EV Charger Cable Theft Is On The Rise! Here’s Why There’s Almost No Benefit

[@The8BitGuy]

They need to add a sense wire so that the station knows when the cable is cut. At that point it can sound a very loud alarm, which might discourage the perpetrator from cutting the rest of the cables at the site. It could also mark the station as offline so that people wouldn't expect it to be working when they showed up.

[@jamesrsnyder6951]

Sense wire, absolutely.........a complete stupid oversite as to why it was not included already. A Loud alarm could be problematic at some locations.

[@thedopplereffect00]

Actually a sensing wire might not be necessary. You can inject a pulse on the open wire and measure it's reflectance to measure the length of it. You'd know when it's cut by the change in the return time

[@Hamdad]

Or just wireless induction charging pads.

[@mikehedrick6544]

Add red strobe light on top with a loud alarm that will run for a few minutes. That may help with the other chargers, not being vandalized.

[@pbpx]

@@thedopplereffect00 Can probably just see that the thermister no longer has resistance.

[@Kitchfox]

Like I have been saying for years. These jack wagons will work 10 times harder for a dishonest dollar than they would for an honest dollar.

[@getinthespace7715]

Leave expensive stuff unattended in progressive cities where crime isn't prosecuted.. Vote different. Change your local culture.

[@scottwallace2848]

@@getinthespace7715 Wise reply right there.

[@UhOhUmm]

​@@getinthespace7715we have all the world history that clearly shows neither approach works. We have lenient countries with high theft and harsh punishment countries with high theft. People will always steal because they feel like they're winning at life and outsmarting the next other guy.

[@rickzane6433]

​@getinthespace7715 so conservative cities have negligeable crime rate? Could it be that it is underreported? Could it be that these conservative cities you are thinking of are mostly rural and in low density population area? Aren't you simplifying things a bit? Is that too many questions? 😅

[@getinthespace7715]

@@rickzane6433, conservatives prosecute crime and hold criminals accountable. The most dangerous cities in America are all controlled by Democrats and have been for decades. That's even using the B.S. crime statistics. There is a reason democrats want to take out the automated gunshot shooting system in Chicago. It provides hard data of just how much corrupt Democrats are failing those communities. Democrats claim the system is racist... they want shootings in those communities to go unreported. It's terrible. You can

[@KyleConner]

Should I go to Seattle to film all of the EV chargers with cut cables? What do you think the solution is when the police are clearly not taking this seriously?

[@ThunderandLightningEvPickup]

🦮🐕Have one of Boston dynamics guard dogs, patrol, each charging location with a paintball gun mounted to its back. Ready to attack whenever someone is doing something dumb. One solution could be maybe some sort of shielding on the side of the cable that makes it difficult to cut. They could also make sure there’s always electricity running through so that the person gets the shock of their life when they try to cut the cables. But on a more serious note: cameras mounted on each charging station along with a voice that comes on saying that the stations are being monitored by the authorities.

[@CD0914]

Yes! Ideally, I think, a BYO cable situation would be great, but if people forget, loose, etc, that cable. Well....there you go. Another cool, but possibly expensive, and maybe not even workable idea, would be a cable that retracts into the dispenser, or have a door that that the cable goes into (the charger) when done charging. Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks for the video.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

Yes. Please do. I posted the following on a seperate thread in these comments. "The threshold for felony vandalism in Washington State starts at $1,500 in damages. However, even damage below $1,500 can be charged as a felony if it meets specific criteria like targeting certain types of property." If you can shame the city of Seattle for not dealing with a repeat felon that may make the police take action. It's the only way it's gonna stop. Maybe get an audience with the police chief, or the mayor. If they won't talk to you a local news hound should be receptive.

[@joepalmer1594]

​@@ThunderandLightningEvPickup Paintball gun? I was thinking double pack Taser!😊

[@andyzegerman]

Though there might be little to prevent it, I believe that shining more light and awareness on it could increase the risk for those doing it.

[@rud]

You can’t steal more cables if you no longer have any hands. 😂

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

similar with stealing catylitic converters - but we don't have Taliban Sharia Law here.

