{"id":508,"date":"2026-06-22T09:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:40:20","slug":"toyota-is-being-sued-for-allegedly-stealing-the-recipe-for-african-e-trikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Sometimes you read an allegation of a deed so harsh, but simultaneously so low-reward, that it\u2019s almost impossible to take it at face value. That\u2019s the situation with a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California last month. If you take the law firm Brithem LLP at its word, a nonprofit established by Toyota called the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), which is run by Toyota\u2019s executives, allegedly stole secrets from a Mauritius-based, Zimbabwe-operated electric trike company, and handed them over to a company elsewhere on the continent of Africa so that company could turn a profit while Toyota (allegedly) burnished its do-gooder image.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=506\">Infamous Front-Running Crypto Bot \u2018Jaredfromsubway\u2019 Gets Tricked and Drained for $7.5M<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the New York Times, the plaintiff, Mobility for Africa, is the creator of an e-trike called a Hamba, a slow-moving, three-wheeled trike with a 60-mile range, ideal for transporting agricultural goods along dirt roads from homes to marketplaces. The company is led by South Africa-based Shantha Bloemen.<\/p>\n<div><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pLcLx4WcY4Y?feature=oembed\" title=\"Mobility for Africa on CNN On Whats The Big Idea\" width=\"500\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Bloeman told the Times her company has a mere 300 Hambas. Mobility for Africa provides charging infrastructure, and leases out the trikes\u2014ideally to women, apparently. A Hamba has a pickup truck-style bed \u201cthat can carry 400 kilograms (about 880 pounds) of cargo and a bench seat designed for women wearing skirts.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The TMF took an interest, according to the Times, and \u201ccreated a pilot program in Kenya that used Mobility for Africa\u2019s model and described the program as a partnership with Ms. Bloemen\u2019s organization, according to the suit.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But Bloeman now claims that the TMF also secretly provided Los Angeles-based Exa Innovation Studio with the intellectual property behind Hambas, allegedly allowing it to form another company in Kenya: Songa Mobility, which, sure enough, makes e-trikes with bench seats and pickup truck-style beds.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=504\">This Necklace Could Stop Your Skin From Aging<\/a><\/p>\n<div><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zCYs0gw26ew?feature=oembed\" title=\"SONGA Mobility\" width=\"500\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>The Times quotes the suit as saying, \u201cThe commercialized Songa Mobility solution is virtually identical to the program [Mobility for Africa] developed and shared [with Exa].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Times says according to the text of the suit, Mobility for Africa had a contract with TMF specifically holding onto its intellectual property, and disallowing Toyota from sharing it with other entities. It also says the TMF\u2019s actions have allegedly made it hard for Mobility for Africa to fundraise and make good on its plans to expand beyond Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It should be noted that all of these e-trikes are\u2014visually at least\u2014similar to inexpensive vehicles that are widely available from suppliers in China.<\/p>\n<p>The Toyota Mobility Foundation told the New York Times it was \u201caware of this matter and is investigating,\u201d and declined further requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=502\">Are You \u2019Mass Affluent\u2019 Not \u2018Truly Rich\u2019? Sorry, Your Wealth Manager Might Be AI Now<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the biggest fish in the mobility world allegedly screwed over one of the tiniest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the biggest fish in the mobility world allegedly screwed over one of the tiniest.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"headline\":\"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508\"},\"wordCount\":476,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Tech News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508\",\"name\":\"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=508#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Haul Moving Pros\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros","og_description":"One of the biggest fish in the mobility world allegedly screwed over one of the tiniest.","og_url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508","og_site_name":"Long Haul Moving Pros","article_published_time":"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b"},"headline":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes","datePublished":"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508"},"wordCount":476,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp","articleSection":["Tech News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508","name":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes - Long Haul Moving Pros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-22T09:40:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a8ade9cf7530abb9d7a5be9b17bcbf0.webp","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=508#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Toyota Is Being Sued For Allegedly Stealing the Recipe For African E-Trikes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/","name":"Long Haul Moving Pros","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}