Somewhere around 2017, Tesla’s worth was almost $60 billion. The company was working on its Model 3 electric car when production lines started falling apart and the company went into financial despair. Elon Musk who was going through a bad phase because of his company’s financial deterioration decided to sell it off to Apple Inc. Now, Apple has been trying to get into the production of personal driverless cars too since 2014. So, Elon Musk probably hoped that Apple would be interested in taking over Tesla. However, recently, Elon Musk in a tweet shared that while he and his company were going through a very dark phase, he tried to reach out to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to negotiate about selling his company. Tim Cook refused to meet Elon Musk, and so, a deal never happened, and Tesla was never sold to anyone. It must have been disappointing for Musk at that time, but later, his company started showing promising results.
Tesla’s net worth soared higher during the past couple of months.
Since 2017, Tesla’s net worth has been increasing, and in the past few months, the company has managed to grow a lot with its net worth now more than $600 billion, which is ten times the worth of what Elon Musk was ready to sell it for to Apple. Also, just recently, Tesla has joined the S&P 500 list of companies, and Elon Musk is now the 2nd richest man in the world.
Apple plans for a driver-less car for consumers by 2024.
In 2014, Apple initiated Project Titan, which was dedicated to making electric cars from scratch. Unfortunately, the project faltered and at one point, Apple seemed to have given up on the idea too. However, recently, news has been circulating that Apple’s plans to build a self-driving vehicle for consumers seem to have resurfaced.
Also, Apple has been recruiting ex-Tesla employees and buying out companies that specialize in self-driving technology.
Apple’s New Battery Design
The center of Apple’s ideology for making the cars now revolves around a new battery design that could decrease the battery prices while increasing the car’s range as more active material can be packed inside the battery because of its unique ‘Monocell’ design.
Elon Musk has expressed his surprise in a tweet saying that it is a strange idea because a Monocell is electrochemically impossible. After all, its maximum voltage is too low. He thinks that perhaps Apple is aiming for a battery design in which cells are bonded together just like the one that Tesla uses. He also gave some more details in his tweet that Tesla uses iron-phosphate for medium-range cars that are built in Shanghai.
This is going to be a new venture for Apple. It took around 17 years for Elon Musk to finally start driving enough profits from Tesla. Although Apple has the resources and influence, the question remains that will it be able to materialize these self-driving car plans as Tesla did? And if Apple was so keen about it, wouldn’t it have been better if Apple had bought Tesla at that time when it was 1/10th of its current value?
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
