The number of reported assaults on Tesla cars, dealerships, and charging stations has exceeded 50 as Elon Musk gains more influence in the Trump administration and openly expresses his conservative political views.
According to a report by Fox News, there have been a minimum of 51 deliberate attacks in the United States and at least 17 more internationally.
The attacks vary from minor offenses like scratching or spraying graffiti to more severe incidents such as arson and drive-by shootings believed to be aimed at Tesla vehicles. There are currently approximately five federal legal cases related to these assaults.
Elon Musk and a recent Tesla protest. The number of reported attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations has now surpassed more than 50 amid Musk’s growing influence in the Trump administration. (Getty Images)
Elsewhere, more than a dozen shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, on March 13, the second such incident at that location in one week.
In Charleston, South Carolina, Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, allegedly wrote profane messages against President Donald Trump and advocated for Ukraine around Tesla charging stations before lighting three of the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails on March 7.
Court documents, citing witnesses, say Clarke-Pounder spray-painted in red paint, “F— Trump” and “Long Live Ukraine” in a Tesla charging station parking spot.
Meanwhile, in Salem, Oregon, on Jan. 20, 41-year-old Adam Matthew Lansky is alleged to have thrown approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership, federal prosecutors said. One vehicle was completely destroyed and several others were damaged.
Other incidents have involved people keying Tesla’s, carving or spray-painting the word “Nazi” or swastika symbols onto Tesla vehicles, while one man has been charged in Texas with using a small all-terrain vehicle (ATV) to ram into a Tesla vehicle and damage at least two others.
Teslas on fire at a collision center in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 18, 2025. (Souphany Vannavong via Storyful.)
The international incidents involved several instances of vandalism against vehicles, including a Tesla humanoid robot having orange liquid poured over it by climate activists in the U.K.
A Tesla factory near Berlin was set on fire March 5 while twelve Tesla vehicles were set on fire in Toulouse, France, on March 2.
Over the weekend, anti-Musk protesters saw one of their biggest shows of force as the decentralized movement known as Tesla Takedown planned a “Global Day of Action” targeting more than 500 Tesla locations worldwide.Â
Fox News’ Madeline Coggins, Mary Schlageter, Peter D’Abrosca and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
