To date, this is probably the worst advertisement for the electric car industry, an image of coal miners pushing a stranded electric vehicle because it ran out of juice.
The now-viral image was shared by Randy Smith, a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate representing District 14.
The electric car ran out of battery on U.S. 48 before coming to a halt right in front of the Mettiki Coal access road in Tucker County.
The stranded driver was in luck after workers from the fossil fuel mine were ready to help out.
“Some days are just better than others,” Smith wrote on a Facebook post.
“Today at our mine off Corridor H an electric car from D.C. ran out of battery at the road entrance to the mine.”
“Someone called one of our foremen and told him a car was broke down in the middle of our haul road,” Smith added.
“He went to investigate and found out they had indeed ran out of juice coming from D.C. to Davis for a getaway weekend.”
The foreman wanted to tow the electric vehicle with a truck, but unfortunately, the E.V. was “all plastic underneath and nothing to hook up to.”
The foreman asked some workers to help push the electric car to the guard house.
The five miners pushed the electric car to the coal mine, which was captured in the ironic photo.
“If you look closely you can see our coal stockpile and load out in the background,” Smith explained.
Smith noted, “This just shows you coal miners are good people and will go out of their way to help anyone, friend or foe.”
Smith added that he was “honestly glad” the miners helped because the driver would have been stranded since he wouldn’t be able to get a tow truck “out in the middle of nowhere.”
Smith teased, “One guy even dropped off a ‘Friend of Coal’ license plate when he left to go home. Lol.”
