We can see from the pre-orders of Tesla's Powerwall the brand power of Elon Musk. Can you imaging Apple brand endorsing electric iCar? As we have discussed before, Apple has all means to produce an electric iCar and is working on it. This week former designer of Apple Watch has confirmed it again.
Elon Musk Is Ecstatic About Powerwall Demand - Tesla Q1 2015 Earnings Call.
"What makes International Lithium different from other junior miners - access to the capital. Our very deep technical team headed by Gary Schellenberg has identified our projects at the very beginning of the lithium interest in 2008. It took us few long years to bring Ganfeng Lithium to the table. Now this giant from China is financing our J/V projects after studying for years other lithium projects all over the world. Based on the previous results we are drilling now both J/V projects with more information to come in the coming weeks. China controls now 75% of battery grade lithium hydroxide and Ganfeng Lithium is one of the major players in this market. International Lithium is building the supply chain for this vertically integrated lithium business in China. Stay turned and I welcome all our new shareholders to the very exciting new industrial rEVolution we are building our business to be the part of."
Nerdist news: The Apple Electric iCar - What You Should Know.
"WAS THAT A GOOD WAY TO AVOID THE QUESTION?" - Apple's Shareholders Really Want Tim Cook To Buy Tesla.
"Apple iCar rumour mill continues with Tim Cook avoiding the questions about Apple iCar and Tesla, but he has not denied it outright! Few reported patent claims are supporting the development of Apple Electric iCar now, including the wireless charging.
This is the tectonic shift for our industry, Tesla motors has started the real electric rEvolution and has demonstrated the potential of Lithium empowered technology. Apple can change the auto-industry overnight with its confirmation of Electric iCar. Tim Cook has everything he needs to bring iCar on-line very fast:
- Opened Tesla Motors patents,
- Apple brand power and loyalty from its customers,
- Foxconn - the maker of iPhones and iPads - investing hundreds of million dollars in China to produce $15k electric car,
- Number of patents supporting the Apple Electric iCar development,
- Team of engineers working on the "Titan project" with specialist from Tesla and A123 among them.
- Pile of cash which can buy Tesla Motors "few times over".
You can find The Verge article below and my earlier entries covering this exiting subject. Our International Lithium teams are on the ground in Ireland now on Avalonia Lithium project preparing new sites for drilling. In Argentina, at Mariana Lithium project we are building the mining camp to conduct the pumping test and collect the bulk lithium brine sample for testing at the research facilities of our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium in China. Read more."
Business Insider:
Here is the proof that Apple is secretly developing a car battery
For several months now, rumours of increasing credibility have circulated that Apple is secretly working on an electric car project.
This week, the Cupertino company reportedly will settle a lawsuit brought against it by A123 Systems — a large-battery company that alleges Apple deliberately poached its employees to develop its own car battery technology.
Final details of the settlement are yet to be established. But court documents filed in March, when combined with other news that has recently come to light, provide us with a compelling case that Apple is developing its own battery technology — likely in order to build a car.
Most obviously, one of the employees Apple is accused of wrongly employing is Mujeeb Ijaz. He was the CTO of A123, where he was making $294,000 per month, and had specific responsibility for producing batteries for Formula 1 racing cars "with unparallelled power density." He previously worked for 16 years at Ford, according to his LinkedIn profile:
Mujeeb Ijaz is the CTO of A123 Systems, LLC called where he leads a P&L business unit called A123 Venture Technologies. AVT is comprised of Core Materials Research and New Product Development for the company's leading Lithium Ion Energy Storage technology. The business unit will service internal and external customers with energy storage solutions, engineering services, and advanced Motor Sports Lithium Ion technology for Formula 1 Racing ERS with unparallelled power density.
Mr. Ijaz founded the Automotive Solutions Group in 2008 after spending 16 years at Ford Motor Company working on Battery and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle technology.
In a court filing, A123's lawyers allege:
Upon information and belief, Apple is currently developing a large scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123. In connection with that development, beginning in or around June of 2014, defendant Apple embarked on an aggressive campaign to poach employees of A123 and to otherwise raid A123's business...
...all of the Individual Defendants [allegedly poached by Apple from A123] are working in a field of battery science, technology, and/or products that is substantially similar if not identical to the field they worked on in at A123.
A123 also alleges that Apple has poached employees with battery skills from Toshiba, LG, Samsung, and Panasonic. In short:
- Apple allegedly hired employees of a battery company for their expertise in battery technology.
- These employees are allegedly working in similar "if not identical" fields at Apple.
- One of these employees allegedly solicited SiNode Systems, another battery company that previously worked with A123, to work with Apple.
The document indicates that Apple is interested in developing some kind of battery technology. It does not specifically say a battery for a car. But it does revolve around a guy who has spent nearly two decades in the electric car battery business. Some naysayers have argued that Apple isn't interested in building a car, just in providing software for them — but the Cupertino recruitment of people with expertise in hardware like batteries suggests otherwise.
Another piece of evidence that Apple is working on a car emerged earlier this week. The company is significantly increasing its presence in Cork, Ireland, where it is planning a massive new factory complex. And a job listing for a managerial role at Apple's Cork office requires experience in the "automotive" industry.
The CEO of Fiat-Chrysler also recently said that Apple CEO Tim Cook is "interested in an intervention in the car," following a meeting. (It's significant in itself that the CEO met with Cook, as the other two tech companies he met were Tesla and Google, which are both openly highly interested in the automotive industry.)
Beyond this, there has been a wealth of rumours, leaks, and allegations about Apple's automotive industry this year.
Here are the key details:
- Apple and Tesla are locked in a battle for talent, with Apple offering $250,000 signing bonuses to engineers.
- There is a secretive Apple development facility in Cupertino, California, Apple Insider found, which includes an "auto work area" and a "repair garage."
- Mysterious vans with mounted cameras registered to Apple have been sighted across America, with speculation as to their purpose ranging from mapping software to self-driving car technology.
- Apple is also hiring robotics engineers to work "in a unique development team."
- Citing "a person familiar with its work," The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has hundreds of people working on Project Titan, though the electric car will not come to the market for years. It's allegedly led by VP Steve Zadesky — a veteran of Ford.
- The Apple Car has been common knowledge for months in certain tech circles, according to Bryan Chaffin from The Mac Observer, who says "a lot of people at the top in Silicon Valley consider it a given that Apple is working on a car."
- Apple design chief Jony Ive has been complaining about American cars for years.
- An Apple employee reached out to us to tell us the company is working on something that will "give Tesla a run for its money."
- Cook said in an interview last year that "there are products we're working on that no one knows about."
- The late Apple cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs always wanted to build a car, telling The New York Times before he died "that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car."
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