Elon Musk would have sold Tesla to Apple in an emergency, but things turned out differently

Musk almost sold Tesla to Apple in an emergency, but Tim Cook disappointed him

Tesla could be in the hands of Apple today, according to CEO Elon Musk. The purchase price would have been a tenth of the current value, but Apple boss Tim Cook declined a meeting.

It’s a racy revelation: As Musk confirmed on short message service Twitter on Tuesday, he addressed his Apple colleague Tim Cook “in the darkest days of Model 3 production” to discuss a possible sale of the car brand. electrical But: “He turned down a meeting.” The purchase price at the time would have been one-tenth of the company’s current value, according to Musk.

In 2017 and 2018, Tesla struggled with production difficulties with its Model 3 sedan, had losses and had to lay off employees.

According to experts, Apple is aiming for the introduction of an autonomous passenger car from 2024, which could contain a breakthrough in battery technology. Development of the car itself, which began in 2014 as part of “Project Titan,” is now progressing accordingly after several mistakes, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency.

It is not yet clear who would make an Apple car. The sources only said that they expect Apple, unlike Tesla, to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles. However, it is also conceivable that Apple in the future will only supply autonomous driving software to other automakers.

A core element is newly developed batteries, so-called mono cells, which could provide more range at significantly lower costs, another person said. Musk wrote on Twitter that Apple’s single cell battery was “electrochemically impossible” because “the maximum voltage is about 100 times too low” unless they are connected, as is the case with Tesla’s battery technology. to be.

Musk was shocked on Twitter, as the rumors about Apple’s “new” battery sound exactly like what Tesla recently unveiled at its own event: Tesla had promised a new generation of batteries on its so-called “Battery Day” in September. . These should be significantly more powerful and durable than current ones and only cost half. It should practically do without the expensive heavy metal cobalt. Mass production is still about three years away.

Musk’s goal is to reduce the cost of battery technology and production so significantly that Tesla can sell autonomous electric cars for the equivalent of just under 23,000 francs. There are also plans to recycle battery cells at the gigafactory in Nevada.

Apple declined to comment. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

(was / sda / awp / reu)