In 20 18, Nikolai filed a lawsuit against Tesla, accusing him of plagiarizing many patented designs of Nikolai, including windshield, body and side door design. For this reason, it claimed as much as 2 billion US dollars (about 127 billion yuan) from Tesla.
Nikolai also said that the company released an electric semi-trailer truck in May 20 16. A few months later, Tess tried to poach the company's chief engineer. Tesla denied stealing its patented design and filed a counterclaim.