Tesla uses ‘dangerous batteries’, whistle-blower says as Elon Musk derides him as ‘horrible’
A fired Tesla technician whom Musk called a ‘horrible human being’ tells a US agency the carmaker has used dangerous batteries
Martin Tripp, the fired Tesla technician fighting a corporate legal battle and a war of words with chief Elon Musk, has formally filed a tip with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging the carmaker lied to investors and used dangerous batteries in its electric cars, his lawyer said.
Tripp told the SEC on Friday that the Silicon Valley car company, whose US$53 billion value rivals that of General Motors, had pushed for a number of potentially damaging measures to meet production quotas, including placing batteries with puncture holes into vehicles and reusing scrapped parts.
The company, Tripp said, had also inflated the number of Model 3 sedans it was making each week by as much as 44 per cent, skewing the figure that investors and buyers had for months watched closely for clues to Tesla’s performance.
Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company has in the past repeatedly denied Tripp’s claims, saying no batteries with puncture holes had been used in cars, that Tripp was wrong about the scrap materials, and that the company’s production numbers were accurate. The SEC declined to comment.
Tesla fired Tripp last month and sued him for allegedly hacking the company’s computer systems, leaking false and damaging information to the press, and stealing valuable secrets, which Tripp denies.