The Reddit community r/TeslaCam contains all kinds of interesting dashcam footage shared by Tesla owners. Oftentimes, the content is simply frustrating and funny moments from the road, but other times, the posts are more infuriating than anything.
Tesla vandalism has been big in the news lately as many have even targeted Teslas owned privately, often without knowing how the driver feels or when they got their car. The Cool Down has been covering many of those newer cases, but Tesla and EV vandalism have been going on for years, and one driver posted a prime example of that to Reddit with some Sentry Mode footage.
The post — titled "It happened. My Tesla had a major keying" — contains a short video of the event in question. The clip is taken from the OP's side-view mirror footage with Sentry Mode activated. It shows a person in a white hoodie casually walking past the vehicle and dragging a key along the paint. It then cuts to a video taken by the OP of the damage, which looks pretty brutal considering how quickly it was done.
"Anyone else have this happen yet? Also curious if any Canadians have any tips or experiences on how much it costs to fix something like this," the caption reads.
The use of the word "yet" implies that this costly vandalism is something that Tesla owners have almost come to expect. However, it's not just this EV brand that's being targeted.
There have been multiple incidents of EV charging stations being vandalized both in the United States and in other nations. It's unclear what the underlying intentions of these acts are, but it's certainly a possible hindrance to the EV movement regardless, though it's unlikely to do anything to change the mind of the driver if it creates a sense of tribalism.
If someone were on the fence about upgrading to an EV, it's easy to imagine that stories like this might dissuade them. That's unfortunate because EVs are far better for the planet than fossil-fuel-burning cars — even in spite of some fair criticisms. As MIT detailed, EVs are responsible for about half as much pollution per mile traveled as gas-powered cars.
Commenters shared similar experiences, as well as some secondhand outrage, with the OP:
"My 2006 Prius, brand new at the time, was keyed along the entire driver's side," one wrote. "This was while parked at a restaurant. Gas prices were $4/gallon at the time. People are just a*******."
"Damnit! People that do things like this SUCK," another said. "No. Damn. Reason. To. Be. A. Jerk."
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