Tesla owner distraught after neighbor's act in 'fit of rage': 'One of those truly horrible people'

A Tesla owner took to Reddit for advice on how to clean their charger after a neighbor unplugged it from their car and threw it on the ground. 

Posting in the r/TeslaSupport subreddit, the poster explained that their neighbor was "in a fit of rage," unplugged the OP's charger from its port on their car, and threw it on the ground. When the OP went to plug it back in, they found it was covered in sand and wouldn't connect, so they asked Reddit what to do. 

The poster said in a comment that their neighbor was angry they had bought an EV without consulting her, adding, "She is one of those truly horrible people." 

While EVs continue to boom in popularity and availability, they have been the target of vandalism for years, due to misconceptions held by gas-powered car drivers. Teslas in particular have been targeted in recent months, perhaps as a reaction to company CEO Elon Musk's involvement in President Donald Trump's administration, though this post is actually from last year and resurfaced following a closer review of Tesla owners reporting vandalism. 

Tesla drivers have seen their cars keyed on numerous occasions, had rocks thrown at their cars, and seen their cars attacked by people in parking lots. The same happens to drivers of other EVs at times, though most non-Tesla EV vandalism happens to public charging stations and cables, in cases more similar to this Redditor's tale.

Despite this, those incidents are actually rare overall, and driving an EV remains a great way to reduce your pollution; they have less of an environmental impact than gas-powered cars even with the cost and impact of mining materials for batteries. 

Commenters were of one mind about how to get the sand out of the charger. 

"Canned air or air compressor," said one. 

"Compressed air to blow it out," said another. "If it's stuck then a Q-tip or whatever you need. There's no energy at the end of the plug so no need to worry."

"As others have said, compressed air," said a third. "Or if it's really gunky, I'd try some CRC contact cleaner!"

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