Apple Cancels Electric Car Project

[CrysisDeu]

I really don’t think that designing, building, distributing and supporting a ground up electric (or any other kind of) vehicle is “easy” or trivial in any country, China or otherwise.

Take a look at how many Chinese car brands there are.. Lixiang Motors was literally, started by the founder of a car news website.

The 10 years of efforts Apple put into it, versus pushing out a really impressive car under 3 years by xiaomi. It is not a hard thing to do for a company on this scale.

Electric cars are vastly easier to build than gas powered ones. And there are lots of pre-built platforms Apple can base on, customize, and load their software onto it. It’s at the same difficulty of someone building a new phone from scratch now. Nothing phone can do it, Nio can do it, polestar can do it.

It’s just not hard when the supply chain is already so good, and you have a lot of money lying around.

 

[Surf Monkey]

We are talking about the present,

Didn’t dispute it.

I don't care about 60 years from now which looking how things are shaping up is how long it will actually take for EV's to take over and that if ever.

60 years? You pulled that out of thin air. It isn’t a valid data point. I’m not speculating that far out.

Range and the time to recharge that range is the main issue people have,

Care to document that?

the hydrogen promise seems to be an option but right now there is nothing wrong with hybrids.

I didn’t address hybrid. Hybrid is fine. It isn’t going to be the ultimate solution but it’s fine.

Hydrogen has a much better chance at taking over if they can get things working properly in view so I agree with you there.

Right on. I think hydrogen has great potential.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Take a look at how many Chinese car brands there are.. Lixiang Motors was literally, started by the founder of a car news website.

The 10 years of efforts Apple put into it, versus pushing out a really impressive car under 3 years by xiaomi. It is not a hard thing to do for a company on this scale.

Okay. But that doesn’t say much about the US market where safety and other regulations are much tighter and where customers expect a robust service network to support the vehicle.

Electric cars are vastly easier to build than gas powered ones. And there are lots of pre-built platforms Apple can base on, customize, and load their software onto it. It’s at the same difficulty of someone building a new phone from scratch now. Nothing phone can do it, Nio can do it, polestar can do it.

I don’t know that there are “lots of platforms” that Apple could use. They’d likely have to go with one of the main manufacturers platforms. Not some off the shelf solution.

Top Five: Global EV Platforms

Our latest Top Five examines five of the most significant global EV platform architectures, from VW, GM, Toyota, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Hyundai-Kia

www.automotive-iq.com

It’s just not hard when the supply chain is already so good, and you have a lot of money lying around.

There’s a lot more to it than that.

 

[1129846]

It's not a solvable problem because otherwise someone would have done it, the length of time to charge vs the time to charge is too great unless there is a miracle in battery tech. 1 per unit? Do you have any idea the cost for that, who's going to pay for that? It's not going to be the developers for the theoretical EV driver.

Large cities don't want houses being built anymore, they are pushing for more multiunit building's. Who are you to require developers install something for someone who may not need it? I'm not voting for anyone that will try to mandate the installation of something that will increase the cost of the house when the housing market already sucks.

Ok new home construction adding in a nemi 14 during construction vs after construction is huge.

During construction it is going to be 100 bucks on the high side as it is just the cost of materials so it adds 0.1% on a 100k home to added it. Price only goes down from there.

If you want to do it after the fact cost starts at 600 for electrical and only goes ups so over a 6x from the expensive option to the cheapest option to retrofit. I had to drop 1500 for my home to do the work.

As for an apartment yes long term that work is needed to be done and something that needs to be phased in and encouraged to do over time.

As for the charging time argument it is over night while you are sleeping. Not a factor considering you are talking an easy 50-60+ kWh put in to the car while you are sleep. Aka not an issue.

Long distance driving again not as big as people make it out to be. 30 min stop charge enough to go another 200+ miles. Yes it is slower but for most people not much slower than bio/food stop. Hell I have never made it out of a Buc-ee’s in under 20-30 mins. Big time if you add in gas. So Non issue.

It is a long term thing needing to be done and encouraged. Between both being cheaper to drive and the fact that you no longer have to waste 10-15 mins a week getting gas it adds up fast.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Ok new home construction adding in a nemi 14 during construction vs after construction is huge.

During construction it is going to be 100 bucks on the high side as it is just the cost of materials so it adds 0.1% on a 100k home to added it. Price only goes down from there.

If you want to do it after the fact cost starts at 600 for electrical and only goes ups so over a 6x from the expensive option to the cheapest option to retrofit. I had to drop 1500 for my home to do the work.

As for an apartment yes long term that work is needed to be done and something that needs to be phased in and encouraged to do over time.

