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Yahoo Auto News is reporting that second Tesla car has caught fire:

The first fire in a Tesla Model S earlier this month brought about all the expected reactions; a steep sell-off by Wall Street in its volatile shares, followed by a spirited defense of electric vehicle technology from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Last week, U.S. auto safety officials said they agreed with Musk's assessment that the fire was due to road debris, and said no official investigation was necessary — a fairly typical step given that NHTSA only investigates a fraction of the 180,000 vehicle fires in the United States every year.

So what to make of the second report of a Tesla Model S crashing and catching fire, in far different circumstances?

Unearthed by Axis of Oversteer, the crash happened Oct. 18 in Merida, a city in the northern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. According to local news reports, the Tesla was speeding through a roundabout at 4 a.m. when it hit a raised pedestrian crossing and briefly took flight before crashing into a wall and tree. The driver and perhaps a couple of passengers quickly left the scene, leaving the Tesla to burn for several minutes before firefighters arrived. (Warning: if you understand Spanish, there's some rough language in the video below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCn1CufaCYc

As the video shows, the Model S burns freely, and in doing so sends off a couple secondary explosions before firefighters arrive to douse the flames. The fire appears more intense than the one in Washington State earlier this month, although it does stay contained to the front of the vehicle, which comports with Musk's assertions that the firewalls in the Model S battery compartment underneath the car keep flames from spreading.

Tesla says it's been in touch with the driver who fled the scene, and he's ready to get behind the wheel again:

We were able to contact the driver quickly and are pleased that he is safe. This was a significant accident where the car was traveling at such a high speed that it smashed through a concrete wall and then hit a large tree, yet the driver walked away from the car with no permanent injury. He is appreciative of the safety and performance of the car and has asked if we can expedite delivery of his next Model S.

Given the reported severity of the crash, a fire would have been likely from a gas-powered vehicle, and the fact the driver was able to flee does speak to the Tesla's crashworthiness. But the Model S remains rare enough, and first responders' experience with lithium-ion battery fires limited enough, that it will take several more cases before such events lose their notoriety.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/second-tesla-model-fire-sparked-crash-mexico-141237816.html

If there was one billionaire more excited than George Soros at President Obama's re-election, it was Elon Musk.

The South African born Musk has been a triple recipient of Obama's "green" government investment schemes and the president's re-election appears to keep the taxpayer spigots open for the crony capitalist.

Musk is a three-time winner in the Obama taxpayer giveaways to his cronies and campaign contributors. 

Musk's Tesla Motors turned a $465 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy into a $600 million personal windfall in profits when the company went public.  Musk used the loan to lobby Congress for more largess, spending $480,000 from 2007 to 2011 on lobbying Congress, the White House, EPA and DOE on climate and energy issues, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, the Promoting Electric Vehicles Act, and the Recovery Act.

After giving thousands of dollars to the President and the political parties, Musk's company Space-X won $440 million in grants from NASA to design the next American spacecraft capable of launching humans into space.

Refusing to quit while he is ahead, Musk has entered the failing solar space.  SolarCity, another of Musk's companies living of the taxpayers, has filed for an IPO as Musk tries to replicate his get rich scheme.  But recent filings appear to put a bump in the road for SolarCity. 

The company, which awarded the company a $275 million loan guarantee, received a subpoena in July from the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Treasury to determine whether the company was part of a scam to inaccurately stated the fair-market value of their PV systems when applying for funds under the Treasury's Section 1603 cash-grant program.

In addition to fleecing the taxpayers to pad his wallet, it appears that Musk's Tesla Motors is also coming under scrutiny. Tesla's own SEC reports that the battery could be unsafe and catch on fire.

The green industry is a racket that hurts taxpayers and makes Obama's cronies rich.  Unless Congress acts, we will likely endure another four years of bailouts, handouts and giveaways to the president's supporters.

It's time for conservatives to demand separation of business and state and it should start with Elon Musk.