For those who came in late, Apple has had a self driving car as vapourware on its books for a while.  While the fruity cargo cult might have the tech to build such a car, it has never found a car maker who is interested in signing a contract in which it hands over all the profits to the tech company in exchange for kudos.

There are a lot of other products that Apple might want these softs of batteries and cars are more of a wet dream of the Tame Apple Press. With various TAPs members reporting that that 2024 will be the year of Apple’s self-driving car.

Apple has made building manufacturing facilities in the United States a condition for potential battery suppliers, said two of the sources.

CATL, which supplies major car makers including Tesla  is reluctant to build a US factory due to political tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as cost concerns, the two people said.

It was not immediately clear if Apple is also talking to other battery makers.

Apple is in favour of using lithium iron phosphate batteries that are cheaper to produce because they use iron instead of nickel and cobalt which are more expensive, the four people said.

The discussions come at a time when the US government is looking to attract more EV manufacturing. U.S. President Joe Biden's proposed $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan includes a $174 billion budget to boost the domestic EV market with tax credits and grants for battery manufacturers, among other incentives.

Chinese battery makers are expected to grow at a faster pace than their foreign peers thanks to further expansion of the world's biggest EV market, SNE Research said in a June report.