A $4,000.00 Lightning Strike
We went on vacation and used a mobile charger to leave our car plugged in at a cabin to a 12 AMP 110 GFCI outlet on a deck. A storm came through and a lightning struck the ground or lake nearby. The cable modem and wifi routers stopped working and the car no-longer recognized the mobile charger. We thought the external charger was bad so we drove to a Tesla Super Charger and the car wouldn't recognize it either.
The car wasn't struck. The house wasn't struck. No trees nearby were struck. But somewhere close by must have been - we heard the loud crack. The house has a whole-house surge protector. The mobile car charger is fused. The GFCI outlet has protection.
We were three hours from the nearest service center. Tows were quoted $950-$2,600. The earliest appointment at the service center was over a month out.
Cost to replace the on-board charger: $3,949.76.
Our habits at home are to always plug into our level II charger in the garage - small charges are great and always charge to 80%. Now I'm 2nd-guessing the value of leaving it plugged into anything.
What other damage has the lightning caused to internal circuits and parts? Will the range be impacted?
Insurance is questioning whether it should be covered by homeowners ($40,000 deductible) or car insurance ($ 2,200 deductible) or at all.
Anyone else have lightning or surge stories? Is this a fluke or should one change their plug-in habits?