Oct. 7, 2021—Tesla expanded an already ongoing lawsuit against Rivian earlier this month, claiming the EV pickup startup is stealing battery trade secrets. 

According to a report from Electrek, Tesla claims that Rivian hired former Tesla employees and encouraged them to bring "documents consisting of highly sensitive trade secret, confidential, and proprietary engineering information."

Over the past year, Rivian has made several moves that Electrek said very closely mimicked Tesla, such as announcing its own fast-charging network and using its own first-party stores and service centers.

The California judge overseeing the case has agreed to add the new charges to court proceedings. Rivian had not responded to the new allegations at the time of Electrek's report.