The reputation of electric vehicles seems to be going steadily downhill. First, was ZAP's mini-WorldCom scandal and now two of the biggest names in EV are involved in a lawsuit. According to The New York Times, Tesla Motors filed a suit against Fisker Automotive, claiming that the company stole trade secrets and design elements.

Renowned car designer and Fisker founder, Henrik Fisker along with his business partner are accused of entering into a deal to design Tesla's upcoming gas-battery 4-seater, called White Star, in order to sneak a peak at Tesla's design specs.

The story goes that Fisker received $875,000, purposely created a poor design for White Star, then launched a competing car (ironically called Karma) using the lifted secrets.

NYT quotes Tesla chairman (and rocket-maker) Elon Musk as saying, "The styling was substandard compared to what he unveiled for his product. He gave us an inferior work product, and it’s obvious why."

Tesla decided not to use the design, delaying production of the car by 3-6 months.

Both cars use a similar drive system, called serial hybrid, which uses a gas engine to charge a battery that runs the electric motor. Tesla plan to launch White Star in 2010 for around $65-70k, said the New York Times, while Karma will cost about $80,000.

Meanwhile, CNET is reporting that the ousted co-founder of Tesla, Martin Eberhard, was the original promoter of the serial hybrid system within the company. I think this will permanently cure me of the Silicon Valley hippy culture image I have of the alternative vehicles world. Maybe this just means that EV tech has really hit the big time, corporate shenanigans and all. Now they just need to make a profit.