I don't support, condone or encourage these acts of property destruction... But I would ask that people keep their eyes on the big picture, here... What precedents we set today, will be used by Administrations yet to be imagined...
In these crimes, aside from the clear environmental damages caused potentially, whenever a computerized/ Lithium battery car goes up in flame - let's recall that no people are directly harmed. It's property destruction. At the end of the day, insurance companies and corporations are going to take a relatively small financial loss... Tesla may get more business, as people replace one with another...
20 years seems a bit disproportionate, considering that Bank Robbers typically get much less.
The criminalization and deterrence of protest, seems to be the current wave in American politics - regardless of which party is in power, and who the victims and perpetrators are... Whether we're talking about anti-abortion protestors or 'ploughshares' activists...the tendency has been towards increasingly draconian attacks upon protest... Let's keep that in mind as we move forward... The shoe may one day be upon the other foot...