Electric vehicle hate is mystifying and maddening, and it can be dangerous, too.
A driver piloting a Tesla shared their concerning experience on Reddit, posting a short dashcam video and writing, "Rolling coal on my Cybertruck then throws a rock at my windshield."
A couple of commenters pointed out that the actions, which took place in Utah, were criminal even before they escalated to rock-throwing.
"Report him," one wrote, sharing a link to a Department of Environmental Quality webpage about smog-producing vehicles. "It's illegal to roll coal in UT."
Someone else said: "Federal crime. Report them."
Another user doubted the veracity of that statement, but it's true. The mere ability to roll coal is a crime under the Clean Air Act, which makes it illegal to tamper with pollution monitoring equipment. The installation of "defeat devices" violates the statute, and businesses as well as corporations have paid the price.
Rolling coal can also get you pulled over because it creates a dangerous situation by obscuring visibility — even if your state doesn't have an Environmental Police force like Massachusetts.
No matter the reaction of this road warrior, they can't take away the fact that they're spending at least $1,500 more on gas and maintenance than the Cybertruck driver. EV owners can also bank tax credits up to $7,500 and know they're helping to slow the rapid heating of the planet, which is being driven by the consumption of dirty energy sources such as gas.
EVs may require intensive mining for the making of batteries, but the millions of tons of lithium, cobalt, and other metals extracted from the ground don't match the billions of tons of coal and petroleum that are pulled up and burned. That still holds when considering demand decades into the future, and rare earth metals are recyclable, unlike the alternative.
🗣️ When you think about owning an EV, what concerns you most about public charging stations?
🔘 Chargers not working 🚫
🔘 Chargers not being available 😥
🔘 Charging being too expensive 💰
🔘 Charging taking too long ⌚
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"The Tesla hate is real," one Redditor said. "Cybertruck or Models. … I don't understand it. Truly mind-boggling. The amount of vandalism I've seen [in real life] and on Reddit is just showing proof that people fear and hate what they don't understand or agree with."
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