Lately, we have reported on a series of strange anti-Tesla incidents at Supercharger stations in the US and it seems like we have one more as a Supercharger in Utah appears have been vandalized.
Mark Larsen, a Tesla Model 3 owner in Utah, read on a forum yesterday that Tesla’s Supercharger station in St. George, Utah might have been vandalized so he went to check it out.
He reported on back on Twitter:
“The bastards tried to cut a cable, then decided to drill into all the plugs instead. Units 1A, 4A & 4B don’t work; others do, but just barely. Hope the security cameras recorded the assholes.”
He shared a few images of the damage at the Tesla Supercharger station (pictures by Mark Larsen):
While Larsen says that some of the chargers are still working, Tesla recommends not to use a charging station if you can see some damage on it.
It is not the first time that a Tesla Supercharger has been targeted by saboteurs.
A few years ago, a Tesla Supercharger was sabotaged on an important route just before the holidays when charging stations see a lot of use.
More recently, we have seen several instances of pickup truck drivers taking over Supercharger stations in apparent protests against Tesla.
They also displayed some aggressive behavior toward Tesla owners looking to charge, but it’s otherwise not illegal to block a station outside of a few states who implemented regulations.
In China, Tesla stated implementing an innovative way to avoid gas cars ‘ICEing’ Superchargers.
In this case, damaging someone else’s property in Utah is “criminal mischief” and it can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or felony.
If the damages exceed $1,000, which is likely the case here, it is considered a third-degree felony and a vandal could face second-degree felony charges if the damages exceed $5,000, which is a possibility in this case.
High-powered cable and connectors are quite expensive.
Electrek’s Take
Come on now, this is going crazy. The pickup truck drivers and now this?
At a time when a bunch of high-powered charging stations are being shut down because of a safety issue with a cable supplier, we now also have to worry about people sabotaging charging stations?
I wonder if this is going to start getting more mainstream attention.
Older folks will remember in the early 2000s when a self-proclaimed group of anti-fossil fuel “activists” torched a Hummer truck and burned a Hummer dealer.
It got national attention and the FBI even called them a “top domestic terror threat.”
I admit that it might not be at the same level of vandalism here, but it kind of look like it’s ramping up to that. Are we going to see this anti-Tesla stuff being taken as seriously?
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.