Apple to begin producing electric cars

Apple plans to start production of an electric car by 2020, Bloomberg News reports, based on anonymous sources.

The relatively short time frame to develop a new advanced-technology car from scratch may take the auto industry by surprise. Automakers can typically spend three to five years or longer to bring a new model to market. Apple would be doing it without having had any previous background in in the prickly world automaking, which is riven with complications ranging from myriad regulations to having to line up dozens of suppliers.


But the timeframe also would put Apple in line to compete head to head with others who have signaled they may have self-driving cars ready in five years. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, for instance, has set 2020 as a deadline for his company to market a self-driving car. And Google has signaled that it might be ready sooner.