Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes

Sometimes you read such a harsh indictment of a task, but also such little reward, that it becomes almost impossible to take it at face value. That’s the case in a lawsuit filed last month in the Northern District of California. If you believe the words of law firm Brithem LLP, a non-profit founded by Toyota called the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), run by Toyota executives, allegedly stole the secrets from a Mauritius-based, Zimbabwe-run electric trike company, and handed them over to a company elsewhere in the African continent so that the company could turn a profit while Toyota (allegedly) kept its do-gooder image intact.

According to the New York Times, the plaintiff, Mobility for Africa, is the maker of an e-trike called the Humba, a slow-moving, three-wheeled trike with a range of 60 miles that is ideal for transporting agricultural goods over dirt roads from homes to markets. The company is led by South Africa-based Shanta Bloemen.

Bloeman told the Times that his company has only 300 Humba. Mobility for Africa provides charging infrastructure, and leases trikes – obviously ideally for women. The Humba has a pickup truck-style bed “that can carry 400 kilograms (about 880 pounds) of cargo and a bench seat designed for women wearing skirts.”

According to the Times, TMF took interest and “created a pilot program in Kenya that used the Mobility for Africa model and described the program as a partnership with Ms. Blomen’s organization, according to the lawsuit.”

But Bloeman now claims that TMF secretly provided the intellectual property behind the Hambus to Los Angeles-based AXA Innovation Studio, allegedly allowing it to create another company in Kenya: Tsonga Mobility, which, of course, makes e-trikes with bench seats and pickup truck-style beds.

The Times quoted the lawsuit as saying, “The commercial Songa mobility solution is virtually identical to the program [Mobility for Africa] developed and shared [with Exa]”

The Times says that according to the text of the lawsuit, Mobility for Africa had a contract with TMF that exclusively held possession of its intellectual property, and prevented Toyota from sharing it with other entities. It also said that TMF’s actions had allegedly made it harder for Mobility for Africa to raise funds and fulfill its plans to expand beyond Zimbabwe.

It should be noted that all of these e-trikes are at least somewhat similar in appearance to the cheaper vehicles that are widely available from suppliers in China.

The Toyota Mobility Foundation told The New York Times that it is “aware of the matter and is investigating,” and declined further requests for comment.