Gary Zhou 
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently shared his insights into a key innovation for its all-electric vehicle program that Apple is supposedly looking to implement. Reports have noted that a “monocell” battery design would be used for Apple’s upcoming electric car, which would allow the tech giant to maximize space inside the battery pack.
Elon Musk noted in a recent response to Brett Winton of ARK Invest on Twitter that Apple’s decision to follow a “monocell” battery design is pretty unusual. This is because a “monocell” is electromechanically impractical, at least according to Musk, as the maximum voltage is around 100x too low.
Musk then proposed that Apple could follow a structural battery pack such as Tesla’s instead, which would require bonded cells. “A monocell is electrochemically impossible, as max voltage is ~100X too low. Maybe they meant cells bonded together, like our structural battery pack?” Wrote Musk.
Musk also took note of the recent plans by Apple to use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, which are generally less sensitive to heating and are thus very safe to use. The CEO noted that, Tesla is still using such batteries today for the Model 3 Standard Range Plus manufactured at Gigafactory Shanghai.
If Apple does indeed release its long-rumored electric car around 2024, a new breed of Teslas will likely be facing off. This is partly due to the fact that Tesla has made its reputation by being an organization that prides itself on its relentless creativity. The existing Tesla lineup of vehicles is already highly competitive, and they will most certainly be much more formidable by 2024.
Interestingly enough, the power of Tesla’s lineup is likely to be determined primarily by its 4680 cell tables, which are custom built and produced in-house. It would then be important to see how Apple and its “monocell” would perform against technologies such as the 4680 structural battery units from Tesla, which were built over years of EV manufacturing experience.
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