As for the charging time argument it is over night while you are sleeping. Not a factor considering you are talking an easy 50-60+ kWh put in to the car while you are sleep. Aka not an issue.

Long distance driving again not as big as people make it out to be. 30 min stop charge enough to go another 200+ miles. Yes it is slower but for most people not much slower than bio/food stop. Hell I have never made it out of a Buc-ee’s in under 20-30 mins. Big time if you add in gas. So Non issue.

It is a long term thing needing to be done and encouraged. Between both being cheaper to drive and the fact that you no longer have to waste 10-15 mins a week getting gas it adds up fast.

You’re both talking about different use cases. EV is great for an urban or suburban drive. Not as good the more rural your living arrangement is.

 

[Exponent]

The EU decided to switch the entire EU-fleet to electric by 2035. They wouldn’t have passed this legislation if the tech wouldn’t be there.

Yes, the EU managerial clique in Brussels would NEVER EVER issue mandates that aren't reasonably reachable and that aren't the best practical solution for the citizens of the EU! They're the smartest, most forward thinking administrators (read: egotistical petty corrupt power-hungry nitwits) ever!

 

[Exponent]

I like the satisfaction I get from fixing something, and its better for environment than just constantly throwing things away.

Amen!

Do you look and talk like Morgan Fairchild? Because if you do, I'm sending you a marriage proposal via DM ASAP…

 

[falkon-engine]

Rather than selling cars, why not sell the software that the cars use?

 

[Harry Haller]

Ok even increasing the gas tax part lost still a lot cheaper per mile.

In terms of road damage going to say you are repeating a lie. Yes they weight more but still below the weight of the vehicles that do the real damage to the road. That entire part of road weight argument I call bs on. The ones doing the damage are your big trucks not your cars.

It’s not a lie.
You’d be well advised to be more careful when you call someone a liar.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/bevs-could-also-damage-roads-way-more-than-ice-cars-due-to-weight-217255.html#:~:text=With%20that%20information%2C%20the%20British,damage%20than%20they%20usually%20cause.

 

[macfacts]

Apple pivoting to an electric Apple Boat

Self driving boat, I believe that, self driving car is too hard for apple.

 

[Exponent]

I would have loved to have seen what Apple would have brought to the car industry.

Not for self-driving elements, but for aspects including:

• the design of the interior
• materials use
• lighting technologies (interior and exterior)
• onboard audio systems, and video systems
• satisfying & responsive controls for in-cabin features
• integration with the gamut of existing and future Apple devices/software
• potential for an integrated onboard computer, including voice assistance
• interesting and helpful sensors (motion, safety, health amongst others)
• camera technology
• heads-up displays (drawing from VisionOS)
• entertainment (displays) and environment capabilities (ambient sound & lighting features)

Even down to how they'd showroom them, sell them, allow customers to configure them, and deliver them.

I hope that some/plenty of what they've learned from such a long-running project makes its way into excellent future products.

The existing automotive marketplace already provides a huge selection of advanced features in all these areas.

I couldn't see Apple breaking new ground in any way that counterbalanced the huge headache that is a car business.

 

[CrysisDeu]

Okay. But that doesn’t say much about the US market where safety and other regulations are much tighter and where customers expect a robust service network to support the vehicle.



I don’t know that there are “lots of platforms” that Apple could use. They’d likely have to go with one of the main manufacturers platforms. Not some off the shelf solution.

Top Five: Global EV Platforms

Our latest Top Five examines five of the most significant global EV platform architectures, from VW, GM, Toyota, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Hyundai-Kia

www.automotive-iq.com

There’s a lot more to it than that.

“VW, GM, Toyota, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Hyundai-Kia” - Five companies whose electric cars cannot compete with Chinese BEV makers in China at the moment.

The platforms I am referring, is the ones from BYD, Foxconn, Qirui, Geely, Nio, XPeng, Shanghai Motors, etc. There is a lot people are not aware of. BEV is CRAZY in China at this exact moment. Every big tech, every major phone company is entering the market. It is NOT hard for Apple to copy them and have a way of compete. If they give up now, there will be no market left for them in 2-3 years.

Sony continued making cellphones although Xperia wasn't successful because they want to know the trend and catch up in other areas when the time comes. That is how they can enter the car market, with experience on mobile software they gained working with phones.

This BEV trend is more than just making cars now. Chinese companies are building new ecosystems, new lifestyles, and new transportation mediums and tech pieces never seen before. Even Apple just barely hangs onto it, in my opinion, they have to.

There is very little info on Western media about these.

 

[Col4bin]

I believe precisely none of this. Apple has decided to pretend to cancel the product to buy themselves more time. There is no way in hell they cancel this. No way, José.

