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Conflict is an all too common occurrence with drivers. People let their anger get the best of them when encountering difficult situations on the road. Recently, a car-related conflict took a very unusual turn when a woman attacked a Tesla Model 3 at an electric vehicle charging station. She mistakenly thought that the owner of the Tesla stole electricity.

Tesla Model 3 owner used an EV home charger listed on the PlugShare app

Woman attacks a Tesla Model 3 at an EV charging station after mistakenly thinking owner stole electricity
Woman attacks Tesla Model 3 | Wham Baam Dangercam via YouTube

The EV charging station incident occurred on an unknown date in Coral Springs, Florida, as reported by InsideEVs. A Tesla Model 3 owner named Brent sent the Wham Baam Dangercam YouTube channel a video of the incident. Brent was charging his Model 3 with an EV charger listed as “free-to-use” on the PlugShare app.

With PlugShare, electric vehicle owners can find home charging stations that people loan out to other EV owners. Prior to charging his Tesla Model 3, Brent got permission from the owner of the charging station to use it. However, after two hours of charging his Model 3, he received an alert on his Tesla app that the alarm on his vehicle had been activated. 

The charging station owner never told his wife that he allowed the Model 3 owner to use it

Brent then returned to his Tesla Model 3 and found a woman angrily hitting his car with her fist. As Brent learned, the woman is the wife of the charging station owner. Apparently, she did not know that her husband gave permission to Brent to use the charging station. 

Fortunately, the Model 3 didn’t have any damage. It is unknown how the woman reacted after she undoubtedly was informed that the Model 3 owner received permission from her husband to use the charging station. 

What is the PlugShare app, and how do you use it?

As noted earlier, the PlugShare app enables users to find home EV charging stations. It provides a detailed map of charging networks throughout North America, Europe, and other regions around the world. On the PlugShare app, EV owners loan out their charging stations to other EV owners — sometimes for a fee and sometimes for free. It’s available on Android and iOS devices, as well as a website version. 

To use the PlugShare app, EV owners need to create an account. They can pay for any charging fees directly on the PlugShare app. The app requires no membership fees or commitments.

Notable features on the PlugShare app include photos and reviews of EV charging stations, real-time availability, filters for finding a charger that is compatible with your electric vehicle, and charging station “check-ins.” Also, the PlugShare app has a trip planner for finding chargers on a route, as well as notifications for locating nearby chargers. Furthermore, the PlugShare app is the official EV charging station locator for the MyFord Mobile app, the HondaLink app, and Nissan’s EZ-Charge.

There are inherent challenges when using someone else’s home EV charging station. As more people drive electric vehicles in the future, hopefully, conflicts like this Tesla Model 3 charging station incident are not a frequent occurrence. 

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