There have been a ton of reports this weekend that Apple are recruiting the talent needed to design a car. Speculation is that by 2020 Apple could release the iCar onto the roads, expected to be an electric battery operated car with a 200 mile radius.
Of course they’ll be up against a ton of competition, Google already have self driving cars in limited operation and by the time Apple come to market in five years time they’ll be playing catch up to everyone else’s self driving electric cars. That however is where Apple excel, they tend never to be first to market with a new product, but take their time and when they eventually release a product it’s polished and finished, not an early release half baked effort.
Apple iCars do however prompt two immediate thoughts – How do you feel about trading in your iCar that cost you tens of thousands every year or so when Apple release an updated model? The original iPhone is pretty much useless today and in just seven years Apple have released eight versions of the iPhone. They’ll either have to radically cut down on releases or make sure the hardware is fully upgradeable from day one.
The other thing that occurs to me is, if there’s one thing that even the most devoted Apple aficionado would have to agree, Apple are pathetically bad at battery technology. I don’t know any iPhone user who can run for a full working day without having to charge their mobile and they don’t get any better with age. Would you really trust Apple to create a battery-efficient car and would you believe the battery life that they claim?
Of course the one outcome that we might see would be that Apple becomes so brilliant at battery technology that a future generation of iPhones have batteries that do last 24 hours, even if you do browse the net or make the occasional phone call.
5 Responses
Interesting article on this subject in a recent Telegraph. Tech giants blowing $$$$$$$$$Billions and achieving little:-
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11423266/Taking-over-the-world-Tech-giants-are-blowing-billions-and-achieving-little.html
Now if I had $$$$$$$$$$Billions……
I was going to reply with a smart answer like, yes but it would be version 3.0 until I read the Telegraph article.
With regard to the article, I see a difference between Apple, Facebook & Google blowing billions on R&D versus Amazon making little or no profit. Amazon are building market share while selling at cost or slightly below. TV shows are cheap PR – I’ve watched a lot of crap with Bruce Willis (yes he’s talented and has some classics) so a big name will attract eyeballs in the forest of screen choices.
…expected to be an electric battery operated car with a 200 mile radius.
That would be an enormous vehicle! Do you mean a 200 mile range?
Battery Life has always been a problem with the existing electric cars that have come onto the market. Essentially the battery will not enable you to do anything like a medium or long journey. Indeed if you are driving at night, with the radio and heater on your range might be so short that you may only be talking about a few tens of miles.
We also have to remember that the batteries fitted to the existing electric vehicles tend to wear out quite quickly and cost a fortune to replace.
I always envisaged that the electric car would only be any long term use if it could pick up its electricity charge while it was actually moving. A bit like a dodgem car on the fairground or a Trolleybus with one or two poles on the roof. But somehow I cannot see that working.
So short of a massive improvement in battery technology I think that for any sort of journey we will still be using petrol or diesel vehicles long into the future.