Tesla burns after driver in Mexico plugs the car into an illicit hookup wired directly to power line
Tesla Model S catches fire in Mexico after owner plugged Electric Vehicle directly to power line.
A driver in the Mexican border city of Tijuana apparently had the bright idea of connecting his Tesla to an illegal electricity hookup connected directly to a powerline.
Fortunately, the all-electric Tesla Model S worth $76,000 was unoccupied at the time of the incident.
Illegal connections are common in Mexico, where residents hook up wire directly to power lines to get free electricity.
Unauthorized connection cost the country’s national power company more than $2 billion annually.
Electric cars are meant to be charged through dedicated home chargers and public Charging Stations and not to be hooked up directly to overhead power lines, as one Tesla owner recently did in Tijuana, a city in Mexico.
The owner’s attempt to get free electricity directly from a public power pole not only set the battery-powered Tesla Model S alight but also triggered a massive fire that spread to nearby home.
Fortunately, the home and the all-electric Tesla Model S worth $76,000 were unoccupied at the time of the incident, and no injuries or fatalities were reported.
The car had California plates.
This is something unusual that we are experiencing for the first time — seeing a Tesla on fire,” said Arturo Sánchez, a coordinator of the Tijuana Fire Department that responded to the blaze.
Firefighter Arturo Sánchez said firefighters originally received a call Monday about the fire at the house, which was apparently unoccupied. But when they got to the scene in a low-income neighborhood, they found it was hard to douse the flames because what was fueling them was the car’s lithium batteries.
“It was only when we saw the Tesla connected directly to the powerline that we understood what had caused the fire,” he added.
Rafael Carrillo, Tijuana's fire chief, said Tuesday that electric car fires are a problem for the city's firefighters. He said the partially charred hulk of the Tesla might take a couple of days to burn out completely and probably couldn't be moved until then. He said firefighters built dirt berms around the car to keep it covered in water.
One more photo below.
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