Tesla sites hit by arson amid DOGE cuts, Elon Musk backlash
The attacks come as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency continues to slash jobs of thousands of federal workers
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Arsonists hit two Tesla electric vehicle facilities this week — charging stations near Boston, Massachusetts, and a dealership in France — as company CEO Elon Musk continues to slash thousands of federal jobs via his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
A dozen Tesla cars were ignited outside a French dealership in Toulouse Sunday evening. Eight of the vehicles were gutted and four were badly damaged. The local prosecutor's office told Agence France-Presse the attack was "not at all accidental,” and authorities have opened a criminal investigation.
Hours later in Massachusetts, seven Tesla charging stations were torched Monday at a shopping center in Littleton, about 43 miles from Boston, causing heavy fire-related damage to nearby cars. The Littleton Police Department said investigators believed the fires to be “suspicious in nature” and “intentionally set.”
The charging stations had been “engulfed in flames and heavy, dark smoke,” police said in a news release. Police rcalled on the Littleton Electric Light & Water Department to shut down power to the charging stations. While waiting for department personnel, another charging station ignited. Officers launched a preliminary investigation once the power was cut off and fires extinguished.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
The brand has faced serious backlash since Musk assumed the role of “special government employee” steering DOGE, which has been responsible for firing thousands of federal employees. Protesters have staged demonstrations at Tesla dealerships across the nation.
Tesla stock has plunged 26 percent since Musk flashed what appeared to give a Nazi “sieg heil’ salute at an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Last month a group identifying itself as Students Against Nazi Extremism posted messages on Teslas in Humboldt County in northern California and sent a manifesto to a local newspaper warning Tesla owners to get rid of their vehicles before they’re vandalized.
Last week Justin Thomas Nelson, 42, of Lyons, Colorado was arrested for allegedly vandalizing a company dealership in Loveland, Colorado. Police said they found a “Molotov cocktail” next to a car at the dealership, graffiti of the word “NAZI” and an expletive and broken bottles with incendiary devices in a string of attacks.
On February 24, police found Nelson in his car, along with a container of gasoline, a box of bottles and wick material, similar to what police recovered in prior incidents. Nelson has been charged with one count of federal malicious destruction of property.
Before Nelson’s arrest, a Cybertruck was vandalized near San Francisco in an unrelated incident.
The Independent emailed the company for comment.
Some Tesla owners are selling their cars to distance themselves from Musk, including singer Sheryl Crow. Last month, the “If It Makes You Happy” songstress posted a social media video showing her waving goodbye to her electric vehicle as it was hauled away from her home.
She announced she sold the car and would be donating the proceeds to National Public Radio, which she wrote “is under threat by President Musk” in hopes “that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth.”
The investigations into the arson attacks are ongoing.