Tesla owner straps car with dynamite and blows it up rather than pay $22,000 in repairs

Friday, 31 December 2021

A man from Finland didn’t want to fork over the money for some necessary repairs for his Tesla, so he decided to go another route instead.

In a YouTube video that has since gone viral, Tuomas Katainen strapped dynamite to his Tesla and then blew it up.

According to People, he teamed with Lauri Vuohensilta from the Hydraulic Press YouTube channel and the Pommijatkat (“Bomb Dudes”) channel to help him strap 66 pounds of dynamite to his car for the stunt, which took place in Jaala, Finland, a village two hours outside of Helsinki.

The video shows Katainen’s thought process behind his decision, the explosion itself, and a dummy that looks a little bit like Tesla mastermind Elon Musk.

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In the footage, Katainen explains that after some time, his 2013 Tesla Model S needed to be taken into the shop, where he was told he would have to replace its battery, which would set him back around US$22,000.

“Well when I bought that Tesla, the first 1,500km were nice,” Katainen said in the video.

“Then, error codes hit.”

That’s when he reached out to the aforementioned YouTubers. The team took out the Tesla’s battery and motors, and strapped the Musk-looking dummy to the car before blowing it up in a quarry.

The team behind the video viewed the explosion from a blast shelter.

According to The Verge, the starting price for a new 2013 Tesla Model S begins at $57,400, and a used one costs around $30,000 minimum.

The cars also come with a battery that’s supposed to last eight years or up to 150,000 miles.