iPhone manufacturer Foxconn unveils the modular platform it’ll use to make EVs
Taiwanese hardware giant Foxconn — also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, and Apple’s iPhone manufacturing partner — is gearing up to enter the EV space in a big way.
The company’s chairman, Liu Young-way, announced today that it wants to provide components and services for 10% of the world’s EVs by between 2025 and 2027.
To that end, it said it’s in talks with several automakers; the company also revealed a modular EV platform today with a variety of chassis sizes, as well as support for different battery capacities, suspension types and ground clearance. This should enable Foxconn to partner with manufacturers for sedans, SUVs, and even commercial vehicles.
You can follow a stream of the company’s Hon Hai Technology Day event below, in which it revealed more details:
Journalist Tim Culpan also noted that Foxconn is slated to release a solid-state EV battery by 2024.
The news about the iPhone manufacturer getting into the EV business isn’t entirely surprising, as we heard back in January that it was teaming up with Fiat Chrysler (FCA) to produce electric cars for the Chinese market. At that time, it said it would handle electronics and software — including internet-connected features — while FCA would take care of the rest of the manufacturing duties.
Liu said the company is keen to quickly launch an ‘open platform’ that includes batteries, connected services for cars, vehicle and fleet management software, and other EV components, in order to grab market share as soon as possible. It’s kind of like creating an Android-like ecosystem that many brands can build with, and compete with proprietary platforms like Tesla’s.
If it can make that happen in short order, Foxconn is looking at delivering parts for some three million vehicles.
Errata: We mistakenly noted that Tesla was slated to pick up Foxconn’s solid-state EV batteries that will arrive in 2024, but that’s incorrect. Journalist Tim Culpan said that according to Foxconn, Tesla is a client, not for batteries but for its thermal welding technology.
We regret the error, and have corrected the article as necessary.
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Published October 16, 2020 — 07:38 UTC