Walmart Inc sued Tesla Inc, accusing it of ‘widespread negligence’ that led to repeated fires of its solar systems and asking a court to force Tesla to remove solar panels from more than 240 of its US stores.
According to New York Supreme Court, showing dozens of hazardous problems such as loose wiring and ‘hot spots’ on panels, also in seven location, solar energy systems installed and maintained by the electric car maker were responsible for fires at seven locations.
As per the court papers, “The lawsuit accuses Tesla of having untrained workers putting up shoddy installations and showing “utter incompetence or callousness, or both”.
In the statement of Walmart in the lawsuit, the fires destroyed significant amounts of store merchandise and required substantial repairs, totalling millions of dollars in losses. Additionally, inspections of the retailer’s other Tesla-owned solar installations “displayed troubling problems that were indicative of widespread negligence.”
Three days later, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, announced to re-launch of the company’s solar business that allows customers to install solar panels without a long-term contract.
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