Gary Zhou 
During a highway shootout in Nashville, Tennessee, a Tesla Model 3 electric sedan was sprayed with bullets and struck several times. The shooting does not seem to be an incident of prejudice against electric vehicles, but rather an episode of road rage by the shooter.
During the nighttime hours when a GMC Yukon appeared to become distraught at the all-electric sedan passing the SUV, the Model 3 traveled on Interstate 24 Eastbound near Nashville, Tennessee. Before seeing the SUV again, the Model 3 drove for several miles but was greeted with nothing more than a simple gesture or the honking of a horn.
“I was chilling in the right lane with traffic. Then the guy shot at me,” the owner, recognized as TJA0731 said. “No reason! Unprovoked!”
Multiple shots were fired, four of them hitting the Model 3 in the driver’s and driver’s side rear door, the owner said. “Took two bullets to the driver’s door, one stopped by the lock mechanism. Two bullets to the rear door…one stopped by the window motor, one made it through and is logged in the backseat.”
Repairs are estimated to cost about $8,300 to replace the driver’s door, rear driver’s door, painting and blending, new interior rear door panels, and a new rear bottom seat cushion. Although the repairs are likely to be covered by insurers since the driver was not responsible for the gunshots in any way, the driver would still be left without a car for several weeks.
The Dashcam video recorded by the Model 3 was sent to local police as a result of the shootings, claiming that their Information Technology team will use their expertise to find out who is responsible for the car damage.
While gunshots are not a regular occurrence in the event of EV discrimination, this is not the first time a Tesla has encountered a firearm. In late November 2020, a Tesla Model 3 was threatened by a driver who pulled out a handgun and presented it to the driver of the all-electric sedan. Even though no shots were fired in that instance, Tesla drivers aren’t strangers to being harassed on the road, it’s just usually done in a different manner. The most common way is the act of coal rolling, where the fumes from a modified diesel exhaust are spewed from a large truck, usually in the vicinity of an electric vehicle.
The full video of the incident is available below, courtesy of TeslaCamSupercharged.
Ready to join Tesla’s Mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy? Feel free to use my referral code to get some free Supercharging miles with your purchase: http://ts.la/guanyu3423
You can also get a $100 discount on Tesla Solar with that code.
