apple sometime in the past two months that they were not able to meet its requirements, the people said. But the U.S. company has not given up hope of resuming talks with either CATL or BYD, according to one source," revealed a Reuters report. Political tensions between the US and China are also adding to the issues as the Chinese suppliers feel squeezed. They also feel that the math of the deal doesn't add up and finding the right people will be hard in the US. Lynch is the day to day incharge of the Apple Car project BYD, which already has a battery facility in California, has refused to create a dedicated facility for Apple. Apple in the meanwhile has been looking at Panasonic which is a key Tesla partner for the same. Tesla has already announced that all its cars will start soon using LFP batteries - the Model 3 and Y use the CATL solution. Apple recently lost Doug Field, its operational head for the Apple Car project, and installed Apple Watch czar Kevin Lynch to take charge. The overall Apple Car project is dubbed project titan and is run by John Giannandrea, the senior VP of AI and machine learning strategy. Many believe the Apple Car could be the last major product launch under CEO Tim Cook who has been at Apple since 1998 and has been CEO for over a decade now.