Apple has decided that the company will be manufacturing its own car batteries for its autonomous vehicle in the United States. What most other companies responsible for automated vehicles do is to source the battery of the car from outside their respective countries. But the Cali-based tech giant has decided not to source the batteries from suppliers in other countries and rather start manufacturing their own on their own soil.
However, manufacturing car batteries in its native country does not mean that it would be a sole adventure for the company. Apple has reportedly teamed up with Taiwanese car makers for this venture rather than Chinese ones. Apple was trying to work with China’s two largest battery suppliers, CATL and BYD. However, since the company has made it very clear that they want the batteries to be ‘homegrown’, it is highly unlikely that Apple would end up partnering up with either of the above mentioned Chinese company.
Taiwan-based Foxconn or Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Aleees) could end up working with Apple in this case. Both the companies have plans lined up to set up factories in the US.
The Taiwanese company Foxconn already is Apple’s largest supplier of materials, and Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry has plans laid out to start its manufacturing in the United States. Although a large part of Apple’s products is assembled in China, many of its components are sourced from suppliers outside these two countries and from all around the world. In the iPhone, for example, Apple uses glass made in Kentucky by Corning Glass, while other parts, such as the parts of the camera, are made by suppliers in Japan.
Apple could take the same approach with Apple Car, that is, acquire the various components of the autonomous vehicles from around the world so as to maintain its diversified production supply chain, and assemble it, probably, in the US.
