Elon Musk's recent political activities have slightly stained the reputation of electric vehicles, and given how the stock of his company, Tesla, has cratered in recent weeks, the EV market can't afford to take many more significant hits.
Thus, a viral video like the one below, which would have been cause for concern any time, comes at a particularly tough moment.
Recently posted to an anti-HOA subreddit, this video — a screengrab of a security camera — captures a woman (who, given the subreddit, likely works for the poster's local HOA) unplugging the Redditor's car, letting the charger fall to the ground and potentially damaging it in the process.
There's a lot going on in this particular incident. But one thing that's very clear is that videos like this certainly do not convince people to buy electric vehicles. Would you buy a car, especially one with the extra infrastructural investment that an electric vehicle requires, if it was constantly at risk of being unplugged, vandalized, or otherwise harmed? Doubtful.
Fewer people buying electric vehicles means a slower transition away from dirty fuels to cleaner forms of energy. EVs aren't perfect, as the battery manufacturing process creates high amounts of pollution, but they're improving all the time. EVs with the dirtiest batteries are still far cleaner than fuel-powered cars. Simply put, electric vehicles remain a vital part of any plan for a global clean energy future, no matter who's in charge of their manufacturing.
Surprisingly, some of the comments on this video were relatively sympathetic to the HOA.
"If you live in that same neighborhood, why are you using electricity funded by the group to charge your car?" one top comment read.
Generally, though, the post's comments reflected the spirit of the subreddit's name.
"I hate HOAs and all involved with running them with a burning passion," one commenter wrote.
"I'm the president of my HOA and I agree," quipped another Redditor in response.
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Cost 💰 Another user provided legitimate legal advice: "If you wanted to be petty, you could say she broke the charger by dropping it on the ground. File in small claims court against her personally, ask for the cost of a replacement charger, plus extra to recover filing costs and time. Problem is it takes time and a lot of effort. Depends how badly you want to send a message."
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