Tesla plunges hundreds of feet down Highway 50 embankment, killing driver in California mountains

A motorist died Tuesday after a Tesla plunged hundreds of feet down an embankment on Highway 50 in Northern California’s high Sierra, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Officers were alerted to the incident just before 11:30 a.m. in which the vehicle veered off westbound lanes near a Chevron gas station several miles east of Pollock Pines near the Fresh Pond community, according to the CHP’s dispatch log.

El Dorado County Fire Protection District firefighters said the motorist’s wife received a notification the car had been in an accident and sustained damage. Using coordinates provided by Tesla, first responders pinpointed the cars location and found the driver ejected from his vehicle, according to a social media post.

Officer Andrew Brown, a spokesman for the CHP’s Placerville office, said he didn’t immediately know what led to the Tesla crash; it was unclear if the Tesla collided with any other vehicles.

The El Dorado County Coroner’s Office, called to the scene, is expected to identify the driver. A man in his forties suffered major blunt force trauma, firefighters said.

The vehicle slid down the embankment about 300 to 400 feet, leading authorities to shut down one lane on Highway 50 and deploy cables to extract the vehicle.

The collision is under investigation.