Since United States President Donald Trump’s inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by the Washington Post.

The incidents come as Elon Musk has rocketed to prominence as Trump’s best-known backer and as a conservative provocateur in his own right.

The ire directed at the tech billionaire online has increasingly spilled into real life, with vandalism directed at Tesla storefronts, charging stations, and vehicles.

In March, several Tesla superchargers at a shopping centre in Littleton, Massachusetts, were set ablaze.

Vandals in Maryland also spray-painted “No Musk” onto a Tesla building, alongside a swastika-like symbol.

In February, a man brandishing an AR-style semiautomatic weapon fired at a Tesla storefront in Salem, Oregon.

Just a few weeks earlier, investigators say, the same man attacked the same dealership by throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and through the store window. He caused an estimated US$500,000 in damages, according to court documents.

The destruction adds to the woes of a carmaker already in turmoil.

Its stock has fallen by more than 35% since Trump’s inauguration, and last year, the company suffered its first annual sales drop in more than a decade.

In Germany, Tesla car sales plummeted by 76% in February compared with a year earlier, according to figures released this week.

And some owners have expressed buyer’s remorse over owning a car some now see as a symbol of far-right politics, a stark departure from the environmental consciousness it once epitomised.

Ross Gerber, a long-time Tesla investor and Musk critic, said the reports of destruction against Tesla storefronts, cars, and superchargers could create a “chilling effect”.

Customers “may not want to associate … with Elon and deal with vandalism”, he said.

The billionaire’s car company is no stranger to public ire.

Last year, the Tesla factory near Berlin lost power after a far-left environmental organisation, the Volcano Group, claimed responsibility for setting fire to an electricity pylon near the plant.

Months later, around 800 environmental activists attempted to storm the same factory.

Some employees and investors have begun to speak out about Musk, worried that his alliance with Trump is harming beyond repair the company’s reputation and mission of building a more sustainable future.

Musk’s political perch since Trump took office has increased polarised views about him. He has forged relationships with far-right politicians in Europe and made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute.

Demonstrators have gathered outside Tesla showrooms across the US to protest against Musk’s dramatic cuts to the federal government through the US DOGE Service.

“Whether it is politically motivated or not, arson and destruction of property is not the way to get your point across,” said Matthew Pinard, the police chief of Littleton, where several Tesla chargers were lit on fire this week.

Musk and Tesla did not return requests for comment. In response to a photo posted on social media of a supercharger spray-painted with the word “Nazi” last month, an official Tesla social media account said the company “will press charges for vandalism at superchargers”.

Charred Tesla

Adam Choi and his wife were leaving church on Sunday morning in Brookline, Massachusetts, when they noticed their Tesla had been vandalised with a sticker of Musk in his now notorious raised-arm pose. Choi, 37, spotted the suspected vandal across the parking lot and pulled out his phone.

“Why do you think you have the right to do that?” Choi said in the video, shared with the Post.

“It’s my free speech,” the man said before riding off on his bicycle. Choi called the Brookline Police Department, who have since identified the man but have not made an arrest.

In response to Choi’s video, shared by the Brookline police on X, Musk chimed in: “Damaging the property of others, aka vandalism, is not free speech”, he wrote.

About 50km away in Littleton early the next morning, a Tesla supercharger station in an outdoor shopping centre was doused with an accelerant and set alight, police said. The incident is being investigated as an act of arson, but no suspect has been identified.

Elsewhere across the country, the vandalism has sometimes taken a terrorising turn.

In the early morning hours of Inauguration Day, a Tesla driver charging his vehicle near a dealership in Salem, Oregon, saw a man in black brandishing what appeared to be an AR-style rifle. He saw the man light an object on fire and throw it at a red Tesla SUV, according to a federal court complaint.

As the man – later identified by police as Adam Matthew Lansky – continued to hurl what appeared to be Molotov cocktails at other parked Tesla vehicles, the driver quickly unplugged his vehicle and began to drive away.

According to the complaint, Lansky dropped an ignited Molotov cocktail and pointed his gun towards the man inside the Tesla.

Then, Lansky threw a rock that shattered the showroom window and tossed an ignited device into the store before throwing Molotov cocktails at two more vehicles and leaving, according to police.

Photos of the damage provided in court documents show a charred Tesla hollowed out by a fire, and a shattered store window. Seven Tesla vehicles suffered damage from the attack, with one destroyed, according to the complaint.

A few weeks later, Lansky allegedly returned to the same dealership and shot at the storefront and a parked vehicle inside the store. Bullets were recovered inside the store, in an area “that would be populated with customers and employees during business hours”.

Lansky was arrested on Tuesday local time and held in custody pending charges. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Brand worries

The violent acts come as Musk courts controversy on the national stage.

The billionaire used to largely stay away from politics, more focused on his mission of creating a more sustainable future with Tesla and sending rockets into space with his other company, SpaceX.

But Musk quickly ascended to Trump’s inner circle last year as he funnelled at least US$288 million ($504m) to help elect him and other Republican candidates, becoming the cycle’s largest political donor.

Musk’s polarising politics and anti-Tesla vandalism are having a negative effect on the brand, said Gerber. “It could all be fixed very easily with somebody else taking over and running Tesla.”

Some say Musk’s massive bet on Trump is bound to pay off despite the current backlash against Tesla.

Investors and analysts expect that the electric vehicle company will benefit significantly from streamlined regulation on autonomous driving, which Musk has said is critical for the future of the company.

Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, said that even though Musk and Trump’s relationship has created “major brand worries for Tesla”, it will ultimately benefit.

“Some of these distraction issues will fade,” he said in an investors note.

“The best thing that ever happened to Musk and Tesla was Trump in the White House as this will create a deregulatory environment with a federal autonomous roadmap central to the Tesla golden strategic vision.”

However, local law enforcement officials worry it’s a matter of time before someone becomes seriously injured in violence against the brand.

Nelson, who is also listed in court documents as Justin Thomas Nelson, is estimated to have caused at least $5000 in damage at the Colorado dealership, documents show.

“Whether you like Musk or you don’t, this is not the right way to do it,” said Paul Campbell, deputy superintendent of the Brookline Police Department. “We’re all grown-ups who learn at a very young age to not touch things that don’t belong to you.”

Choi said he voted for Trump and is “neutral” on Musk’s work at DOGE.

While he understands the animus against Musk as he makes aggressive changes to the federal workforce, he said it was still “shocking and disturbing” to have his car vandalised outside his church.

He said he loves his Tesla, considering it the best – and cheapest – option for a quality electric vehicle in the US. But the incident in the church parking lot has made him wary of driving his car now, for fear of it being attacked again.

“I think the motivation for [the suspect] was to send a message to Elon,” Choi said. “The message I got was that I was penalised because I bought a green car.”

Pranshu Verma is a reporter on The Washington Post’s technology team. Trisha Thadani joined The Washington Post’s technology team in 2023 from the San Francisco Chronicle.