At least 17 Tesla cars were destroyed after a fire broke out at a dealership on the outskirts of Rome on Monday morning, according to Italian fire officials. No one was at the dealership when the fire broke out and no injuries have been reported.
The fire comes after a string of reports across Italy in recent weeks of Tesla vehicles being vandalized and defaced, with anti-Elon Musk and anti-Donald Trump sentiments written with spray paint.
Another car dealership burned down in northern Rome a week ago, destroying 30 cars, including used Teslas.
Also in Rome, several Teslas in the Garbatella neighborhood were defaced, according to police and social media posts.
Tesla dealerships in Milan have also been targeted by environmental groups in recent weeks.
Reports of Tesla vandalism have also surfaced in France and various parts of the United States, including the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.
Honestly, I’ve been hearing about Tesla fires for a long time. The batteries are extremely delicate and once they catch fire there’s not a lot you can do about it because of the sheer intensity of the heat. These fires happen all the time and they often effect the property around them. In this instance there doesn’t appear to be any evidence it’s not the Teslas lighting themselves on fire as usual. It is however a great scapegoat that malicious actors could be lighting the vehicles on fire rather than it just being that the vehicles have always been very unsafe.