Electric vehicle chargers – thousands of them, maybe millions – are popping up nationwide to serve the growing number of EVs.
Those charging stations are being targeted.
JD Power reports that almost one in every five attempts to charge an EV in public has failed because of damaged or missing cables.
In some cases, the charger has been spray-painted or vandalized in other ways, but most of the time the crook was trying to make a profit by stealing copper.
The Dallas Morning News reports there have been similar reports from Europe. The United Kingdom is cracking down on cord theft.
The crime is easy – a lot of stealing a bicycle. Those charging stations are often located in quiet corners near shopping centers or in local government building parking lots.
Electrify America tells reporters incidents are up three-fold in 2024.
One cord at a charging station contains about five pounds of copper, worth $21. If it’s a fast-charging station, the copper in that cord could be worth double that.
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