Last week, we brought you news that Apple appears to be working on electric car technology. Those rumors are edging toward !CONFIRMED! status thanks to news that Apple is being sued by battery maker A123 Systems for poaching staff in order to develop a "large scale battery division."
The lawsuit, first reported by Law360, involves five engineers and scientists who A123 Systems alleges were poached by Apple over the course of the last few months, in breach of various NDAs and non-compete agreements. A123 also claims that it’s had to shut down several projects as a result.
In addition to the various contracts, A123 Systems’ suit also included e-mail left on their servers by one of the poached scientists (as well as a résumé) as proof that Apple had been raiding its talent pool.
Whether or not this means an Apple car will eventually show up on our roads remains unclear. A123's focus is on batteries for transport applications, rather than laptops or watches, and last week's Apple Car news involved the Cupertino-based company hiring former Tesla and Daimler-Benz personnel; together that all points to something automotive going on. But, building a car is quite far outside Apple’s expertise, and unlike with consumer electronics, it’s unlikely that outsourcing production to China would be a viable strategy. On the other hand, Apple does have experience—albeit in the past—as a manufacturer of things, and as Tesla has shown, it is possible to start up car production in the US from scratch and not make a mess of it.
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