Apple is showing interest in building charging stations for electric cars by starting talks with companies and hiring engineers who have experience buildings the devices. This suggests that the tech giant could still have plans to build an "iCar" that would compete with other electric vehicles (EVs) including Tesla's all-electric Model S sedan. Last year hints that a robotic Apple car might be in the works included a meeting with California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) about the rules of the road for self-driving cars, and a report that the company was searching for a site in the San Francisco Bay area to road test autonomous vehicles (AV).
Reuters first reported the news about Apple's interest in EV charging stations. The company is researching the tech required for charging stations used to power its electric cars.
Apple has not officially reported talks with experts in charging station tech. It also is not related to changing EVs of Apple employees, which the company already provides as a service, according to 9to5 Mac.
Apple will likely want to focus on the charging stations if it does not build an iCar. They replace gas stations and are a new market in the world of green cars.
It is unclear why Apple is interested in charging stations and the technology they use. It could build a system like Tesla's Supercharger network. Apple might also have plans to financially support third-party charging stations without being officially involved.
Apple is responding to the big problems of recharging electric cars' batteries that include the limited number of charging stations and hours wasted juicing up an EV, according to Reuters. It could invent another game-changing design for consumer electronics.
Apple's Project Titan is the company's top-secret EV car team that includes about 600 employees. The company is reportedly scouting a 800,000 square-foot (244,000 square-meter) area for the group.
Earlier this year Apple CEO Tim Cook answered questions about the company's rumored EV project. He said that it will be "Christmas Eve" for a long time. At a different event Cook stated that the company is only committed to a new product when it spends a lot of money to develop it.
Here's how an EV charging station works: