More on Brendan Melling!
I've done some checking on the claims by the poster who calls himself Technology Mogal about he supposed extraordinary job done by Brendan Melling at Oakridge in 2016. This poster has made some serious allegations against Lee Arrowood which led me to investigate further.
There are several allegations made by the poster that don't appear very convincing. First the claim that Brendan. Melling had a visa to work in the USA. That seems unlikely, as former employees will tell you that it was known by many that Brendan Melling did not have a Social Security card and number. The Barbers had to rent a car and a house for him because of that. Anyone who had a legal right to work in the US has a social security number issued for tax purposes, even for an short internship.
The second allegation in doubt is the claim that he was held in high regard by personnel of the US military. It is hard to believe that an Australian who had never been in the USA before 2016 would have had any contact with anyone in the active duty US military involved in battery procurement or technology. Employees mentioned a couple of former officers, now working in civilian life, that visited the plant and met with the staff at the Barber's invitation but they did not know Mr. Melling before their visit. These visitors declined to invest in Oakridge, one can guess that they were not overly impressed.
As far as the supposed battery knowledge of Mr Melling, it is better illustrated by an encounter described by several of the employees. One day, a potential investor from California came to Oakridge. The staff put on a presentation of the products being developed, including a home storage unit meant to compete with Tesla's Powerwall. Brendan Melling made the surprising claim to that potential investor that the Oakridge design would hold more power because of the superior technology they used. Hearing this, two of the senior engineers (both held the title of Director) took out their calculators and did the math. They looked at each other knowingly, that claim was bogus!
Only two reasons can explain making a false statement that was easily verifiable. One is that Brendan Melling was so ignorant about lithium-ion batteries that he did not understand the difference between the cells used by Tesla and the ones Oakridge planned to use. The second is that he lied on purpose to convince a visitor to invest in Oakridge. If it is the first reason, then he was clearly incompetent, in the case of the second, he was guilty of attenpting criminal fraud.
I have spoken to many members of the staff at the time and find it unlikely that a former employee wrote that post. The claim that Brendan Melling inspired him "to be a better person" is so over the top that I believe Mr. Melling is the poster, tooting his own horn. The employees do not describe him in such high regard. They had to watch what they said in front of Mr. Melling, knowing that it would go straight to the Barbers. He was the one who told people that they were fired and escorted them out because Steve Barber is a coward who can't fire employees himself.
Mr. Melling was dealt a bad hand by being lured to Florida to be Director of Marketing and then having the responsibilities of GM dumped on him. However that does not excuse the fact that he helped the Barbers hurt a lot of people in Florida and investors nationwide. If one is handed responsibilities he can't handle competently, the honorable thing to do is resign.
