Elon Musk's carmaker Tesla has sued an Indian battery maker for infringing its trademark by using the brand name "Tesla Power" to promote its products, seeking damages and a permanent injunction against the company from a New Delhi judge.

Tesla in a hearing at the Delhi High Court this week said the Indian company had continued advertising its products with the "Tesla Power" brand despite a cease-and-desist notice sent in April 2022, according to details of the proceedings posted on the court website on Friday.

During the hearing, the Indian company, Tesla Power India Pvt Ltd, argued its main business is to make "lead acid batteries" and it has no intention of making electric vehicles.

The judge allowed the Indian firm three weeks to submit written responses after it handed over a set of documents in support of its defence, the court record shows.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Musk's Tesla is incorporated in Delaware, and it has accused the Indian company of using trade names "Tesla Power" and "Tesla Power USA". The court record included screenshots of a website that showed that Tesla Power USA LLC was also headquartered in Delaware and had been "acknowledged for being a pioneer and leader in introducing affordable batteries" with "a very strong presence in India".

A Tesla Power representative told Reuters it has been present in India much before Musk's Tesla and had all government approvals. “We have never claimed to be related to Elon Musk's Tesla,” Tesla Power's Manoj Pahwa said.

Tesla told the judge it discovered the Indian company was using its brand name in 2022 and has unsuccessfully tried stop it from doing so, forcing it to file the lawsuit.

The case comes after Musk cancelled his planned visit to India on April 21 to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Days later, Musk made a surprise visit to China and made progress towards rolling out its advanced driver assistance package, a move that many Indian commentators called a snub.

The Tesla India trademark case will next be heard on May 22.

The Tesla execs who have left as Elon Musk shakes things up with 'hard core' layoffs

• Since Tesla's layoffs announcement in mid-April, six known executives have left the company.

• Some of the execs have cited plans to spend more time with family, while others have stayed silent.

• Elon Musk vowed to cut 10% of Tesla's workforce last month and called for "hardcore" cuts Monday.

Elon Musk is down half a dozen executives.

Since Musk announced layoffs of more than 10% of its workforce in April, six executives have departed. While some cited resignations, others left as their teams were completely dissolved.

In his latest email to employees regarding further layoffs on Monday, Musk said "we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction," according to a report from The Information.

Musk threatened even more executive heads could roll if deep-enough cuts weren't made.

He said that he would ask for the resignation of any executive "who retains more than three people who don't obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test," according to the report.

BI compiled a list of all the known executives that have left Tesla in the last month, in order from most to least recent.

Tesla did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the executive departures.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Allie Arebalo, senior director of human resources in North America

Arebalo is the latest known exec to leave Tesla, according to a Bloomberg report from May 1. She was at the company for about six years and was promoted last February to oversee HR in North America.

It's not clear whether the top HR executive, who reported directly to Musk, was laid off or resigned.

Arebalo did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on her departure.

Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of Supercharging

In the email sent to employees on Monday, Musk announced the departure of Tinucci and her entire Supercharger team. The cuts would result in about 500 layoffs, The Information reported.

Tinucci was responsible for managing Tesla's global charging-related business units, like its supercharging and destination charging businesses, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The elimination of Tinucci and her team concerned other EV carmakers, like Rivian, Ford, and General Motors, Bloomberg reported. The three companies use Tesla's charging connectors for EVs and lost a main contact of communication when Tinucci departed, the report said.

Tinucci did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

Daniel Ho, director of vehicle programs and new product introduction

In the email Musk sent about being "hard core" about layoffs, he also announced the departure of Ho, according to The Information. Ho's team would also be dissolved, the email said.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Ho worked at Tesla for over 10 years and moved into the director role over a year ago, according to his LinkedIn.

Ho did not respond to a request for comment about his departure.

Martin Viecha, vice president of investor relations

Following Tesla's earnings call on April 23, the ex-VP said in a LinkedIn post that "after a 7-year sprint, it's time to take a break and spend a lot of time with my family."

The former Tesla exec said he spoke with Musk and chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja about his resignation about a month prior to the public announcement.

Drew Baglino, SVP of powertrain and electrical engineering

Baglino announced his departure from Tesla on April 15, right before Musk announced more than 10% of the workforce would be laid off.

