Apple Aims To Produce Electric Vehicle In 2024: Report

Electric vehicle stocks have been soaring the past few weeks. With Tesla Inc's TSLA success and addition to the S&P 500, other EV maker's valuations are rising along with Tesla.

Now a new report from Reuters states Apple Inc AAPL is working on a self-driving electric vehicle of its own, slated for release in 2024.

Reports of Apple's work on its own car first started in 2014 and Apple's cars have even been spotted testing as recently as 2019. Reuters says 180 people were laid off from the team in 2019.

Now two people familiar with the matter told Reuters Apple is ready to build a vehicle ready for consumers. One key aspect of Apple's approach is a new battery design to drastically reduce costs. Sources expect Apple to rely on manufacturing partners to build the vehicles.

Tesla's stock fell another 1.2% on the news, on a day it was already down around 5%.

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Benzinga's Take: If Apple really is entering the electric car market, it would be great news for consumers. The Tesla brand following is often compared to Apple, with loyal fans with deep pockets, devoted to the somewhat closed ecosystem each offers.

While most EV fans would agree the world has room for both an Apple and Tesla-branded EV, legacy auto manufacturers might not be too excited to hear the news.