Inside the Tesla Takedown Protests

The War on Cars

The War on Cars, LLC

Cars, Society & Culture, Culture, Bicycling, Politics, Urbanism, Walking, Transportation, Cities, Transit, News Commentary, News

4.9 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since early February, a protest phenomenon has been building steadily across the United States, springing up at scores of Tesla dealerships from coast to coast. Organizers call it Tesla Takedown. It's remarkable in part because in today’s United States, we have engineered an environment that prioritizes automotive convenience and speed—and in the process deadens civic life and makes protest difficult. So it’s ironic that Tesla dealerships, many of them located in the worst kind of automotive sprawl, have emerged as crucial nodes in a decentralized network of resistance to Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

In this episode, we talk to participants and organizers about what is motivating them. We also caught up with journalist Ed Niedermeyer, return guest of The War on Cars and author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, about what effect this could have on Tesla’s bottom line, and why it’s an effective tactic to weaken the hold that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has on the United States government.

Note: This episode was recorded before the huge Hands Off protests of April 5th, 2025. Clearly, American protesters are starting to find their voice, and their space.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***

This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation.

This episode was also supported by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling.

Save 15% on the amazing Arclight Pedals and everything from Redshift Sports with code WARONCARS at checkout.

LINKS:

Find a #TeslaTakedown protest near you.
Check out Ed Niedermeyer’s Autonocast podcast.
Read Ed's book, "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors."

Pick up official podcast tees and other merch in our online store.

Save 15% on everything from Redshift Sports, including the amazing Arclight Pedals, with code WARONCARS.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer. It was recorded by Justin Fernandez at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Transcripts are by Russell Gragg.

TheWarOnCars.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode was produced with the generous support of the William and Helen Mazur Foundation.
0:07.0	I've always just been a shower-upper. I've never been an organizer before.
0:13.0	And we're sort of accidental organizers, but we are absolutely embracing it.
0:18.0	It gives me a sense of power and agency when it is so easy to feel
0:24.6	powerless with everything going on and it just seems so big. And what I've been saying since
0:31.6	2016 is I want a good answer when my grandkids asked me what I did to stop this.
0:38.7	And you'll never know if the answer is enough, but it's not nothing.
0:45.5	This is the War on Cars.
0:48.1	I'm Sarah Goodyear.
0:52.9	Since early February, a protest phenomenon has been building steadily across the United States
0:58.0	and the world. It sprung up at scores of Tesla dealerships from coast to coast. Organizers
1:04.5	call it Tesla Takedown. In this episode, we'll hear from some participants and organizers about what's motivating
1:12.4	them.
1:13.8	We'll also hear from journalist Ed Niedermeyer, return guest of the War on Cars, an author
1:19.0	of Ludacris, The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, about what effect this could have on Tesla's
1:24.8	bottom line and why it's an effective tactic to weaken the
1:28.4	hold that the world's richest man, Elon Musk, has on the United States government. Before we get to
1:35.1	all that, though, you can support the war on cars on Patreon. We're an independently produced podcast
1:40.6	and we depend on listener contributions. Go to patreon.com slash the war on cars pod to
1:46.9	join us for as little as $3 a month. You'll get our regular episodes ad-free, bonus episodes,
1:54.2	early access to tickets for live shows, stickers, and a handwritten thank you note. Now, let's get to it. You've probably seen videos
2:03.5	of Tesla Takedown protests, or maybe you've seen the hashtag Tesla Takedown in your social media feeds,
	...

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