But Baglino already lost the red icon in his X profile before he made the public announcement, according to the EV blog Electrek.

Baglino joined Tesla in 2006 as an electrical engineer working on the Roadster, the company's first vehicle. He became one of only four execs named as "leadership" on Tesla's investor relations page by the time he left.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

The ex-SVP said in a post on X he had "no concrete plans beyond spending more time with my family and young kids."

Rohan Patel, vice president public policy and business development

Patel, who served on former President Obama's administration, worked at Tesla for eight years and announced his departure on April 15.

Patel said in a post on X his plans were to be a recess monitor for his second-grade daughter, practice violin, attend "bucket list sporting events," and take his "very patient wife on some long intended travel."

Musk commented on the post thanking Patel for his work.

Patel told TechCrunch he left because of large "overall changes" at the EV giant.

Tesla in Turmoil as Musk Makes Multiple Controversial Moves

• With a string of recent controversial moves, Tesla and its leader Elon Musk are currently going through one of the most tumultuous times in the company's history.

• Following mass layoffs, Tesla has reportedly lost several notable executives, including the head of new products and the senior director of its Supercharger Network.

• Reports also suggest the Supercharger team was severely downsized, losing most of its 500 staff members, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk saying the plan is to keep growing the charging network at a "slower pace."

For better or worse, Tesla and its enigmatic CEO Elon Musk are regulars when it comes to being a part of the daily news cycle. However, more recently, it's been for worse, as the electric-car maker is currently in the midst of a tumultuous period.

Cracks began to show earlier this year following Tesla's poor first-quarter earnings call, which revealed a notable decline in volume and missed projections. Not long after that, the automaker laid off 10 percent of its global workforce; Tesla's battery development chief Drew Baglino and vice president for public policy Rohan Patel also resigned, per a report by Reuters.

Then earlier this week, there were multiple reports that Tesla laid off an important chunk of its Supercharger team, which was revealed in a staff email wherein Musk was quoted as saying, "We need to be absolutely hardcore about head count and cost reduction."

Tesla Supercharger Team Gets Gutted

The most notable person included in the Supercharger team layoffs was Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla's senior director of charging infrastructure. Tinucci's departure was announced in an email to company executives, as first reported by The Information. Other outlets have reported that the move included the vast majority of her roughly 500-person charging team. An email by Musk sent to employees reportedly said that "a few" of them will be reassigned to other teams internally. While some reports suggest the layoffs specifically target the site acquisition, project management, and marketing teams, many others say that nearly all of Tinucci's staff lost their positions.

The layoffs come at a strange time for the company as more and more automakers and third-party charging networks adopt Tesla's proprietary NACS plug and gain access to its Supercharger network. It features more than 10,000 chargers in the U.S. alone and has long been Tesla's golden child. While owners of other EVs have to contend with an automotive Wild West of broken chargers, full lots, and unwitting Chevy Bolt EV owners taking up the only 350-kW charger in their ZIP code, Tesla owners simply roll up, plug in, and charge.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

On Tuesday, Musk wrote on his social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, that Tesla still plans to grow the network "just at a slower pace" and with a big focus on the expansion and reliability of existing chargers, though construction seems to be at a halt for now. The Wall Street Journal reported that the mass layoffs paused construction at a dozen Supercharger sites in Texas.

Speaking to the WSJ, Andreas Pinter, who is co-CEO of a Texas-based subcontractor and builder of a dozen Supercharger sites, said all 20 of his contacts at Tesla had been laid off. Furthermore, Pinter has received several bounce-back emails stating, "This email address is no longer valid. Any future emails sent to this address will not be received," with no other communication from Tesla. The WSJ also states that Pinter halted construction at the sites for the time being.

At this stage, it's unclear what Musk and Tesla's plan for charging is going forward. It seems likely the company will have to rehire a number of employees, not only for the continued growth of the network but also for the significant level of upkeep required for a network as large as Tesla's. –Jack Fitzgerald

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Tesla Is Hemorrhaging Head Executives

Tesla's senior director of charging infrastructure is just one of the several head executives that are leaving the company in some form or another. Along with Baglino, Patel, and Tinucci, Martin Viecha, who was vice president of investor relations, has left the company. More than a week ago on his LinkedIn page, Viecha publicly announced that he was leaving the company, but also said that he'd be staying on for a couple more months to help with the transition.

