They say old habits die hard, and that definitely applies to first-time electric vehicle owners.
The habit of pulling up at a gas station to fill up your car is hard to shake, and that’s exactly what a Tesla Model Y driver from the UK experienced earlier this month.
Much to the amusement of other motorists, 22-year-old Danielle Wright was filmed pulling up at the pump and then frantically trying to locate the vehicle’s fuel filler cap. With the fuel nozzle in hand, she circled the car to find the fuel cap door, and she only gave up when people repeatedly told her it’s an electric car.
The video obviously became viral, and as you can imagine, some of the comments posted online were far from polite, with some calling the Tesla driver “dumb” and others claiming the video was staged.
Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the video, noting that it “happens from time to time” and that “habits die hard” in a Twitter post. Given all the (unwanted?) attention – the video got more than 40 million views – the confused Model Y owner felt the need to explain why she ended up trying to fill up her EV with gas.
Speaking with the Daily Star (via Teslarati), Danielle Wright, who describes herself as a digital creator, said she had had a long day when the video was taken. She added that her Model Y was also very new then, so old habits kicked in.
“I honestly don’t know what I was doing, it was the end of a long day and the car is brand new. I just rolled up into the petrol station thinking about the sweets I was going to get from the counter rather than the fact my car doesn’t actually need petrol,” she explained.
Wright also said she was frustrated by some of the comments to the video, although she admits it was an “embarrassing mistake.” She added that she was most frustrated by comments claiming the car wasn’t hers.
“They were even saying it’s not my car and I’ve got more money than sense, which was probably the most frustrating. I’ve earned every penny to buy this and I love cars. It really is a dream come true to own a Tesla,” Wright said.
Speaking of Tesla, she enjoyed the attention from the EV maker’s CEO. “I mean, Elon replied and stuck up for me – and he’s meant to have the biggest brain in the world,” she said.