Millions they invested? Their investment in Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing was $1B by itself. Apple have invested many billions of dollars into this and will continue to do so as they refine their self-driving software and street mapping systems.

If Apple is relying on their mapping system to guide their autonomous electric car, then we’re in big trouble.

 

[1129846]

It’s not a lie.
You’d be well advised to be more careful when you call someone a liar.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/bevs-could-also-damage-roads-way-more-than-ice-cars-due-to-weight-217255.html#:~:text=With%20that%20information%2C%20the%20British,damage%20than%20they%20usually%20cause.

Yeah a British news people is your source which I would not be shocked if they were anti EV. How about the real research on it.

Again heavier does more damage but given they are still under 5k lb which btw is lighter than an f150. I will call it a repeated lie.

The closest research found is heavier cars wear out tires faster but again I point to most of them are not big of a difference as they make it out to be. I drive a heavier EV at 4500lb. Here something for you the car it replaced which was roughly the same size was 4000lb.

Hence why I call the research you are referencing bull **** and a lie that you are repeating. Cars are getting heavier but EV are not as heavy as you and other sighting that are making it out to be.


Chances are your said news paper tried to find the lightest car they could and then found a heavier EV to compare it to so not a remotely fair comparison. Hence I repeat you are repeating a lie.

 

[cardfan]

Lololol. As easily predicted. Hard to believe anyone ever thought this was a thing with Apple.

 

[Exponent]

Makes you appreciate how Elon Musk was able to get Tesla off the ground and make it into a successful company.

Yeah, by selling vehicles to the entitled class, subsidized by the poor.

Oh, did you think that $7500 federal subsidy - and additional CA state subsidies - just grew on trees?!?

 

[cardfan]

The only interesting thing to do with cars now is self-driving, and that's pretty far outside of Apple's expertise.

It's unfortunate that Apple failed to solve this hard problem, but at least Waymo continues to push forward.

It’s outside anyone’s grasp. It’s mythical. Apple was chasing unicorns.

 

[cardfan]

This was always a massive distraction for them, they really shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place. Apple could have made a good car, but could they have brought anything really new that other companies don't have? They finally faced the facts.

Apple was chasing unicorns under heavy criticism from needing more than an iPhone. At that time cars and video steaming were the ticket.

Now it’s AI. Cars not so much. Time to chase the latest thing Tim. You can do it.

 

[alexandr]

This right here is the actual loss we're suffering.

Maybe we can still joke about it?..(

 

[reyesmac]

If Apple is around 50 years from now it will be making cars alongside other things. That brave new world has been in the works for a very long time and all they need is a collapse big enough to rebuild cities from the ground up for only these types of cars. One of those own nothing and be happy kind of places. You wont afford to own an Apple car anyway, only rent it.

 

[HeinoM]

Thank goodness. If their car had worked as well as Siri, it would have been a deadly disaster.

 

[macfacts]

I look forward to when loads of the concepts will be shown off and talks of how close or far away they were from a finished product will happen. Hopefully some of the patents and clever engineering will come to some use in the future no matter what the product it is.

Would also be interesting to hear more about the engineers plans and thoughts around batteries, I can only imagine that solid state batteries were on the roadmap.

Electric motors are a solved problem, the unsolved part is the self driving, the part apple couldn't figure out.

 

[Surf Monkey]

“VW, GM, Toyota, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Hyundai-Kia” - Five companies whose electric cars cannot compete with Chinese BEV makers in China at the moment.

The platforms I am referring, is the ones from BYD, Foxconn, Qirui, Geely, Nio, XPeng, Shanghai Motors, etc. There is a lot people are not aware of. BEV is CRAZY in China at this exact moment. Every big tech, every major phone company is entering the market. It is NOT hard for Apple to copy them and have a way of compete. If they give up now, there will be no market left for them in 2-3 years.

Sony continued making cellphones although Xperia wasn't successful because they want to know the trend and catch up in other areas when the time comes. That is how they can enter the car market, with experience on mobile software they gained working with phones.

This BEV trend is more than just making cars now. Chinese companies are building new ecosystems, new lifestyles, and new transportation mediums and tech pieces never seen before. Even Apple just barely hangs onto it, in my opinion, they have to.

There is very little info on Western media about these.

They’d need regulatory approval in the US and be able to scale up to hundreds of millions of units.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Electric motors are a solved problem, the unsolved part is the self driving, the part apple couldn't figure out.

No one will be able to figure it out. Human beings will be better drivers than computers for the foreseeable future.

 

[Beautyspin]

Probably because there was no Samsung to show Apple how it is done?