Elon Musk Tesla Chief Executive Officer. AP Yonhap News
The US electric vehicle market is tumultuous. As the next administration of Joe Biden to overcome the climate crisis proclaims its policy to revitalize electric vehicles, the nervous war between Tesla and the information technology (IT) dinosaur Apple is heating up. In the news of Apple’s EV development, Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, revealed that he was rejected after attempting to sell the company to Apple. It is a virtual twist on Apple’s failure to catch Tesla, whose ransom ran into the sky.
Musk posted a post on Twitter on the 22nd (local time), saying, “We once pushed a plan to sell Tesla to Apple, but CEO Tim Cook refused.” He didn’t reveal the exact point of time, but he did mention the dark days of his product, the Model 3. At the time, it was said that Apple was able to take over for a tenth of the current Tesla value. By analogy, it seems that a transaction was attempted between 2017 and 2018, when the market capitalization exceeded the current 10% level of $61.6 billion due to the production problem of the Model 3.
Electric vehicle development is Apple’s focus. Since 2014, it has been promoting the development of autonomous vehicles under the name’Project Titan’. Reuters reported on the previous day that “Apple has decided to launch its own self-driving electric vehicle by 2024.” Apple is especially focusing on developing electric vehicle batteries. It is known that the application of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which has a lower possibility of overheating than lithium-ion, is also being reviewed by increasing the mileage by using a technology called’monocell’.
A logo is hanging at the entrance of an Apple store in Manhattan, New York, USA. New York = Reuters Yonhap News
Then Musk walked right away. In another tweet, he said, “If it’s true (the Reuters report), it’s weird.” After mentioning that the company is already using iron phosphate in its Chinese factory, it skeptical about the monocell technology and held Apple in check. It is worth noting that on the news of Apple’s electric car production, Tesla’s share price plunged 6.5 percent from the battlefield. Here, it is interpreted that Tesla’s own model tried to break the willingness of potential competitors early when quality problems arose, such as a mass recall situation due to a successive sudden explosion.
The Biden administration’s initiative, which will be launched in January next year, also predicts a fierce battle for leadership in the electric vehicle industry. Former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was appointed as the Minister of Transportation of Biden’s Cabinet, Pete Booty, said on Twitter on the 22nd, “We will strengthen our EV supply policy to respond to climate change.” In an interview with Bloomberg, investment analyst Adam Jonas praised the potential “if Apple’s commitment to electric vehicle production would pose a significant threat to existing automakers.”
Intern Reporter In-seo Lee
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