A man set fire to three Tesla chargers at a charging station in a South Carolina parking lot, but karma got him back quickly as he also set his clothes on fire.
Tesla has been under attack recently due to its CEO, Elon Musk, enraging a large part of the popular through his involvement with the Trump administration and his behavior on social media.
Those attacks are, for the most part, legal protests at Tesla stores and calls to boycott the brand, but we have also seen some illegal actions, like vandalizing cars, stores, and charging stations, from some more extremist individuals and groups.
In a new example, North Charleston Police is looking for a suspect who burned 3 Tesla Superchargers last Friday.
They are looking for “a White man in a grey jacket/hoodie with a black face mask”. The suspect spray painted “F*** Trump, long live Ukraine” next to the charging station.
He reportedly used homemade Molotov cocktails out of beer bottles to burn the chargers.
The police report mentions that a witness saw that the suspect set himself on fire during the arson:
“Witnesses advised that the suspect had accidentally caught their own back on fire while throwing the devices.”
The firefighters quickly responded and extinguished the fire, but the three Supercharger stalls affected had to shut down.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is leading the investigation.
We previously reported on other cases of vandalism against Tesla properties, in which federal law enforcement also got involved.
Top comment by Tedd Gallion
Vandals destroying any personal or public property is always wrong. I don’t really believe in gas vehicles anymore but personally I would never harm a gas station or someone’s personal property. That’s always wrong in every circumstance. Hopefully the criminal will be caught and have the book thrown at them.
Yesterday, President Trump said that he wants to label Tesla vandals as “domestic terrorists.”
Electrek’s Take
As we have often mentioned in the last few weeks, we sympathize with the people peacefully protesting and boycotting Tesla, but we condemn any violence, including vandalism.
The protests and boycotts are much more efficient in affecting Tesla than setting yourself on fire to shut down a few charging stalls for a few days at worst.
Everyone getting involved in this is actually eroding the credibility of the “Tesla Takedown” movement.
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