Hacking Street Lights To Charge Your Electric Car, A Guide

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SO, YOU’VE done your bit for the environment and finally went out and got yourself into debt with a brand new electric car only to realise the government has allocated very little charging points across the country. So, what now? Hacking streetlights, that’s what. Let WWN show you how.

First bits you will need are some washing up gloves, a pair of rubber soled runners, a crowbar, Stanley blade, Sellotape, some electrical wire and one of those lighty up screwdriver things you can buy in Dealz for 49 cents.

Choosing a secluded streetlight is key to avoid being snared by the local community alert morons or the gardaí. We would suggest doing this on a wet and rainy night as gardaí hate being out in the rain. Carefully grab your metal crowbar and crack open the removable safety panel at the base of the streetlight. Now, you should see several electrical wires and a sign saying ‘Danger – High Voltage’. Use the shiny-uppy thing to locate the best wire to hack.

Making sure to wear your gloves, yank out the live electric wire enough so you can start cutting around it with the Stanley blade. The €1.99 washing up gloves and the pair of runners should be enough to earth you from being electrocuted – we read somewhere before that rubber stops you from being electrocuted so just double check that before continuing.

Once you have the bare live cable exposed, pare off the extension cable you brought along and wrap the copper part around the live cable using Sellotape. Now, there may be some sparks when doing this and a smell of burning hair, flesh.

Perfect, your extension lead is ready to plug into your €67k car.

Depending on the make and model of your electric vehicle, you may need to fiddle around with the prongs and see which prong you need to touch with the bare electricity wire. At this point we suggest holding the wires to the plug prongs with your bare hands (don’t worry, your rubber soles will protect you).

Hold it there for 6-8 hours until fully charged.

NOTE: We would advise not telling others about your charging point as it could be another 5-8 years before the government catches up with the demand.

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