Apple Joins Forces with Korean Technology Firm to Develop ‘Hollowed out’ Batteries for Apple Car

Just in case you were wondering — yes, Apple is still hard at work developing a self-driving car, just as we’ve been reporting from the get-go. The Silicon Valley tech-titan may have encountered a few obstacles along its path to success last year; however, according to the most recent reports, Apple’s Project Titan is now back in action, full speed ahead, under the newly anointed supervision of Cupertino’s Senior Vice President of product engineering, Bob Mansfield.

One of the many challenges that Apple faces in developing a self-driving car, however, is how to manage and optimize the vehicle’s battery performance — seeing as how it will almost certainly be an electric self-driving car, according to numerous reports.

However, if a new rumor we’re catching wind of this morning turns out to be accurate, Apple may have solved this ongoing issue, perhaps even once and for all.

According to a report published by ETNews, Apple has recently joined forces with a small, unknown firm headquartered in South Korea, who specializes in the engineering and development of some mighty powerful, premium quality batteries. The firm in question, which is supposedly comprised of about 20 employees or so, describes itself as a group of “expert technologists in batteries” — and Apple has just recently joined forces with them in an effort to create some powerful new ‘hollowed out’ batteries for its forthcoming car — codenamed internally as Project Titan.

The report alleges that, as opposed to simply buying the firm and its patents out, however, Apple wants to develop its own batteries using the licensed patents and technological genius that the firm is clearly bubbling over with.

‘Hollowed out’ battery technology is nothing new, however, certain applications — such as being used as a secondary power source for an electric car — are still emerging.

The report claims that these ‘hollowed out’ batteries would essentially act as secondary sources of power — almost like back-ups, if all else happens to fail, and that they resemble cylindrical, lithium-ion battery packs with ‘hollowed out’ inner chambers to boost performance. They’re actually quite superior to standard lithium-ion batteries, and can often perform much better due to their inherent tendency to not overheat while in use.

The following is an excerpt from the report that should explain the technology to those of you still scratching your head:

“Because batteries create most heat from the center due to chemical reactions, this company has created batteries where air flow and cooling are smooth in the center of batteries and this can minimize the need to install separate cooling devices, or a device that prevents over-heating. They are also advantageous in high-output. By utilizing this space, it is easy to design parallel connection, which is to expand battery capacity, in these batteries.”

According to the ETNews report, not only is the technology supreme in relation to standard electric fuel cell car batteries, but the firm’s development of them is superior even to other ‘hollowed out’ battery manufacturers. As such, the unnamed firm has apparently signed a non-disclosure agreement — preventing its name from being revealed to the public, or even industry insiders.

While we don’t know the actual name of the firm, MacRumors was first to report that it had uncovered some rather juicy information that might give us a clue. In South Korea, there appears to exist a little-known firm that goes by the name of Orange Power — which, in addition to holding multiple patents relative to ‘hollowed out’ battery technology, currently employs about 30 people, give or take, who perform various aspects of research and development.

Of course, while Orange Power could very well be the firm rumored to be working with Apple, it’s also just as likely NOT the firm working with Apple. Only time will tell, right?

Are you saving up for Apple’s Car when it launches in 2020? Let us know in the comments!

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]