Apple CEO Tim Cook in the past has praised what Tesla does and said that he admires its CEO Elon Musk. Musk, who his known for his candid views, hasn’t really taken serious digs at Apple. That was till yesterday when during Tesla’s quarterly earnings call when Musk took jabs at Apple not once but twice.
According to a report by CNBC, Musk during the call said that there was misconception about Tesla using cobalt, something which is used in producing lithium-ion cells that are used in smartphones and electric cars.
Musk said, “Apple uses I think almost 100% cobalt in their batteries and cell phones and laptops, but Tesla uses no cobalt in the iron-phosphate packs, and almost none in the nickel-based chemistries.” He further explained that, “On on a weighted-average basis we might use 2% cobalt compared to say, Apple’s 100% cobalt.” This was clearly a dig at the environment sustainability which Apple believes it does a lot more than other companies.
This isn’t the first time Apple has had to face criticism over the use of cobalt. Two years back, the company was accused of aiding and abetting forced child labour in cobalt mines. Apple has said that its long-term goal is to not require mining of any sort by using recycled materials only.
Musk also said that Tesla wants to support the advent of sustainable energy but it does not want to build a “walled garden.” He told investors, “I think we want to emphasise that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy. It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies.” It was a blatant dig at Apple and Musk didn’t hide as he fake coughed and said “Apple” after his comment on the walled garden.
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“We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country! Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India,” Musk tweeted.