An unfortunate Tesla Model 3 driver was “coal rolled” by a diesel pickup that for some reason really hates electric cars.
This guy is a real piece of work. Whoever was behind the wheel of that diesel pickup obviously has some serious issues because they not only took the time out of their morning commute to just be a real douchebag, they also violated several laws and inconvenienced a whole bunch of drivers just so they could stick it to a single Tesla driver.
It all happened to Jeff Mahin last week. In an interview with Teslerati, Jeff describes how he was just driving down the I-95 near downtown Miami on his morning commute to work when suddenly a lifted Ford F-150 diesel pickup comes in from the left. The truck driver then gets in front of Jeff’s Tesla and proceeds to “coal roll” the electric car.
Coal rolling is the act of emitting a ton of noxious black smoke by gunning the throttle on a diesel-powered vehicle. It’s not possible to perform on newer-model diesels as the vehicle’s engine computer won’t allow it, but it’s possible to bypass those controls with illegal modifications.
The EPA actually declared coal rolling illegal back in 2014 and banned any “part for a motor vehicle that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative any emission control device [and] prohibits anyone from tampering with an emission control device on a motor vehicle by removing it or making it inoperable prior to or after the sale or delivery to the buyer.”
Sadly, this hasn’t completely stopped the practice, so seven US states have explicitly defined coal rolling as illegal. Florida, sadly, is not one of those states.
“I just could not believe how far out of his way he went to try to blow smoke on me,” Mahin said in his interview. “I went into the right lane to avoid him and he risked his life and other lives to not use his blinker and shoot across lanes to continue to try to blind me with smoke.”
Although the footage cuts out too soon, Jeff says the truck driver cut him off 4 times as he tried to get to work. Hopefully the footage can be turned into police to notify them of a dangerous driver on the highway.
(Source: Teslerati)