Exclusive: Apple Explores Charging Stations For Electric Vehicles

Apple is investigating how to charge electric cars, talking to charging station companies and hiring engineers with expertise in the area, according to people familiar with the matter and a review of LinkedIn profiles.

For more than a year, Silicon Valley has been buzzing about Apple’s plan to build an electric car. Now the company appears to be laying the groundwork for the infrastructure and related software crucial to powering such a product.

The moves show Apple responding to a key shortcoming of electric vehicles (EVs): recharging the batteries. A shortage of public charging stations and the hours wasted in charging a car could represent an opportunity for the company, whose simple designs have transformed consumer electronics.

Apple has never publicly acknowledged a car project, and it declined to comment for this story. Neither the LinkedIn profiles nor sources said specifically that the company was building charging stations for electric cars.

But automotive sources last year told Reuters that Apple was studying a self-driving EV, as the Silicon Valley icon looks for new sources of revenue amid a maturing market for its iPhone.

Apple is now asking charging station companies about their underlying technology, one person with knowledge of the matter said. The talks, which have not been reported, do not concern charging the electric cars of Apple employees, a service the company already provides. They indicate the firm is focused on producing a car, the person added.

Charging firms are treading carefully, the person said, wary of sharing too much with an outfit they view as a potential rival.

It is unclear whether Apple would want its own proprietary technology, such as Tesla Motors’ Supercharger network, or to design a system compatible with offerings of other market players.

Several charging station suppliers contacted by Reuters declined to comment about any dealings with Apple, which typically requires potential partners to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Arun Banskota, president of NRG Energy’s electric vehicle charging business, EVgo, did not respond directly to questions about Apple, but said repeatedly his company was “in discussions with every manufacturer of today and every potential manufacturer of tomorrow.”

Apple has also hired at least four EV charging specialists, including former Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) employee Rónán Ó Braonáin, who worked on integrating charging infrastructure into home energy systems as well as communication between EVs, BMW and utilities, according to a LinkedIn review.

As recently as January, Apple hired Nan Liu, an engineer who researched a form of wireless charging for EVs, for instance. And Quartz reported this month that Apple had hired former Google charging expert Kurt Adelberger.

EV charging stations are manufactured, installed and operated under varying business models. Players in the space include private companies such as ChargePoint and ClipperCreek, public utilities, infrastructure companies such as Black & Veatch and Aecom as well as General Electric, Siemens and Delta Electronics.

Charger Shortfall

The electric car industry has faced a chicken-and-egg paradox with the installation of charging stations. Property owners have been reluctant to install them before EVs hit the road en masse, and drivers are wary of buying EVs until charging stations are widely available.

Apple’s home state of California by 2020 will need about 13 to 25 times the roughly 8,000 work and public chargers it currently has to support a projected 1 million zero-emission vehicles on the road, according to an estimate by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Tesla recently goosed EV demand, unveiling its comparatively affordable Model 3 sedan, generating hundreds of thousands of reservations by potential buyers and leading many experts to calculate the number of EVs will soon outstrip the charging station supply.

Tesla also has led the way with a proprietary network for customers, who also can use public chargers. Its more than 600 Supercharger stations juice up a car in about 30 minutes, more than twice as fast as the standard fast charger called Level 2.

One global engineering and construction company already has reached out to Apple to offer its services, a person at the firm said.

“It would be natural to assume if Apple is going to have a full battery electric vehicle that creates a seamless consumer experience the way Apple does, the charging infrastructure and its availability would be of paramount importance,” the source said.