I mean, the article does say they had never used an EV and rented a gas car but got given the Tesla anyway. I don’t think that’s a basic knowledge thing. They weren’t trying to drive something that they were unfamiliar with. Why would they know how the charging works?
There hasn’t been much of a reason for someone who doesn’t drive an EV to know about charging, which is very different from filling up a car with gas. And heck, every gasoline car uses the same gas nozzle, which isn’t the case for Teslas. Plus gas stations are never more than a stone’s throw away, which is more than can be said about EV chargers (let alone Tesla compatible ones).