[@be236]

Totally agree!

[@sausagedog52]

the saudi method works

[@randacnam7321]

In the immortal words of Eustace Bagge: _"Chop chop chop chop!"_

[@colbyremmers2498]

Lol come and get them

[@davegraff]

Make the cables retractable. It won't come out without payment details loaded.

[@Hamdad]

Good idea on paper but some companies have tried those, the constant flexure causes cable failure quite rapidly. What about wireless charging pads?

[@12pentaborane]

​@@Hamdad Wireless charging works by inducing an electric current through coils. I can just imagine the problems with how powerful that rapidly fluctuating magnetic field would be. It would basically be like sitting on top a MRI machine.

[@justinr9753]

They can't get the charger right as it is

[@thesoundsmith]

Now THAT'S a good idea!

[@woytas74]

​​​@@12pentaboranewireless charging is completly useless for cars due to curent limitation. Cars are quick charged because a thick high current cables. As quicker you want to charge car as thicker cable is required. Imagine this as pipes. Bigger pipe, more fluid flow per minute.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

If the vandalism costs exceed $1,500 in Washington state that makes the crime a felony. Have EA informed the police that the crime qualifies as a felony based on the monetary damages? I don't understand how the police refuse to investigate a felony. "The threshold for felony vandalism in Washington State starts at $1,500 in damages. However, even damage below $1,500 can be charged as a felony if it meets specific criteria like targeting certain types of property."

[@virtuserable]

Long story short but I've been a victim of several felony-level thefts and the police in my area just emailed me a form to fill out and sent me something back so I could file with my insurance. No follow-ups, no investigation as far as I can tell... It's incredible that all of these police getting nice salaries, benefits, pensions and just sit around getting paychecks and they simply don't care JeanPieereWhite

[@craig8638]

Thank you. Unbelievably there are people on here saying cops have better things to do. It’s grand theft.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

@@virtuserable That's disturbing to hear. Sorry you went through that. We are but one step away from anarchy.

[@davidgiles9751]

@@virtuserable It's not that the police are just sitting around... it's that the local politicians and DAs aren't willing to follow up and prosecute these thiefs and throw them in jail.

[@macbook802]

But he just said 15 bucks.

[@PianoBoy99]

kyle -- Reach out to the Puget sound / Seattle area state and city district attorney. You are a member of the press, and I think using your press credentials to pressure elected officials is a good idea. Maybe also reach out to Seattle area EV clubs and see what their perspective is.

[@ST-cy6we]

The socialist government in Seattle does not care. They are bought and paid for by George Soros. Sadly, Kyle's words will fall on deaf ears.

[@jfbeam]

Local TV is "press". KZbinr is not "press".

[@dondaly4773]

@@jfbeam 1000% not true. Precendent set in the United states is that “every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion” is considered press. KZbinrs like this Channel are absolutely press and the original commenter is correct they should reach out to the police department for comment of what they are doing about it

[@Bob_Smith19]

DAs aren’t prosecuting so reaching out for comment is pointless. This is happening all over the US in liberal areas. Dereliction of duty is scratching the surface of what the DAs are doing.

[@justinr9753]

They should vote blue 💙 harder and see if that helps 🤣

[@anton_grahn]

What is up with the US Police system, seems quite dysfunctional? Things like this would be heavily investigated and handled seriously in Sweden

[@bjackson1975]

The US is huge, this is not a universal problem in America. Seattle however has a problem in that they don’t want to prosecute crime, they chose to defund the police, crazies walk the streets and attack random people. Great job Seattle..

[@skyemalcolm]

The police themselves were politicized and stepped away from their duties in some regions. Seattle and Portland were emblematic of this after the summer of 2020 and it’s perhaps not coincidence that the cable theft overlaps in that region.

[@Matt-ww9bb]

Police have better things to do.

[@keco185]

There was a whole “defund the police” moment specifically in Washington and Oregon after the George Floyd protests in 2020

[@godofdun]

They're too busy harassing people and filling ticket quotas.

