Apple e-car will be ready within five years; wants to make sure Android will not dominate in future e-cars

By 2020, Apple Inc. would be ready to produce electric cars. But the Silicon Valley giant is also facing a lawsuit for allegedly poaching employees.

This product would put the company in direct competition with Tesla and other automakers in the US, Japan, and Europe with similar plans. Both Tesla and General Motors are hoping to release an electric car in 2017 that can go more than 200 miles on a single charge and that would cost less than $40,000 (35,000 euros).

The tech giant experiences its troubles, though.

On Wednesday another company, A123 Systems, filed a lawsuit in the state of Massachusetts, claiming that five employees were recruited by Apple in violation of a "non-compete" clause in their contracts. According to complaints, Apple "interfered" with those agreements by "poaching" employees.

Apart from those it recruited from A123, Apple has tried to hire battery experts from LG Chem Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co., Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Johnson Controls Inc, the lawsuit stated.

A123 is a subsidiary of Chinese car parts giant Wanxiang Group, which invested in the Massachusetts firm in 2013.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has hired several hundred people for the project with the code name "Titan," which according to the report could be a car that incorporates some of the technology used on iPhones and iPads.

Some analysts claim that Apple is not building an e-car itself, but wants to secure Android will not become the dominant operating system in future e-cars.