Pickup truck drivers across the South, including Tennessee, are reportedly blocking access to Tesla electric car Superchargers.
Environmentalists’ feelings are apparently hurt because of it.
According to the left-leaning Green Car Reports, “these incidents have occurred in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and even overseas.”
Green Car Reports speculated angry truck drivers are targeting Teslas specifically because “they are expensive luxury cars and qualify for a large federal tax credit.”
“Photos shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit over the weekend showed all kinds of trucks blocking Superchargers, from small pickups to big semis,” the website reported.
“Some have termed it ICEing—a reference to the internal combustion engines under the hoods of the offending trucks.”
Green Car Reports said “whole rows of trucks either pulled across whole rows of Superchargers or backed in to block several at a time. In two more cases, semi-trucks pulled across rows of Superchargers, blocking them, when other parking was available.”
The writers at the website guessed it was an organized campaign, but they also confessed they don’t know who is behind it.
Many cities, according to Green Car Reports, have passed laws restricting parking at electric-car chargers. The website did not list which cities.
CarrBuzz.com, meanwhile, also reporting on these incidents, said “most of the time, internal combustion engine vehicle drivers who park at a Tesla Supercharger station do so accidentally.”
The drivers don’t realize the area is reserved, the website went on to say.
“Sometimes they simply don’t care and park wherever they feel like it, but they’re not shouting at or even engaging with Tesla owners,” CarrBuzz.com reported.
As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, taxpayers have paid millions of dollars to help electric vehicle manufacturers get their products out on the road. Taxpayers have also paid for electric car charging stations all over the state.
Prior reporting shows few people around Nashville appear to use these charging stations.
Despite taking a big tax credit, Tesla, however, owns its Superchargers, according to Green Car Reports.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Truck Driver” by Walmart. CC BY 2.0.
