Ex-Tesla employee posted dozens of photos that he alleges came from inside of Tesla
Tesla whistleblower Martin Tripp took to Twitter on Wednesday night, tweeting photos he alleges came from inside the company.
He told Business Insider he feels they are central to his ongoing legal battle with the company.
They include images he says are of battery scrap, trailers containing battery waste, and documentation of punctured battery parts in Model 3 vehicles. Tesla denies that any punctured battery parts made it into vehicles.
Tesla also told Business Insider that Tripp's claims are false and that he "does not even have personal knowledge about the safety claims that he is making."
"Are you ready," Martin Tripp tweeted on Wednesday evening, before sending out dozens of photos that he alleges came from inside of Tesla.
Tripp told Business Insider he feels the photos are central to the legal battle between he, a former process technician at the company's Nevada Gigafactory, and the electric carmaker. He claims they support allegations that he has made about the safety and quality of Tesla's parts, specifically the batteries that go into all of Tesla's vehicles.
"I decided to send this info out because I have been humiliated by Tesla and Elon Musk," Tripp told Business Insider.
In June Tesla sued Tripp for alleging that he hacked the company and transferred secret information to third parties.
Earlier this month, Tripp filed a countersuit. He denies Tesla's claim that he's a hacker, and says the company intimidated and harassed him after he was fired.
"As we’ve said before, these claims are false and Mr. Tripp does not even have personal knowledge about the safety claims that he is making. No punctured cells have ever been used in any Model 3 vehicles in any way, and all VINs that have been identified have safe batteries. Notably, there have been zero battery safety issues in any Model 3," Tesla said in a statement to Business Insider.
Tripp tweeted screenshots of dozens of Tesla VIN numbers. He claims that these cars contain damaged battery modules, and he further claimed an errant robot puncturing cells and affecting battery modules. He told Business Insider that this was related to a robot that malfunctioned in February. Tesla previously confirmed to Business Insider that an incident with a malfunctioning robot occurred in February, but said it had affected fewer parts than Tripp claimed and denied that any batteries were then reworked and put into cars as Tripp claims.
He then tweeted screenshots of Tesla's "containment," alleging that one of the damaged batteries made it into a Model 3.
In Tripp's suit, he alleges that Tesla kept battery waste in trailers on the Gigafactory property. He tweeted out photos of what he claims are in these trailers, as well.
Another shot of trailers.
This is what Tripp claims is inside the trailers.
This tweet appears to allege that Tesla scrapped $31 million worth of modules (also part of their battery) from the beginning of the year to June.
Tripp says that these are photos of battery parts that he alleges exemplify what was reworked and put into vehicles at Tesla.
These bent cooling tubes, Tripp alleges, also exemplify what would be reworked and put into vehicles.
Tripp claims that this is the amount of "non-conforming" battery parts — parts that must be scrapped or reworked — that built up in a part of the Gigafactory in just an hour.
