Evidence that human-caused pollution is heavily responsible for rapidly rising global temperatures is piling up, but thankfully, technology is available that can improve the situation.
Among them are electric vehicles, which don't rely on dirty fuels such as gasoline or diesel to function and don't produce harmful, planet-warming tailpipe pollution — unlike cars powered by internal combustion engines.
But the actions of people who might be skeptical about these innovations could affect how quickly we switch to this type of vehicle en masse. Indeed, the number of incidents involving intentional damage to Teslas is alarming and perhaps discouraging motorists from making their next car an EV.
One Tesla owner took to Reddit to talk about their experience, with someone in their neighborhood keying the side of their car while charging at home, leaving huge scratches on the paintwork.
"The key marks are so deep you can see the metal, and on all the panels except for the front bumper, both sides," they said.
They asked the r/TeslaModelY community what to do next, wondering how much it would cost to repair the damage and if they could pay for the repairs out of their own pocket.
"Don't wait on reporting to the cops," one user said. "You can report and provide damage estimates after the fact."
The Tesla owner said that they had the vehicle's Sentry Mode security system turned off because they thought it was safe while parked outside their home, and other Redditors said this was a mistake.
"Enable Sentry and turn off camera-based detection," another comment advised. "This is not as good as regular Sentry but should still activate when your car detects that it's being disturbed."
Other Tesla drivers have caught people in the act thanks to cameras added to the vehicle, with some recording vandalism in public parking lots.
But the reasons why people do so are unclear. Perhaps it's to make a point about their dislike of controversial Tesla owner Elon Musk. Maybe they simply don't like EVs, despite the many benefits they provide — including cheaper refueling costs, less need for maintenance, and contributing to a cleaner road network.
Whatever it is, it's essential that we aren't deterred by such actions, as the good things that EVs bring to the planet heavily outweigh the bad.Â
One Redditor believes they know what's to blame for the seemingly more frequent accounts of vandalism.Â
"There is so much anti-EV hate happening even my friends talked crap about it, until we did a road trip. Then their tune changed!" they said. "Ignorance has infested a lot of people's minds. It's sad."
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