[@mp3mike237]

EA should know instantly when a cable is cut. There is at least one temperature sensor in the connector, and obviously the reading for that sensor will go out of bounds when the cable is cut, if they don't already monitor it for that they should. (From that video of the Supercharger cables being cut we see that Tesla turns the light off on the charger about 15 seconds after the cable is cut.)

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

Embedding fiber optics in the cable casing would be impossible to evade if someone tried cutting - could also double as a wear indicator for maintenance.

[@natehill8069]

Sounds like a job for AI. When it sees someone approaching carrying loppers, it energizes the cable, then sells the fireworks video to pay for new ones.

[@GloriousReign]

Ai = a room full of Indians😂

[@spoolin55psi]

We are the kinda people this world needs 😂 a sign “risk of cutting cable will cause death”

[@natehill8069]

@@spoolin55psi Actually I think the sign should say "Warning: cable is filled with high-quality Bourbon, make sure to get the pump started by licking the connector vigorously".

[@Olliethelabradane]

Hahaha I like that idea! Unfortunately people are a bunch of wimps and would say that’s wrong.

[@rahpowah01]

The only way this will be fixed is if the law is enforced. Once people start facing consequences for this it will become much less frequent.

[@viet0ne]

The drug "war" says otherwise. Billions spent every year but it's still going strong because demand is too high

[@timothykeith1367]

In many states this wouid not be persecuted unless the damage was greater than $1,000

[@justinr9753]

They should vote blue 💙 harder, see if that helps 🤣

[@Falinzin]

@@timothykeith1367 did you not watch the video? The cables are $2k each.

[@kinvert]

The cops would rather steal houses from people that couldn't afford their property taxes.

[@mabutarif]

When theft and property damage that are worth thousands of dollars is something police departments don’t want to do anything about, unfortunately there is zero consequence to thieves and there is nothing stopping them.

[@billwaterhouse5894]

Stop defunding, demoralizing and otherwise hating the police and you’ll find out they do care. NBC news/ K5 in Seattle recently reported they are down 700 police officers.

[@toofast4radar]

Then the police will likely also not care if someone "takes care" of the situation when the guy is caught.

[@billwaterhouse5894]

So I’m curious @mabutarif, did you delete my comment or was it KZbin? Either way, suppressing the truth is part of the reason why this country is heading in the direction it is…sad

[@mabutarif]

@@billwaterhouse5894 I didn’t delete anything and I don’t think I can delete

[@aussie2uGA]

Thats why it's important to vote this year.

[@waatup]

Biggest problem is there’s also almost no punishment

[@shou635]

This is right here. So simple.

[@waatup]

For those interested, Teslogic’s new Pro products can unlock model 3/Y acceleration and more (use code 32 for 10% off)

[@tlathrop7753]

Let's defund the police further and reelect democrats

[@godslove7708]

What do you want these people to have their hands removed. Theft has been going on forever. Build a better cable one that is harder to cut. Or hide these EV pumps in the ground until a customer needs it to charge their vehicle. Get smarter then the thieves.

[@waatup]

@@godslove7708 that’s like saying just be tougher to murder victims lol. Laws have well defined punishments for these things but they are not enforced. In addition to grand theft, intentional destruction of electric/transportation infrastructure can be considered terrorism

[@brianclayton4216]

If copper were present in gas pumps and thieves attempted to steal it, authorities would likely impose immediate and stringent penalties, responding more swiftly to such incidents.

[@JebusHypocristosX]

Gas pump driveaway thefts

[@cdnbaconeh7321]

Can you imagine the news if a gas pump was missing all its hoses.

[@rdeh1678]

The difference is the Gas station has employees

[@12pentaborane]

​@@rdeh1678 I get why charging companies don't want the gas station model, but given how long it takes to charge they should go back to it.

