Florida Man Comes Home to Random Tesla Model 3 Charging in His Yard, Stealing Electricity
The electric vehicle was supposedly parked there overnight, charging for 12 hours while the owner visited a nearby friend’s house.
Florida man strikes again, but not in the crazy and outlandish sense that we’ve become accustomed to. This time, a Tesla Model 3 owner from the Sunshine State is in hot water after he was caught charging his car off a random house for over 12 hours in the neighborhood of Lake Worth, just outside Palm Springs and south of West Palm Beach.
Homeowner Phil Fraumeni reportedly arrived at his residence on Ardmore Drive one morning only to discover a random Model 3 that didn’t belong to him sitting on his lawn. Even stranger, though, was the fact that it was utilizing an outdoor electricity outlet on his house and charging its battery.
"It was plugged into my electric outlet on my house," Fraumeni told local news outlet WPBF.
Faumeni reportedly waited a few hours for the owner to return but eventually called the police. After a quick investigation, authorities discovered that the Tesla was not stolen but actually belonged to a young man who was also from the same area.
The car owner eventually arrived at Fraumeni’s house, explaining that his battery died while on his way to visit a friend in the neighborhood.
According to Fraumeni, the car was left there overnight to charge for around 12 hours. Once the owner returned to his EV, Fraumeni said he chose not to press charges and didn’t ask for reimbursement for the electricity usage. An average American electrical outlet outputs around 1800 watts, or around 1.8 kilowatts. With the average cost of 11.73 cents per kilowatt-hour in the state of Florida, that amounts to roughly $2.50 total worth of electricity over 12 hours, which is probably why Fraumeni decided not to punish the Tesla Model 3 owner, given the owner's precarious situation.
But still, if we were in the Model 3 owner's shoes, we would've at least offered lunch to Fraumeni for the inconvenience if not the $2.50 for the electricity used to right the wrong of trespassing.
Although Teslas have been proving themselves well in the real world, range and charging anxiety are still significant concerns for owners, especially if you forget to plug in before a long journey. It’s still not as easy as refilling a tank in a jiffy should you be low on gas, so we doubt this is the last time something like this happens.
h/t: Jalopnik
