Tesla is notorious for its workers struggling to survive the “modern day sweatshop“, treated like disposable migrants who sleep in their cars outside the factory until they are fired and have to park somewhere else.

He would microwave his dinner in the factory break room, shower at its facilities, and sleep in his car in the parking lot.

Now it seems the ultra-competitive, racist, sleep deprived, homeless, over-worked factory staff culture may be escalating into something even more dangerous.

According to police, Desterke is a former Tesla employee who was fired last year. He allegedly showed up to the factory in Fremont shortly after midnight on May 21 with two Molotov cocktails. The employee whose van was torched told officers he was taking a nap inside when he was startled awake by shattered glass and a fire. The man escaped the van without injury.

Police said Desterke is also a suspect in a vandalism incident a week prior in which two dozen cars in the Tesla parking area had their tires slashed. No charges have been filed in connection with that incident, records show.