Workers quit troubled Tesla to join Apple’s Project Titan

DOZENS of Tesla employees have quit to join Apple this year, as the troubled electric car maker’s problems have intensified amid mounting questions over the leadership of its billionaire founder, Elon Musk.

At least 46 people, including engineers and supply chain managers, have joined the iphone manufacturer. They have either been poached directly or recruited after being laid off by Tesla.

Many of them have joined Apple’s autonomous car division, Project Titan. The defections, calculated using figures from Linkedin and first reported by CNBC, come as Tesla has faced a string of problems manufacturing its next Model 3 car at scale.

Mr Musk, who has claimed to be working 120-hour weeks, has also been dealing with the fallout of a tweet claiming he would take his company private, personal attacks from a US rapper about alleged drug use and a small fire this week at his Fremont factory.

Mr Musk’s ambitious targets and work culture at Tesla have also taken their toll on employees. The company has been trying to ramp up production to more than 5,000 cars per week.

One former Tesla employee turned whistleblower, Martin Tripp, who is suing the company for defamation, recently released a series of tweets. They show car serial numbers that he claims have “punctured … damaged” battery modules. Tesla has refuted Mr Tripp’s claims.

JB Straubel, Tesla’s chief technology officer and one of the company’s cofounders, has described Mr Musk as “difficult”.

David Kudla, chief executive of Mainstay Capital Management, who holds a short position in Tesla, said: “Musk is a great innovator but we don’t think he is a great CEO.”