If you want to take a road trip in a Tesla, you are likely going to need a supercharger. However, some pickup truck owners are protesting the ownership of Teslas by using their rigs to block the supercharger spots. The action is called “ICE-ing”, as in “internal combustion engine”. Tesla owners are (understandably) more than a little upset about having their superchargers blocked.
One such owner decided to see if there was anything he could do about it. He borrowed his sister’s Chevy Silverado 1500, hooked up some tow straps, and got tugging. Of course, using his own Tesla Model X as the tow vehicle. Here is what happened:
As you can see, the Model X had little issue moving the truck. Though, the parking lot looked pretty icy. However, we think there are some really important points to be made here.
Not Cool! Don’t Do That
Tesla owners have every right to be upset if they can’t get their car access to its necessary energy source. However, towing someone else’s personal vehicle may not be the best response. Towing anything with its parking brake engaged can be problematic and there is a high potential to damage the vehicle. Whether or not you think the truck owners deserve it, we never condone damaging another person’s personal vehicle.
Sure it is inconvenient and quite rude of the truck owners to do this. But to risk damaging someone else’s property is not worth it. These angry truck owners may also be more prone to violence. Especially if they are willing to go out of their way just to block someone from charging their vehicle.
What to do?
What can you do if you get ICE-ed? Well, a good first option is simply to talk with whoever owns the property that the superchargers are on. They have every right to ask people to leave their property.
Many states have laws in place that can assign a fine for parking in an EV space. The owners could get fined and towed for their action. But please, let the law handle this, not your electric SUV.
If you want to see why it is that the Tesla was able to tow a parked Silverado 1500 in the first place, maybe the video below could provide some hints:
