Inside Australia’s war against EVs: The bizarre reasons furious petrolheads won’t stop vandalising Teslas – and the foolish error they keep making

It’s a disturbing trend that strikes fear into the heart of any Tesla owner: returning to their beloved vehicle to discover someone has scored a key across its sleek body work.

A spate of vandalism incidents involving the Elon Musk-designed electric vehicles has made headlines across Australia in recent months for one simple reason: the unwitting culprits have been caught in the act.

Tesla cars are fitted with a ‘sentry mode’ system, which uses built-in cameras and sensors to record any suspicious activity around the car.

And yet, people persist in targeting them – the latest incident involving a stranger slashing a Tesla’s tyre in a car park in Gympie, Queensland, just this week. 

So what motivates someone to damage a $100,000-plus electric car? 

A spate of vandalism incidents involving the Elon Musk-designed electric vehicles have made headlines across Australia in recent months for one simple reason: the unwitting culprits have been caught in the act

A leading motoring expert has suggested that culprits are largely driven by jealousy, a sense of feeling threatened and an irrational hatred of Tesla’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk. 

James Ward, director of content at car website Drive, said that, a bit like its owner, Tesla was the most polarising car brand in the country.

‘People have this really weird love-hate relationship with the brand,’ Mr Ward told Daily Mail Australia.

‘You see almost this cultish behavior from these diehard fans who will not hear a bad word said about it. 

‘But then you have others who feel a bit threatened and think, “You’re not going to take away my Diesel ute or my V8 Commodore,” or whatever it is.’

But Mr Ward said the vandalism was not necessarily driven by a dislike of electric cars, claiming that even though there were some ‘pretty flash looking electric BMWs and Mercedes’, he had only ever heard of people keying Teslas. 

He likened owning a Tesla to the early days of Apple MacBook computers, when many people believed you used an ‘Apple Mac or you were nothing’ – generating a sense of inferiority on those less fortunate.

‘No other brand on the road polarises as much as Tesla, and I think there is a lot of it being the Elon Musk factor given he is a very opinionated, very right-leaning personality,’ Mr Ward said.

‘But then you’ve also got the Tesla drivers and the cultists that sort of perpetuate this. 

‘I can see how this whole thing would make people feel alienated or feel like saying, “I need to show you that you’re not so great.” That kind of thing.’

As a result, Mr Ward said many people saw Musk’s ‘cars as a target’.

James Ward (pictured), director of content at car website Drive, said that, a bit like its owner, Tesla was the most polarising car brand in the country

A leading motoring expert has suggested that culprits are largely driven by jealousy, a sense of feeling threatened and an irrational hatred of Tesla’s billionaire owner Elon Musk 

‘It’s the idea that you are scratching a Tesla because you don’t like Elon Musk through some kind of weird psychological association,’ he added.

Beyond that, Mr Ward said people were often triggered by spite and jealousy.

‘There is definitely an element of jealousy there and you used to see it where, if you had a Mazda and a Mercedes parked side by side, the Mercedes would get keyed – not the Mazda,’ he said.

‘Especially where times are a bit tough, people think, “You will not flaunt wealth in front of me. I’ll show you.”‘

The car enthusiast did have some words of advice for anyone who was considering keying a Tesla: ‘Think twice.’

‘Teslas have cameras that just run all the time. You’re an idiot if you key a Tesla,’ he said.

And he pointed out the impact is felt not just by the victim and the culprits when they are inevitably caught.  

‘If you’re keying a car, you’re ruining it for everybody, because you’re just pushing insurance costs up for all of us, regardless of what car you drive,’ he said. 

In January, Daily Mail Australia tracked down an elderly couple who had been convicted of keying a Tesla.

Raymond Edwards, 70, and his wife Barbara were caught inflicting wilful damage on a car in the Brookside Shopping Centre in Brisbane’s inner north last October.

After being ordered to pay more than $3,000 in repairs, Mr Edwards admitted to this publication he and his wife had let their frustration get the better of them.

Mr Ward did have some words of advice for anyone who was considering keying a Tesla: ‘Think twice.’ ‘Teslas have cameras that just run all the time. You’re an idiot if you key a Tesla,’ he said

He claimed they had been ‘cut off’ when they were driving and almost forced into a power pole by a white Tesla and white BMW about 800m from the shops. 

‘I regret our actions, but the thing is, courtesy has been thrown out the window and stupidity has been thrown in,’ Mr Edwards said.

He also declared he had never own an electric vehicle and would ‘stand there and clap’ if he ever saw a Tesla on fire at the roadside.