[@JebusHypocristosX]

@@rdeh1678 Low paid employees, plenty of gas thefts robberies and scanners installed to rob you at gas station WITH employees, despite your idiotic hyperbole.,

[@jeffhaddox2239]

Copper theft has been an issue for years. It doesn’t matter how much copper is in it. Over 20 years ago my wife worked at a day care center that when they went to turn on the air conditioner that was in a fenced area when the HVAC person went too look at the unit it was just gone stolen for the copper. There is a bridge in Southern California I just saw a news article on that the local government can’t keep the street lights on because they keep stealing the wire. As someone who worked over 30 years in correctional facilities both county and state, I’m surprised it has taken so long for this to start. I personally would like to see statistics for other crime at these charging stations. If this isn’t an issue now, I almost guarantee it will be soon. Your appeal to would be cord cutters is at best naive. They don’t care, criminals are going too take your stuff, especially if it is just out in the open with little to no witnesses , that’s why San Francisco residents have stopped locking there cars that way the windows aren’t broken to rifle through their stuff. The Prius guy may just have an axe to grind because they make better looking cars too virtue signal with, or you just find it hard to believe a criminal drives a Prius. I think both Ed Kemper, and Ted Bundy drove VW bugs, when I was a kid that was the car hippies drove 😂

[@spankeyfish]

It was obvious this would be a problem as soon as chargers with fixed cables were being installed in numbers. The only economical way to avoid it is for each car to carry its own cable and have a socket on the charger. Can't steal a cable that's not there.

[@jamesphillips2285]

@@spankeyfish That is apparently what they do in Europe.

[@UnnDunn]

@@jamesphillips2285only for AC chargers, not for DC Fast Chargers.

[@jamesrsnyder6951]

@@spankeyfish those cables are thick, heavy and very expensive. This is due to the high current that needs to be carried. So it would not be economical for vehicle owners and not realistic to expect drivers to store and handle the cables.

[@jamesrsnyder6951]

@@jamesphillips2285 Not with high power cables like at the fast chargers. those cables are thick, heavy and very expensive. This is due to the high current that needs to be carried. So it would not be economical for vehicle owners and not realistic to expect drivers to store and handle the cables.

[@anthonyc8499]

Cable theft in the Seattle-area has gotten so bad that EVgo has said they won't bother replacing cables until the problem is solved. Starbucks HQ had their Chargepoint cables stolen and another nearby Starbucks-Volvo station had its cables cut within a week of the station opening.

[@latent4407]

Fake news. Crime is down in all major cities and the police, prosecutors, DA are tougher on criminals than ever before. The economy is great, so there is no reason for theft. Please stop noticing things.

[@macbook802]

I imagine a "trailer park boys" type crew hiring all of the greasy people in the park to strip ev cables

[@ettcha]

I think that's the best they can do until law enforcement takes down the buyers and prosecute the thieves. Otherwise, if charging networks keep replacing cables, the thieves will keep farming those chargers and eventually make a neat sum of money

[@Beastw1ck]

Just keep the cables energized at all times 🤷

[@4rwayner7]

Back in the day owners put razor blades on fender skirts and cops went after car owners.

[@hazmatt81]

$15 is $15...thieves aren't doing analysis on the reward of their labor. As a high voltage contractor, we see 12kV cables cut often. here in Southern California. Funny thing for them is 2 fold...1 - if it's energized, with load...BOOM!!! Huge fireball (and they get what they deserve), 2 - if it's a new install and not yet energized, Southern California Edison underground wire is primarily aluminum with small concentric stranded copper that we use as the neutral on the outside of the insulation/semi con layer. But that's what they know about and think the entire cable is copper. But just like a charging cable, they'll get very little reward for all the cable they cut. High Voltage cables are mostly insulation with a rather small conductor at the center. But, again, thieves aren't thinking rationally so it's an uphill battle to help them make an educational decision to steal something else 🤣 Hope they figure out it's not worth their time as you said, it hurts the rate of adoption for an EV transition. Very cool of EA to reach out to you! Great PSA video. Keep up the great content as always!

[@meikgeik]

Nevada here, I've seen the cables discarded on the side of the road. I saw footage of someone stealing cables from 5 locations and coal rolls his diesel truck on the way out. He's just some anti-EV politically radicalized person. It's clearly not even about the money, some peole are just assholes.

[@mrdeadworry]

@@meikgeik This! This is the real reason this is happening not the money made!

