Elon Musk: I tried unsuccessfully to sell Tesla to Apple a few years ago
The founder and CEO of Tesla said it was "strange, if true" the report that appeared on Apple's alleged project to produce electric vehicles and revealed that years ago he thought and tried to sell his company to the company of the bitten apple, when it cost much less
Musk acknowledged that “in the darkest days of the Model 3 program I contacted Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO) to discuss the possibility of Apple buying Tesla (for one-tenth of our current value).”
“He refused to accept a meeting“, Elon Musk added.
The entrepreneur and innovator was also surprised by the information that appeared in the last hours that Apple is developing an electric vehicle based on a new type of “radical” battery design that would reduce costs and expand the reach of cars.
A very powerful and safer battery
According to the US media today, the battery that Apple would use is a “monocell” design, which would allow the introduction of more “active material” and made with lithium-ferrophosphate as it has a lower tendency to overheat, which makes it safer.
But Musk noted that Tesla “is already using ferrophosphate for the mid-range cars produced at our Shanghai factory” and that “a single cell is electrochemically impossible, as the maximum voltage is about 100 times too low.”
“Maybe they meant that cells are attached to each other, like our structural battery pack?” Musk wondered.
Reports on Apple’s car project, known as Project Titan and rumored for years, indicate that the company known for its iPhones and iPads would be interested in producing an autonomous vehicle for mass consumption.
But Apple could also decide to abandon the idea of producing an entire vehicle and simply sell its autonomous driving technology to existing automakers.
Canadian company Magna could support Apple
One of Apple’s possible options is to produce the vehicle with the Canadian company Magna, the world’s largest producer of automotive components, which designs and assembles entire vehicles for manufacturers such as BMW.
The publication of information about Apple’s Project Titan occurs when Tesla shares had been at all-time highs.
Today they closed at $ 640.3 per share, which has allowed it to become the world’s carmaker with the highest value in the market, more than $ 659 billion, widely surpassing companies such as Toyota or Volkswagen. Although there was also talk of a moderate decline.
G. Febres
With information from International Media and EFE agency
