Tesla's Lawsuit Has Startup EVject Looking At A Potential Partnership With Volkswagen

EVject first came into focus after EV giant Tesla Inc. TSLA sued it over the safety of its ‘breakaway’ charging connector for EV drivers.

EVject's charging connector allows drivers to disconnect from EV chargers and drive away in emergencies without stepping out of the vehicle. Tesla filed a lawsuit against EVject earlier this year alleging that their breakaway connectors are "dangerous" and pose a high safety risk.

Inspiration Behind The Breakaway Connector: EVject founder Kreg Peeler in an interview detailed the inspiration behind the connector.

“We came into existence because we kept hearing about this problem where it’s not just Teslas, but all EVs. Any electric vehicle plugged in at a public charger is disabled while charging,” Peeler said.

Tesla’s Lawsuit: The company developed its breakaway connector device and shipped all its preorders in February earlier this year before it received a notice from Tesla. Tesla subsequently requested a few EVject connectors to test and said it has no over-temperature protection and may overheat when charging.

Peeler subsequently took to X noting his differences with the testing and Tesla CEO Elon Musk assured in a post on X that he “will investigate” the issue.

Tesla later reached out to Peeler and EVject agreed to have a thermal sensor included in the product as a protective measure in case of overheating and the EV maker subsequently dropped the lawsuit.

Boon In Disguise?: As per Peeler, it would cost EVJect $30,000 to get the connectors shipped to customers back and then retrofit them with thermal sensors before sending them back out.

“It’s about $30,000. But overall, we think the market exposure and the awareness we got out of it was probably worth that,” Peeler said.

The lawsuit threw EVject into the spotlight, with several players showing interest in the company’s connector device, including German automaker Volkswagen.

The company is now looking forward to showcasing a few of its products to Volkswagen in March.

EVject has shipped 3,500 of its breakaway connectors to date. While the company is making a profit per device, it is yet to be profitable as a corporation. The company is now looking to scale in terms of volume and has also got ideas for new products to develop when they have enough cash flow.

“By 2030, we want to have sold millions of units and have the company be worth a billion dollars. So that’s five years away. Or get acquired somewhere along the way. If Volkswagen or Tesla came in and made us a good offer, we would seriously consider it,” Peeler said.

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Photo courtesy: EVject