Last Monday, inspired by reading about a small protest of Elon Musk and DOGE that happened at a Tesla charging station in Maine, Joan Donovan decided to make a digital flyer inviting people to join her at a protest this weekend at a Tesla showroom in Boston. Days later, the idea has grown organically into more than three dozen protests at Tesla showrooms across the country.
“It struck me that there are Tesla dealerships and charging stations across the nation, and this is a point of leverage that many people can access, rather than having to go to your state capital,” says Donovan, a professor at Boston University who says she is acting in her capacity as a citizen. “This is a place in which we can make a difference.”
Through DOGE, or the “Department of Government Efficiency”—which is not an official government agency—Musk gave his team access to private taxpayer data and classified information. He’s forced the virtual shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, freezing lifesaving programs that were delivering HIV drugs, oxygen, and other medical aid to various communities around the world. He’s actively dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that would have regulated his plans to set up a new payment service at X. He’s pushed federal workers out of their jobs. Much or all of the work is likely illegal, and multiple court cases are underway.
A website, TeslaTakedown, lets anyone set up a local DOGE protest, many of which will happen on February 15. (It also calls for anyone who owns Tesla stock or cars to sell.)
“Often, with these types of initiatives, it takes weeks to plan,” says Alex Winter, a documentarian known for making The Panama Papers and other films, who happened to know Donovan and helped amplify the idea. “In this case, we did it in a week. At the end of the day, the central organizer on this is the public—we’re giving them a place to organize. These are individuals across the country who are protesting en masse at these showrooms.” When we spoke on Friday afternoon, 39 events were planned, and the number was growing.
A handful of other protests have already happened at Tesla locations, from Manhattan to Seattle. The efforts might seem, at first, to be small. But in theory, the pressure on Tesla could succeed. “It is possible to get results this way,” says Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors. “There’s a path to putting a considerable amount of pressure on Musk, personally.”
Tesla car sales are already struggling. In 2024, Tesla sales were essentially flat, dropping 1.1% from the year before after years of growth, despite the fact that the company slashed prices. In China, with a vast array of newer, arguably more innovative options for electric vehicles, fewer consumers are buying Teslas. Sales have also fallen in Europe, driven in part by Musk’s unpopularity.
In the U.K., where Musk has argued that the prime minister should be jailed and America should “liberate” the British people from their “tyrannical” government, one survey found that 60% of likely EV buyers no longer want a Tesla because of Musk’s politics. In Germany, Musk’s support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, and the fact that he appeared to use a Nazi salute during Trump’s inauguration, presumably contributed to a 59% drop in year-over-year sales in January. Tesla sales also fell in France, Sweden, and Norway last month. Some Tesla owners, both in Europe and the U.S., are either selling their cars or adding apology bumper stickers.
Musk, and Tesla investors, say that the real value of the company is in its future promise of full self-driving tech. But Musk has been teasing its imminent release for years. The only real business that Tesla has now is its EV business, and with more competitors in the space, it’s not doing well. The Cybertruck, Tesla’s first all-new vehicle since 2017, is “the biggest flop in the auto industry,” Niedermeyer says.
That creates an opening for a Tesla boycott in the U.S. “The unique opportunity that American consumers have is if we can collectively affect a dramatic reduction in sales here, that pushes volume down, that pushes margin down,” Niedermeyer says. “At this tipping point, the core business that generates 90% of revenue could turn into a negative-margin business, which means that no matter how many sales they do, they lose money on every car.”
Eventually, it’s possible that the psychology around the company’s arguably overinflated stock price could shift. With a bubble stock, “as long as people prop it up, it’s great,” he says. “The problem is once the psychology shifts from greed to fear and people start selling.” Musk’s cash loans are secured by Tesla stock, so at some point, he’ll have to sell stock to cover margin calls—which is likely to convince many more people to sell and create a downward spiral, Niedermeyer says.
There’s no evidence yet that Musk is worried about what’s happening at Tesla. But employees and many investors are concerned, according to a Washington Post story. Musk “has inflicted a massive amount of damage on the perception of that company,” Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, told the Post, saying that she donated most of her Tesla stock to charity in 2024. (Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
It’s not clear how quickly pressure against Tesla could make a difference—or exactly how much harm Musk can inflict on the government while lawsuits make their way through the courts. But in addition to impacts on Tesla, the protests can help raise awareness of what’s happening now in D.C.
“DOGE has done so much damage already to government agencies, particularly ones that were investigating Musk’s companies for wrongdoing,” says Donovan, the university professor organizing a Tesla protest in Boston. “And so if the government’s not going to call attention to these conflicts of interest, then hopefully the people will.” She says the protests are also a way to show support for federal workers who are being pushed to leave their jobs.
Winter, the documentarian, says he has multiple motivations for protesting. “There is an end-game desire to devalue the stock and end up with a vote of no confidence [on] Musk from the shareholders, which would absolutely impact him in a meaningful way,” he says. “An enormous amount of his value is tied up in his stake of Tesla.”
In addition, Winter says, “There’s an enormous need for greater literacy and understanding in the country and the world about these tech oligarchs. It’s something I’ve been working on for decades, which is to demystify this notion that they’re invulnerable and all-powerful.”
Protests “are extremely effective, and educating oneself is extremely effective,” he says. “And, I would argue, [these efforts] minimize hopelessness. Because the more specifics you understand about Musk and his wealth—and the vulnerability of his wealth—and the more you understand about what powers people do and don’t have, the more you realize there’s a path forward.”