Leave the freakin’ Teslas alone

If you are angry as hell about the actions that Elon Musk has taken in his protean role in the Trump administration, this post is for you. (If you are are a supporter of Musk and his activities, this post is not for you, go read something else.)

It’s natural that people project their anger towards Musk into anger towards Tesla cars and infrastructure. Along with the social network X, Teslas are the most visible symbol of Musk, and you may have a visceral reaction each time you see one. Incidents of vandalism against Teslas are spreading, including people spray-painting Cybertrucks. In Littleton, Massachusetts, someone set a Tesla supercharging station on fire, and in Ithaca, New York, someone defaced superchargers with swastikas.

It’s easy to listen to these reports and feel like this is a bit of what Musk deserves. Why not call them Swasticars? That’ll show ’em!

Why people buy Teslas

Let’s step back and think about the millions of people who have bought Teslas in the last ten or twelve years. Who are these people?

Are they right-wing nutcases? Are they arch-conservatives bent on forever changing the politics of America?

No. They are individuals and families who wanted to invest in dependable transportation, a new kind of car, and a new way of driving and living.

My own case is typical. My first electric car was a Nissan Leaf. (Before that, I’d bought a hybrid SUV and a hybrid sedan, both Toyotas.) The Leaf was a good little car. At 100 miles of range, it had its limits, but for the 95% of my trips which were local, it was dependable, low maintenance, and zippy.

My wife and I wanted to upgrade and when we looked at the Tesla Model 3 in 2017, we were impressed. It had a far greater range and the technology, both for charging and for the driver interface, was far advanced over the Leaf. Electric cars are better for the environment; they are more efficient and generate less greenhouse gas, especially if the electricity you use comes from greener sources like hydroelectricity and wind power. It’s far cheaper to fuel them and they require almost no maintenance. And we had already put a charger in our driveway for the Leaf.

The Tesla supercharging infrastructure was a key part of our decision. I almost never charged the Leaf anywhere but at home. But Tesla superchargers were so plentiful and convenient that we knew we could go anywhere. The supercharger network keeps growing every year. I’ve driven my Tesla all over Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. I’ve also driven it back and forth from New England to Pennsylvania a bunch of times. Range is no longer an issue.

A few years after buying the Model 3, I installed a Tesla charger in the garage in my new house in Maine and bought a second Tesla, a Model Y, that was big enough to hold bicycles, my wife’s artwork, and my daughter’s musical instruments. It even has a trailer hitch that I’ve used a few times.

I share this extended description so you can see that I am a human being with a family and transportation needs, just like you. Nearly everyone who bought a Tesla before 2024 has a similar story to tell. We didn’t buy a Tesla because of the politics of the CEO. We bought it because it was the kind of car that would work for our families.

Think about what you’re saying and doing

When someone vandalizes a Tesla, the person they are hurting most is the person who bought and uses that Tesla, who is probably a lot like you. They’re your neighbor. They bought it to get where they’re going conveniently and efficiently, not to endorse Elon Musk’s politics.

If someone damages a supercharger station, they’re just making life harder for a lot of regular people. It’s no different from vandalizing the only local gas station in a small town. Tesla owners bought Teslas counting on those supercharger stations working (and they nearly always do). Maybe the vandal will end up stranding some poor sucker who was counting on charging at that station to get home. Increasingly, these superchargers also serve all sorts of other electric cars, most of which have adopted Tesla’s charging standard.

Now you, my gentle reader, would never actually vandalize a car or a public charging facility, because you’re not a lawless hooligan. But if you chuckle internally at how somebody is sticking it to the “Swasticars,” recognize that you’re feeling warm and fuzzy about messing over a bunch of normal families just trying to drive a car that they like. They didn’t sign up to advertise any particular political party or philosophy.

Tesla resale prices have declined due to a number of factors, including the number of owners who no longer want to be associated with Musk’s company. A decline in resale value hurts the current car owners far more than it hurts Tesla. For me, owning and using these cars is far more valuable than what I could get on the resale market, and the same is true of most Tesla owners. It is more environmentally efficient to keep a car and drive it a long time, not replace it every few years. So my family and I are going to keep driving these cars a long time. I’m sure most Tesla owners feel the same way.

If you want all of the Tesla owners to sell our cars, let’s just think about that for a moment. You want us to take a financial hit in a depressed market, get rid of a car that’s working just fine, and invest in a different car, just because you don’t like to see a car that reminds you of Elon Musk. You’re happy if we have to suffer quite a bit even though what you ask won’t affect Musk at all– he doesn’t care who the owner is, so long as Tesla gets to make money from servicing it. The glut of Teslas for resale might depress Tesla sales a little, but I’m betting people who buy Teslas at this moment are not motivated primarily by the resale value. And every Tesla we sell is still on the road, just with somebody else driving.

And if you want us to just junk our Teslas, well, screw you. That’s wasteful, and I haven’t got tens of thousands of dollars lying around to replace a perfectly good car just because seeing it on the road makes you wrinkle your nose.

So what are you supposed to do?

If you really are mad at Elon Musk, there are a lot of ways to protest his politics. You can ask your elected representatives to stand up to him. You can vote for people who oppose him in local elections. You can quit X and never use it. You can publicly protest. And you can try to persuade people to stop buying new Teslas. If growth slows at Tesla the car and energy company, its market value will decline. The decline it the price of Tesla stock will hurt Elon Musk far more than anything you can do to the Tesla cars already on the road.

Please stop demonizing Teslas and Tesla owners. We didn’t sign up for this. We’re not the problem. Your prejudices about us are not valid. We’re your friends and neighbors. Taking your anger out on us does nothing to stop Elon Musk and his politics, but it does an awful lot to make our lives much harder.