Smartphone Maker And Apple Supplier Foxconn, Joins The Electric Car Bandwagon

Foxconn (Apple supplier) on Monday announced plans for the production of electric cars for automobile brands under a similar contract model.

According to Young Liu, the Chairman of the Foxconn Technology Group, the brand that manufactures smartphones for Apple Inc. and other global brands, the company will produce cars and buses for brands in China, North America, Europe and other markets, with the clients having the chance to modify their appearance and features for their markets.

The Foxconn brand also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Company now joins a crowded global electric car market that almost every automaker that is worth its salt is into, with dozens of very ambitious startups.

According to the company, the flagship Model E Sedan, which was developed by Italian design house, Pininfarina will be launched in the year 2023, with the Model E having to seat five and have a range of 750 kilometers (470 miles) on one charge.

The Foxconn henchman further mentioned renowned automakers Fisker Inc. and Taiwan’s Yulong Group as clients, in what could be described as a major infusion.

Taiwan News, a popular newspaper in the country had last week written that there are other Foxconn potential customers and Stellantic, an automaker formed by the merger of FIAT Chrysler and Peugeot is one of them but Young Liu fell short of confirming that.

Its first electric bus, the Model T, will have a range of less than 400 kilometers (250 miles) on one charge, Foxconn said.

The electric car use is fast becoming a global bandwagon as according to International Energy Agency. , out of all cars sold in 2020, 4.6% were plug-in electric, and by the end of that year there were more than 10 million plug-in electric cars on the world’s roads.

Even with the rapid growth, by the end of 2020, only about 1% of cars on the world’s roads were fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars with many countries having to establish government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles, tax credits, subsidies, and other non-monetary incentives while several countries have legislated to phase-out sales of fossil fuel cars, to reduce air pollution and limit climate change.

An evidence of the global acceptance of electric cars was when the Tesla Model 3 was the world’s all-time best-selling electric car in early 2020 and in June 2021, became the first electric car to surpass 1 million global sales.