In dense metro areas, not all apartment buildings come equipped with parking. This leads many apartment dwellers to find alternate storage options for their secondary, or even primary, vehicles.
One Angeleno had to park their Rivian in a local garage and found that some items in their truck had been stolen. They shared the unfortunate news on the r/Rivian subreddit.
"Two of my 22" Range wheels were stolen out of the bed of my R1T. I had just swapped them for all-terrains at the Rivian service center and stored the original set in the bed. The truck was parked in a 'secure' garage in Los Angeles, and they still managed to get in and take them," the original poster stated.
Teslas and, to a lesser extent, electric vehicles in general have become frequent targets of acts of vandalism in the past year, most of which were motivated by political attacks against Elon Musk. That perceived risk can deter potential drivers who might have otherwise made the switch to EVs.
However, overall, electric vehicles, such as the Rivian R1T, are stolen less frequently than gas-powered vehicles, according to Axios. Whether it's that many EVs are parked adjacent to family homes or equipped with lesser-known security software that thieves have yet to master, the end result is that only one in every 100,000 insured Tesla Model 3s is stolen, compared to 49 out of every 100,000 insured gas-powered cars.
EVs are also an essential part of a progressive economy, as they can reduce reliance on dirty energy sources and encourage the transition to clean ones, such as solar power. While it is true that producing EV batteries requires mining for tons of minerals, the environmental damage is far less than that caused by the continual mining for fossil fuels.
Redditors offered their condolences and advice in the comments for the EV owner.
"An open bed is a [free-for-all] in any location that is not your own personal locked garage. ... Even [at] a rest stop ... I use the gear guard cable and wind it through whatever I'm carrying. Thieves can cut it easily but it's enough of a deterrent that it can make the difference," one user commented.
"This would have been a perfect use case for the Gear Guard cable," another person recommended.