Folks, Stop Being Jerks To Tesla Drivers

Actually, just stop being jerks to other motorists period

Can’t we all just get along?

We’ve all been there — maybe you’re running late, maybe the parking lots are jammed and you just need to find a parking space. But with Tesla’s growing popularity and infrastructure comes a new need in dedicated parking spaces for their Superchargers. Charging up is just a fact of life to which EV owners have adapted, but apparently the owner of this Toyota 4Runner didn’t get the memo. Either that, or they just don’t care about electric car owners, which is frankly the more likely scenario. But seriously, do you need to be a jerk and take up a Supercharger space from someone who needs to charge their car to make it home?

It’s something we’ve seen a thousand times over, from big trucks blocking charging stations to rolling coal on Teslas. This time, an incident took place in Silverthorne, Colorado, when the owner of a Tesla Model 3 arrives to find not just one, but two spaces taken up by the gas-guzzler that is the Toyota 4Runner. With no alternative, the Tesla parks as close as possible to the 4Runner to access the Supercharger (while still remaining in his own space, lest the cascade of screwing over fellow motorists continues).

Then, the couple in the 4Runner come back to their car to find the passenger side blocked by the Tesla. What’s more, the Tesla’s owner is standing right there, understandably unamused by the fact that an ICE car is parked there blocking the charging station, let alone straddling the line and taking up two spaces.

A physical confrontation nearly ensues when a woman can’t get into the 4Runner and says something to the Tesla driver, and a man comes in from off-camera to intervene. We can’t hear the conversation itself, but it seems the couple decide to just go, and the man backs the 4Runner out, mere inches from the Tesla, to let the woman into the car. Normally that would be that, but then they have to just awkwardly sit there while trying to merge into traffic.

It looks like this was a frustrating situation all around, to say the least. Perhaps the matter should have been handled differently. This sort of thing happens everyday, but seeing it on film is just another reminder to stop being jerks to Tesla drivers. The Supercharger spaces are there for a reason, and I’m willing to bet there was another place for the 4Runner to park, even if it was slightly more inconvenient.