WASHINGTON: A123 Systems a battery making firm has sued Apple for stealing its employees to build an electric car. Apple aimed to hit the markets with an electric car by 2020.
According to latest reports Apple is aiming to get an autonomous electric car rolling on the streets in five years, increasing its team to 200 now, with the addition in recent months of experts on batteries and robotics, sources told.
The case concerns five former employees of A123 currently employed by Apple, according to a court filing on Tuesday.
While employed by A123, the former employees were responsible for developing and testing a new battery technology, and subject to a non-disclosure agreement regarding the company’s proprietary information.
The company claims Apple was poaching its staff and “is currently developing a large scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123”.
Since June 2014, Apple has “embarked on an aggressive campaign to poach employees of A123 and to otherwise raid A123’s business”, it alleged.
Apple has not responded to the allegations in the complaint.
According to The Wall Street Journal it has several hundred employees working on a secret project code-named “Titan” that included initial design work on a vehicle that resembles a minivan.
It is reported the company wants to take on Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla, which last week revealed it is about to unveil a home storage battery that could compete with the electricity companies as a power source.
In 2012, A123 Systems announced that it was filing for bankruptcy, but was subsequently bought out by Chinese company Wanxiang for $251m (£163m).
Prior to its bankruptcy the company had been hailed as a poster child for clean tech, with the lithium-ion battery-maker having been financed by a $249m (£162m) government grant.
