American Integrated Services alleges that Tesla did not pay $513473 for the lead and asbestos cleaning it provided under a $3.57 million treaty signed in January 2016. So on Tuesday, it filed a lawsuit in a court in the District of Oakland, Calif.

Tesla, in response to a plea for comment, said the case was "a minor trade dispute."

"We paid for anything we told them to do," a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement Friday. "They are seeking this special money for something that we didn't authorize them to do, so we obviously don't have to pay for it. We asked them to provide the relevant documents to prove that Tesla asked them to do these things, but they couldn't provide them. ”

The lawsuit comes at a time when Tesla is facing doubts about its cash flow, and the company is investing heavily in increasing production of its Model 3 cars. As Tesla's first Volkswagen car, the Model 3 is expected to transform Tesla from a niche luxury car maker to a mainstream manufacturer.

Large suppliers are often reluctant to file claims against automakers and may be able to bet on winning more orders in the future by holding on to unpaid payments while customers are actively improving their physical condition. However, small suppliers don't always make this bet, especially if they don't expect to do business with automakers.

Dennis Virag, a 40-year veteran of manufacturing care in the automotive industry·, shows that automakers typically pay suppliers as soon as possible, unless there are quality or treaty enforcement issues.

In the lawsuit, American Integrated Services alleges that it has an agreement with Tesla that it should pay the company within 30 days of receiving the invoice.

"From February 19, 2017 to the present, Tesla has purchased lead and asbestos cleaning, demolition and removal, and other environmental protection and correction services, as well as related goods, labor, materials and equipment," the complaint reads.

American Integrated Services declined to comment.

Mass production of the Model 3 began in July, but it has not been able to meet Tesla's target of increasing production capacity to 2,500 units per week by the end of the first quarter. On Tuesday, Tesla reassured investors on the funding issue, saying that it would increase its Model 3 production capacity to 5,000 units a week within three months, laying the foundation for a "strong positive operating cash flow" in the third quarter.

"As a result, Tesla does not need to hold new equity or debt financing this year in addition to its existing credit lines," the company said in its quarterly sales presentation.

Before Tesla's sales announcement, CEO Elon· and Elon Musk announced a tweet on April 1, April Fool's Day, mocking the company's closure and Moody's downgrade.

At the end of the year, Tesla had $3.4 billion in cash on its books, and it burned an average of $1 billion per quarter. Unless the company significantly increases car production, the company will need to raise more money this year, according to the elucidators.

In addition to burning money very quickly, Tesla is also saddled with more than $10 billion in debt, and its other accounts payable are also increasing.

After Tesla assured on Tuesday that it did not need to raise funds, several analysts said that they predicted that Tesla would hold a financing later this year. Barclays Bank Hairdresser Brian·Brian Johnson said in a complaint to clients that he predicted that Tesla would need to raise $2.5 billion in the third quarter. (Compiled by Hongyi)