{"id":252560,"date":"2025-03-05T22:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T22:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/tesla-charging-stations-set-on-fire-as-backlash-against-elon-musk-intensifies\/"},"modified":"2025-03-05T22:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T22:10:14","slug":"tesla-charging-stations-set-on-fire-as-backlash-against-elon-musk-intensifies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/tesla-charging-stations-set-on-fire-as-backlash-against-elon-musk-intensifies\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla charging stations set on fire as backlash against Elon Musk intensifies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tesla<\/div>


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Tesla charging stations have been set on fire in the US state of Massachusetts as a backlash against Elon Musk grows.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators have been protesting against his close ties to Donald Trump and embrace of far-right politicians around the world.<\/p>\n

Officers and firefighters rushed to The Point Shopping Center near Boston<\/strong><\/a> and found the charging stations “engulfed in flames and heavy, dark smoke”.<\/p>\n

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Musk says he’s getting ‘death threats’<\/span>
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Police said seven charging stations were damaged and the “fire appears to have been intentionally set”, but no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

Musk<\/strong><\/a>, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla<\/strong><\/a>, now heads up the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).<\/p>\n

Mr Musk has overseen the firing of thousands of government employees<\/strong><\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The world’s richest man and his companies have been targeted since he made what looked like a Nazi salute<\/strong><\/a> at Mr Trump’s inauguration, with analysts saying Tesla’s car sales have fallen.<\/p>\n

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\n Elon Musk making the gesture. Pic: Reuters
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Tesla cars have been vandalised – and a woman was arrested after being accused of trying to burn down a Tesla dealership in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Some owners have put stickers on their cars announcing: “I bought it before Elon went nuts.”<\/p>\n

Mr Musk has also faced a backlash in Europe, where he has urged supporters of a German far-right party to move beyond their “past guilt”<\/a><\/strong>, called for the release of jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and described Sir Keir Starmer as an “evil tyrant”.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
China says it is ‘ready for any type of war’ with US after tariffs<\/a>
Billions of pounds in spending cuts expected in spring statement<\/a><\/strong>
Bangladesh’s ousted PM ‘to stand trial’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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A suspected arson attack caused a power outage and led to production being halted at a Tesla plant in the German state of Brandenburg, while an image of Musk making a straight-armed salute was also projected on a Tesla factory outside Berlin.<\/p>\n

In London a poster at a bus stop featured a similar image and branded Teslas as “the swasticar”.<\/p>\n

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Musk’s political activism impacting sales<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tesla saw its European sales figures drop by 45% in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics, with sales in Germany and France down by about 60%.<\/p>\n

Senior analyst Felipe Munoz told Sky News “it’s hard to tell exactly how much his activism is impacting sales” – but said it was clear his “active role in politics” was “having an impact” on the company.<\/p>\n

Some of the decline may be linked to prospective buyers holding off buying the latest version of Tesla’s bestseller, the Model Y, with a new version due to be released later this year.<\/p>\n

But Mr Munoz said sales of the Model 3 had seen a “worrying” drop despite there being no reason for buyers to wait.<\/p>\n

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\n A protester outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle in February. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

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Democrats protest in Congress with ‘Musk steals’ signs<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a lengthy address to Congress on Tuesday, Mr Trump praised Mr Musk’s work<\/strong><\/a>, prompting two standing ovations from Republicans in the chamber.<\/p>\n

The president made exaggerated claims about alleged government abuse Mr Musk and his team had uncovered – prompting Democrats to wave signs reading “false” and “Musk steals”.<\/p>\n

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\n Democrats held protest signs during the speech. Pic: Reuters
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Since Mr Trump’s inauguration, Tesla’s stock has fallen by 37% – representing a loss of $550bn (\u00a3429bn).<\/p>\n

Mr Munoz, said the long-term impact of the anger with Mr Musk may be easier to see in a few months.<\/p>\n

He added: “Most of the drivers care about the car, they don’t care about what the manager or owner of the company thinks, as long as their car doesn’t break.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Tesla charging stations have been set on fire in the US state of Massachusetts as a backlash against Elon Musk grows. Demonstrators have been protesting against his close ties to Donald Trump and embrace of far-right politicians around the world. Officers and firefighters rushed to The Point Shopping Center near Boston and found the charging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/02\/768x432\/skynews-elon-musk_6841084.jpg?20250227075446","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13607,5327,2534,80,6408,6039,320,5328,3489],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252562,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252560\/revisions\/252562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}