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Tesla’s Elon Musk shares insights on Apple’s reported “monocell” EV batteries

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently shared his insights on a key innovation that Apple is reportedly looking to adopt for its all-electric vehicle program. Reports have noted that Apple’s upcoming electric car will be utilizing a “monocell” battery design, which would allow the tech giant to optimize space inside the battery pack. 

In a recent response to ARK Invest’s Brett Winton on Twitter, Elon Musk noted that Apple’s decision to pursue a “monocell” battery design is pretty strange. This is because, at least according to Musk, a “monocell” is electrochemically impossible as the max voltage will be about 100 times too low. 

Musk then suggested that Apple may instead be adopting a structural battery pack like Tesla’s, which would involve cells bonded together. “A monocell is electrochemically impossible, as max voltage is ~100X too low. Maybe they meant cells bonded together, like our structural battery pack?” Musk wrote.

Musk also took notice of Apple’s reported plans to utilize lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, which are typically less prone to heating and are thus quite safe to use. The Tesla CEO observed that such batteries are already being used by Tesla today for the Model 3 Standard Range Plus produced at Gigafactory Shanghai. 

If Apple does indeed release its long-rumored electric car around 2024, it would likely be facing off with a new breed of Teslas. This is primarily due to the fact that Tesla has made its name by being a company that prides itself on its constant innovation. Tesla’s current vehicle lineup is already extremely competitive, and by 2024, they would most definitely be far more formidable. 

Quite interestingly, the strength of Tesla’s lineup will likely be dictated primarily by its tabless 4680 cells, which are custom designed and developed in-house. It would then be interesting to see how Apple and its “monocell” would compete against innovations such as Tesla’s structural 4680 battery units, which were developed over years of experience in EV-building. 

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Tesla’s Elon Musk shares insights on Apple’s reported “monocell” EV batteries
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