A driver was left shaken after discovering a long, deliberate scratch carved across the side of their electric vehicle. This led to debate about whether anti-EV sentiment was to blame.
In a post to Reddit's r/Ioniq5 forum, the owner shared a photo of their grey Hyundai EV with a jagged key mark running across the driver's side door. "Above all else I don't understand," they wrote. "Do people just hate EVs that much or was this just some teenage angst?"
Unfortunately, this kind of vandalism isn't uncommon. In recent years, electric vehicle owners have reported damage ranging from keyed paint jobs to charging cables being cut or unplugged.
Beyond the personal stress and repair costs, these incidents carry a bigger consequence: They risk discouraging people from switching to EVs, even though EV adoption is one of the fastest ways to reduce our reliance on dirty energy sources such as gas and oil.
Studies show why this transition matters. Researchers at MIT found that gas-powered cars create about 350 grams of carbon pollution per mile driven, compared to just 200 for EVs on today's average U.S. grid. And the U.S. Department of Energy estimates EVs release nearly six times less harmful carbon pollution annually than traditional cars.
If drivers pair their EVs with rooftop solar, that number can drop close to zero. If this is something you're interested in, you can get a free quote from EnergySage, a TCD-vetted resource.
For the owner of this scratched EV, commenters rallied with sympathy.
One Redditor gave a considerate idea to make the most of the poor situation, commenting: "That sucks big time, but you can visualize how a pin stripe design would look really cool on your matte color."
Another commenter added: "Oh my god man! I'm so sorry this happened to you. This is the most moronic thing to do. You never scratch someone's car — it's the one thing that you just don't do."
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