Electricity Theft : Tesla Model S Catches Fire After Owner Plugged EV Directly To Power Line

Electricity Theft : Tesla Model S catches fire in Mexico after owner plugged Electric Vehicle directly to power line.

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.

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“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.

“It was only when we saw the Tesla connected directly to the powerline that we understood what had caused the fire,” he added.

Per local news media, unauthorized connection, known in Mexico by the slang name diablito (or little devil), cost the country’s national power company more than $2 billion annually in electricity theft.

Illegal electricity connections are reportedly common in Tijuana and many other cities in Mexico, where residents hook up wire directly to overhead power lines to get free electricity.

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