Martin Tripp

Martin Tripp is a former Tesla employee, who worked at Tesla's Giga Nevada factory. In June 2018, Business Insider reported that "as much as 40% of the raw materials used...at Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada need to be scrapped or reworked by employees", and Tripp was ultimately identified as the leaker of this information, sparking intense retaliation from the company.
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Tripp disclosed internal photos and vehicle identification numbers on Twitter, accusing Tesla of battery manufacturing defects, claiming they may affect driving safety.
He posted photos on Twitter using the TSLAQ hashtag, one of which included a vehicle identification number. It said that the batteries of these vehicles are made of broken, defective cells and that they should not be mounted on the car.
Another post claimed that residues and waste were stored in an open parking lot and in trucks by Gigafactory 1, rather than in an appropriate temperature-controlled warehouse.
"As we said before, these statements are all wrong. Mr. Tripp doesn't even know what he said about car battery safety." A spokesperson for Tesla said: "No Model 3 is defective. The battery, all the vehicle identification codes posted by Mr. Tripp, has been determined to use a safe battery. It is worth mentioning that the Model 3 has not experienced battery safety problems so far."
In July 2018, Tesla's counsel, John Hueston, met with the FBI and the Nevada Attorney General's office to ask that Tripp be criminally prosecuted. No criminal charges have been brought.

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