Apple’s global chief of battery development, Soonho Ahn, has moved to Volkswagen to lead the automaker’s electric vehicle battery development, according to his LinkedIn profile. This is the second time in recent months that an Apple executive has left an automaker. Apple lost the head of the car project, Doug Field, to Ford Motor in September.
Ahn this month became chief technology officer at the battery division of Volkswagen Group Components, based on his LinkedIn profile.
In 2018, Apple hired Ahn, a former executive at Samsung SDI’s next-generation battery division. Apple not only uses batteries in cell phones and laptops, but also electric vehicles under development.
Industry sources told Reuters last year that Apple is aiming to launch an electric car with advanced battery technology by 2024.
Apple declined to comment while Ahn and Volkswagen There was no immediate comment.
When asked if Apple plans to develop batteries and displays in-house like it does for chips, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in October, “I don’t want to rule anything out.”
“The more important issue is whether we see our path clearly to doing something materially better,” he said on a conference call.
Apple’s talks with China’s CATL and BYD over their expected supply of batteries for electric vehicles have mostly stalled after suppliers refused to build US factories that only serve them for the tech giant, three people familiar with the discussions told Reuters in September.
Volkswagen has outlined an ambitious plan to build six battery factories across Europe with partners by the end of the decade, – key to its vision to overcome Tesla is the world leader in electric vehicles.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
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