Benzinga | Jan 3, 2022 10:07PM EST

Apple Car To Come Prepared For Blackouts? Here's What iPhone Maker's Patent-Filing Suggests

A patent filed by Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows how multiple charging systems, including solar cells, can be used to power electric vehicles.

What Happened: The patent, first noted on Business Insider, detailed charging methodologies such as on-board charging, off-board charging, and solar charging.

While the proposed on-board charger is lightweight and is installed within the vehicle, the off-board charger can be installed in a user's home to charge the vehicle.

A limitation of the on-board charger is charging time, according to the patent filed by the Tim Cook-led company.

"The power level that can be achieved using an on-board charger is practically limited by size and weight considerations for equipment installed in the vehicle, which causes long charge times. Fast DC charging is available at specialized charging stations available only at select locations."

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Why It Matters: In order to cut down charge times, Apple proposed concurrent use of an on-board alternating current to direct current converter and an alternating current to direct current converter of an external charger, which could be installed in the home.

"In some implementations, a high-capacity battery in the external charger is used to enable even faster charging of the vehicle where the external battery has been previously charged using efficient means," as per the Apple patent.

"For example, the external charger battery may be charged using a solar cell, or from the power grid using demand sensitive or time-of-use management protocols."

This bi-directional flow of power, coupled with solar charging, could allow the vehicle to be usable in the event of a power blackout.

Conversely, the transfer of energy from the vehicle to home energy storage may provide increased capacity of the energy buffer for blackouts and time-of-use optimization, as per the patent.

On Monday, Apple became the first company to touch the $3 trillion market cap. The Apple Car could make a possible debut by 2025, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

This year, the tech giant's growth could be driven by robust iPhone demand and services, according to Ives.

Price Action: On Monday, Apple shares closed 2.5% higher at $182.01 in the regular session.

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