Elon Musk said he once tried selling Tesla to Apple… in response to a tweet about the media recent report on Apple’s electric car ambitions, Musk said, “During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value).
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“He refused to take the meeting,” he added. There had been rumors of a Tesla sale to Apple for years, but this is the first time we’ve heard anything definitive from Musk.
Strange, if true.
– Tesla already uses iron-phosphate for medium range cars made in our Shanghai factory.
– A monocell is electrochemically impossible, as max voltage is ~100X too low. Maybe they meant cells bonded together, like our structural battery pack?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2020
Elon Musk also questioned the accuracy of yesterday’s media report on Apple developing a “breakthrough” battery that utilizes a “monocell” design. Some sources confirmed to the media that the battery will give Apple’s potential car a greater range than most other EVs.
One of the wire service’s sources described the design as “next level.” The media also said Apple has been exploring the possibility of utilizing iron-phosphate chemistry to make manufacturing the power cells less expensive.
“Strange, if true,” Musk said of those suggestions, adding that Tesla already uses iron-phosphate batteries in vehicles it produces at its Shanghai Gigafactory, and said a monocell design is “electrochemically impossible” as the resulting battery couldn’t produce a high enough max voltage to be useable.
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“Maybe they meant cells bonded together, like our structural battery pack?” he said.
The report also mentioned the possibility of Apple adding LiDAR sensors to the vehicle. If you’ve been following Musk for a while, you’ll also know he has called LiDAR a “fool’s errand.” In other words, it’s safe to say Musk is unimpressed by the rumors.
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