Tesla's Founder Sues Tesla's CEO for Defamation

by Robert Farago

Updated: December 11th, 2020 Published: June 10th, 2009

Tesla Motors says it’s delivered 500 Roadsters to date. Rather than keeping overheads low and consolidating its position in the EV sports car market, Tesla is busy expanding its dealer network and talking up the Model S. One wonders how Martin Eberhard, Tesla’s ousted founder feels about the company’s current direction. Probably pretty good; like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Eberhard is one of those big picture guys. But there’s one thing for sure: there’s no love lost between Marty and Elon. In fact, Eberhard is suing Musk for defamation. Have a look at the the court filing pdf here. This is one of those original sources that’s actually well worth reading—if you’re a fan of ego wars. And who isn’t? Humor much? Oh yeah.

In the spirit of such revolutionary innovation, Eberhard’s vision for Tesla Motors was to create a high performance vehicle that would achieve the longest driving range of any other production electric vehicle by at least a factor of two . . . The “Tesla Roadster” (“Roadster”) is the embodiment of Eberhard’s vision—with an unsurpassable driving range of 250 miles per charge—other electric cars range at 50 miles per charge

Note: not “unsurpassed.” “Unsurpassable.” If that’s not an ego out of control, wait for Musk’s response. Hopefully, he’ll write something as devoid of legalese—and as suffused with hubris—as this document.

Anyway, TTAC’s relentless focus on Tesla’s bogus range claims is vindicated. We know of no Tesla Roadster that gets anywhere near 250 miles per charge. Oh wait; longest driving range “of any other production electric vehicle.” Gotcha.

There’s lots more, but there’s a Honduran with my name on it (cigar). Suffice it to say (for now), it’s an Eberhard’s eye view of Tesla’s entire history and Elon’s evil plan to steal the very idea of the company. And credit for the world’s fastest laptop battery. I mean batteries. I hope to God this isn’t settled out of court and, if it isn’t, that I can be there when this goes down. I really do.

Meanwhile, enjoy!

[thanks to Tesla Deathwatcher for the link]

Robert Farago

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2 of 22 comments

Psarhjinian on Jun 11, 2009
If the “racist” discussion continues, the thread will be closed. I thought the Tesla would made a good car for a racist. Provided the race isn't more than a few tens of miles long. Or significantly uphill.

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Bertel Schmitt on Jun 11, 2009

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