Among the other reported departures are Daniel Ho, Tesla's director of new products and vehicle programs, and Allie Arebalo, who is the company's senior director of HR. Ho's dismissal was reportedly part of the announcement that Tinucci was being laid off. However, as of this writing, neither have changed their employment status on their respective LinkedIn profiles. The same goes for the latest Tesla executive to exit. Head of human resources Allie Arebalo has also left the company, according to a report Wednesday by Bloomberg, but she still lists Tesla as her employer on LinkedIn.

All in all, that makes five known members of Tesla's senior leadership who have either resigned or been laid off. Of the aforementioned group, Arebalo, Tinucci, and Viecha have been with the company for about six years, while Baglino and Ho have been there for over 10 and 18 years, respectively. That's more than 46 years of combined experience that Tesla is losing, which can only lead to more questions about the company's future as well as how many more executives might head to the exits or be escorted out. –Eric Stafford

Tesal Gigacasting Plans Put on Hold

Amid all of the layoffs and management moves, Tesla is also ditching its plans for ambitious one-piece gigacasting, as reported by Reuters. Tesla had aimed to implement a new form of gigacasting, a manufacturing process that utilizes massive presses to die-cast large sections of a car's underbody instead of the typical underbody which is made up of hundreds of small parts. Tesla's goal was to stamp the entire underbody of the car as one single piece in an effort to cut costs and manufacturing complexities. Instead, the automaker will stick with its current process of casting the underbody in three pieces.

Reuters reports that two unnamed sources familiar with the situation said Tesla was backing off from its single-piece casting plan, which was supposed to be implemented for the first time on a new, smaller, and more affordable vehicle, commonly referred to as the Model 2. The retreat on the gigacasting plans happened last autumn, according to Reuters, before Tesla canceled the Model 2 this spring.

The sources said that the decision to stop working on the one-piece gigacasting was originally to turn attention toward accelerating development of the Model 2 and minimizing the risk for costly delays. The scaling back indicates a need to reduce short-term costs as Tesla experiences a drop in sales, both as demand for EVs slows and as more competitors flood the market. The one-piece gigacasting could save money in the long run, but perfecting the process is tricky and necessitates sizable initial investments.

But Tesla won't fully abandon gigacasting. The current process, where Tesla gigacasts the front and rear sections and then creates a midsection of aluminum and steel frames where the battery lives, will continue as already seen on both the Model Y and Cybertruck. On a recent investor call, Tesla said it aims to assemble more affordable models using an existing platform and production line instead, Reuters reported.

Reuters also says that the new platform that was supposed to underpin the Model 2 will still find its way onto the street as the basis for a self-driving robotaxi that Elon Musk has claimed will debut later this year. One of Reuters' sources said that Tesla is now working on adapting its three-piece gigacasting process for the robotaxi. –Caleb Miller

Tesla signs mapping deal with Baidu in China

Tesla has signed a deal with Baidu giving the US battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufacturer access to the Chinese internet giant’s mapping and data services, while also clearing a major regulatory hurdle in the world’s largest vehicle market.

The deal followed last week’s visit to China by Tesla’s main shareholder and CEO Elon Musk, during which he met Chinese premier Li Qiang.

The agreement with Baidu paved the way for Tesla to introduce its semi-autonomous driving technology in China.

Elon Musk’s successful trip to China helped lift the company’s flagging share price by a third to US$194, valuing the company at US$615bn, before giving up some of the gains in the last few days.

Tesla wants to step up the roll out of its 'full self driving' (FSD) system in major markets, including China, as competition from Chinese automakers including BYD Auto continued to intensify.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Tesla vehicles have now been included in a list of 70 models tested for data security compliance in China by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers but had yet to be formally given compliance certification.

Connected, smart technology, including driver assist systems, was becoming essential content in BEVs sold in China while demand for fully autonomous vehicles from transport companies such as taxi operators was expected to surge once the technology was proven and accepted.

Foreign automakers in China were required to source their mapping and navigation systems from one of around 20 approved local suppliers. All manufacturers of vehicles with self driving technology were also required to store user data, which is used to improve these systems, in China.

Tesla’s Shanghai plant shipped 948,000 vehicles last year, accounting for more than half the company’s global vehicle output, including 604,000 units for sale locally, accounting for 11% of the country’s domestic BEV market.

