LEBANON — Public perception of Tesla vehicles is in flux, spurring at least one Upper Valley business owner to shift focus and some of the region’s owners of the electric vehicles to reconsider their purchases.

Though Tesla owner Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have a long and tumultuous history, it is only since the billionaire became involved with the current Trump administration that Tesla dealerships and owners have been the subject of sometimes violent protests.

The Associated Press has reported several incidents of people vandalizing vehicles and charging stations across the country, including by setting cars on fire and spray painting them with words like “resist” and “Nazi.”

The public reaction to the truck was not what Reid Tomasko, 25, expected when he bought a Tesla Cybertruck. He hoped he was buying a cool, futuristic-looking vehicle to promote his Canaan car-wrapping business, Shock Auto Styling, which specializes in customizing Teslas.

“I didn’t buy a big diesel black-smoke spewing truck, but yet I’m getting hate for choosing the most eco-conscious truck,” Tomasko, who got the truck last June, said in a recent interview. “It’s just so weird.”

The large geometric vehicles stand out on the road. They barely resemble a truck from the outside, except in their dimensions, and are built entirely of flat often steel gray panels that come together at sharp angles.

For months, Tomasko’s truck stood out even more than the unconventional vehicles usually do; he wrapped it in a vibrant metallic exterior that shifted from blue to green in sunlight. And that’s the point — to grab people’s attention and promote Tomasko’s shop where he applies vinyl coatings to vehicles for decorative or advertising purposes.

People’s reactions to the truck have taken a hostile tone in the form of rude gestures and comments, and even people spitting on the truck.

“I try my best to ignore it, but I do find that most of the people who hate or give the middle finger aren’t going to be future customers, so I try not to take it too seriously,” he said.

Still, public hostility for Musk and Tesla has impacted Tomasko’s business as well as his daily travels, he said. Past customers have told him they sold their Cybertrucks “because they just couldn’t really deal with getting the middle finger every time they got in their truck to go to the grocery store.” Others are reconsidering planned purchases.

“Overall, just a combination of everything has shown a decline in Tesla vehicle wraps at the moment,” Tomasko said.

The electric vehicles that are usually associated with eco-conscious, left-leaning consumers have also seen a steep decline in resale value, down about 6% since November, according to CarGurus, a Boston-based automotive research and shopping site which tracks resale values for used vehicles. Tesla is the manufacturer with the highest price decrease in the used vehicle market over the past 30 days.

In addition to resale market trends, Tesla delivered 50,000 fewer vehicles in the beginning of 2025 than the same period in 2024, the lowest for the company since late 2022, according to a report released last week.

He is not worried about the impact on his business because he has two sources of income, but the shift is significant enough that he is considering expanding his specialization from Teslas to electric vehicles in general.

Tomasko declined to share his political beliefs or personal opinions on Musk, saying he is “trying not to let the political stuff affect me too much.”

But for some Tesla owners who oppose Musk’s recent actions and his affiliation with Trump, the politics cannot be ignored.

Lebanon resident Sherry Boschert, 68, has voted for Democrats since “President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace on my 18th birthday in 1974.” In addition to being the chairwoman of Lebanon’s Electric Vehicle Subcommittee, Boschert bought her first EV in 2002, literally wrote the book on them in 2006, “Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America,” and co-founded the national EV promoting nonprofit, Plug In America.

Boschert bought a Tesla Model 3 in 2019 and, in a recent interview, called Teslas “the best cars on the planet period, full stop.” But, she recently traded in her car for a new Hyundai EV to distance herself from Musk and his politics.

“Elon’s lost his mind and revealed his true self and I just can’t get in the car and be reminded of his fascism every day,” Boschert said. She elaborated, saying Musk is “blatantly breaking the law and destroying our democracy” and has “said a lot of things that are white supremacist and fascist.”

At the Presidential inauguration in January, Musk delivered a straight-armed salute that is often associated with Nazism, and many of his cost-cutting and job-slashing measures through the Department of Government Efficiency have been blocked or ruled unconstitutional by federal judges.

Boschert and her wife had been discussing downsizing from two vehicles to one before next winter, but Musk’s recent actions “sped up” the process.

“I’m not going to sit here while the democracy’s being destroyed, no thank you,” Boschert said.

Despite her personal decision, Boschert said she does not think anyone should “come down on Tesla drivers” or do things like “attacking” cars and charging stations. She also doesn’t judge anyone who can’t or won’t sell their Tesla, adding “If I sell mine used, that’s one less person that would buy a new Tesla.”

Like Tomasko, who described a switch in how people perceive Tesla, former long-time supporter Maggie Pepper said it seems like the “brand has flipped” from a “nod to the environment.”

Pepper, 52, lives in Hanover. Her family has had Teslas since 2014. Now, the Peppers’ current Tesla sits at their home mostly un-driven as they figure out the vehicle’s future. The family has replaced it with a gas-powered car that is better for carpooling and, importantly, not associated with Musk.

“We’ve always known that Elon Musk is eccentric and is an eccentric entrepreneur and nobody’s perfect,” Pepper said. “However, there comes to a point where we simply don’t want to be consciously affiliated (with) or supporting something that doesn’t reflect what we identify with,” Pepper said.

She prefers to identify politically by her stance on issues — such as being pro-choice — instead of aligning with a particular party, but said she opposes the Trump administration.

For his own part, Tomasko said he loves his Cybertruck because “it just fits;” it has an ideally sized truck bed, lockable storage, and it “doesn’t feel like you’re driving a truck.”

But, he did recently reach an agreement with Tesla to buy back his Cybertruck because of ongoing issues, including having to replace most of its exterior panels in the first several months of ownership.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association has issued eight recalls for different problems with model-year 2024 Cybertrucks. Most recently in a March 18 order, the association recalled all 2024 and 2025 Cybertrucks because one of the panels has been known to detach and “become a road hazard.”

As a replacement for his Cybertruck, Tomasko is considering a Rivian brand truck.

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.