"Tesla signs mapping deal with Baidu in China" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand.

Why one economist says Elon Musk has turned Tesla into a meme stock

• Tesla's stock is a "tech-bubble casino play," J. Bradford DeLong wrote for Project Syndicate.

• The economist thinks the firm no longer keeps up with what CEO Elon Musk promises.

• Musk really wants Tesla to be a tech company, but it's an automaker, DeLong said.

Tesla's market success relies on CEO Elon Musk's ability to keep promising, irrelevant of what the company actually delivers, UC Berkeley economist J. Bradford DeLong thinks.

"From the standpoint of its suppliers, employees, and customers, it is a source of income and production," he said. "And from the standpoint of Wall Street speculators, it is a bouncing ball in a roulette wheel: a tech-bubble casino play."

In an op-ed for Project Syndicate, DeLong noted that Musk used to cheerlead technologies Tesla could deliver on, such as battery developments or electric vehicle breakthroughs.

But since Musk unlocked the entire worth of his pay package agreed with Tesla in 2018 — which vested when the firm reached a certain market capitalization threshold — he has instead started touting ideas that the company has yet to make good on, DeLong said. That includes full self-driving, humanoid robots, and an artificial intelligence supercomputer.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

"For all the current Tesla shareholders planning to offload their holdings in the next couple of years, everything hinges on the company succeeding as a meme stock, and Musk is diligently working toward that goal," DeLong argued. "Since there are virtually no long-term Tesla shareholders, the market does not particularly care that the company lacks a CEO who is trying to build it into an enduring profit-making organization."

For instance, he noted Musk's recent earnings commentary, in which he said that it's a fundamentally wrong framework to consider Tesla an auto company; instead, the CEO called on investors to consider it an AI or robotics firm.

But to DeLong, that doesn't follow what first-quarter results actually show, as "automotive revenues" made up more than 80% of the company's sales.

"While car manufacturing does have substantial economies of scale, the value proposition does not come close to the level of infotech, where you can 'write once and run everywhere' at zero marginal cost," he wrote.

Still, the recent earnings commentary has boosted confidence for many on Wall Street. Before that, many worried as Tesla's growth story took a tumble this year, led by executive controversies and uncertainty around demand for EVs.

But DeLong isn't the first to compare the manufacturer to a meme stock. Last month, investor Roger McNamee warned that the stock would start trading like a car company if shareholders decided that Musk wasn't central to its narrative.

In a similar vein, short-seller legend Jim Chanos called Tesla a "hopes and dreams" stock, trading more on Musk than fundamentals.

Elon Musk's Tesla yanks summer internship offers, students say

Tesla has reportedly reneged on summer internship offers it made to college students.

Multiple students described their situations in posts on their LinkedIn profiles this week. Bloomberg was first to report the news Wednesday.

One of the students identified by the outlet said Tesla informed her on Monday via a phone call that she no longer had a summer internship, a development she linked to the workforce and cost-reduction efforts Tesla recently started.

Tesla said in mid-April it would shed 10% of its 140,400-person headcount. Roughly 6,000 of those layoffs are hitting workers in Texas and California.

More recently, the EV maker indicated more workers, including much of the Supercharger team, would be laid off in addition to the initial eliminations, The Information reported.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

FOX Business reached out to Tesla for comment regarding internship offers and how many it reportedly withdrew, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Another college student said Wednesday that his offer also got pulled with very little notice, according to Bloomberg. In a LinkedIn post, he reported that prior to Tesla backtracking on its offer, he had already locked down housing for the internship with the EV maker that he had expected to begin in three weeks.

Tesla’s reported internship offer withdrawals came as the academic year is winding down at many universities and many students are gearing up to soon join companies as summer interns.

The Musk-run EV maker typically brings onboard students in the spring, summer and fall for internships. More than 6,000 students become Tesla interns each year, per the company’s most recent annual report.

TESLA NOTIFIES THOUSANDS IN TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA OF IMPENDING LAYOFFS

Tesla, which has experienced some turbulence in recent weeks, said its planned headcount reductions "will prepare Tesla for our next phase of growth, as we are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence" when it disclosed them in a mid-April filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company has multiple projects in the pipeline, including new and lower-cost vehicles and a robotaxi.