[@ericnewton5720]

EV charger cables are nothing like what you’ve exampled, they are high voltage and high amperage, and have to be flexible so they know they are full of fat copper.

[@hazmatt81]

@@ericnewton5720 right, but like Kyle stated, $15 worth of copper. Not worth it to you and I but to thieves it’s more than they started with. I was just making an example that thieves don’t care. They think all of it is loaded with copper. I’m fully aware of how those cables are as I’ve installed plenty of Tesla super charger sites and ChargePoint sites here in So Cal.

[@hagestad]

i call bullshit on a market price of those. Rest of that cable is basically plastic/synthetic rubber. That sounds like 2000% markup

[@dh-1399]

My practical side is suggesting that the solution is for more surveillance and law enforcement involvement. My Murica side is saying that we counter theft or copper with expenditure of lead.

[@YaztromoX]

You keep saying that it’s not worth it - but at $15 each that was $60 worth of cables behind you. And while that’s not a lot on its own, what you need to look at is how much value you can extract for how little work. And cutting cables doesn’t take much effort - you can likely have those 4 cables cut in 10 minutes. Stripping the cables isn’t any work - I think you’re picturing thieves like this sitting with a knife and manually removing all of the sheathing, but that’s not how they do it - they dump the cables in a pit, pour some gasoline on them, and light them up. Once the fire is finished and the metal has cooled, you just pull it out and you take it to a scrap metal buying. Done. If you can cut, transport, and burn 10 cables in 2 hours, that’s the equivalent of making $75 an hour. I certainly don’t advise not condone anyone doing this - but for someone with little scruples who needs the extra income, this is a pretty easy (and with no action from the police, pretty safe) way to do that.

[@justinr9753]

Don't blame the police, what are they going to do? Use their limited resources to take them to revolving door jail so the da can drop the case? This is what the people who live there wanted

[@Buddie21341255612351]

15$ is enough for a fix.

[@ianfarquharson3772]

Most don't burn it anymore as it lowers the price massively. Easy to make a wide coating stripper to get to the bright new copper. I don't believe it's only got 15 bucks in it either.ThankQ.TkEZ>UK

[@supernova743]

​@@ianfarquharson3772stripping copper is actually pretty easy. If you can mount a blade to a small opening you can strip hundreds of feet an hour

[@ToddGlasier]

Very cool EA asked for your collaboration - and very cool you obliged! Thanks for the video. That thief - SURELY with his face out there he will get caught eventually?? Hell if I recognized him I'd turn him in! That said, $15 is nothing to lots of us, but 4 x $15 in a night is much more to some ppl, if they are desperate.

[@buddy1155]

The solution is simple, just make sure the cables are always live, 400 volts will do the trick.

[@dpav02]

Then they’ll get sued and it states like California and Washington, they’ll win. Also, that’s a LOT of wasted energy.

[@Skylancer727]

Well person did that and it didn't work. Plus it's only live if plugged in. If people can just unplug it before they cut it will change nothing. Not to mention now you have waste energy that the charge suppliers have to eat. Better answer is just have the wire coiled into the station with the handle just locking to the unit. Can't unlock till after you give your payment info.

[@ulwur]

Wasted energy?

[@ab-tf5fl]

I don't think that would be safe. If the cable were live when not charging a car, any person accidentally touching the DC pins while plugging in would get zapped. This is why DC cables lock to the car during charging and refuse to unlock until sensors have confirmed that no power is flowing through the cables. Anytime high power is flowing through the cables, having them locked to the vehicle ensures that nobody kills themselves touching something they shouldn't be touching.

[@AmperageY]

@@dpav02keep in mind it would save $2k per cable and the expense could be worth it, also it can run very low amperage just voltage is needed here to do the trick and thus reduce power expense

[@kenmodel3289]

Why not add a wire loop in the cable. If it is cut, an alarm would go off. Either at the individual stations or at the whole site. Also turn on video cameras.

[@SueBobChicVid]

I'm sure that's possible, but it requires a redesign and replacement of existing hardware.

[@joshuaspires9252]

@@SueBobChicVid you say that but replacement is happening every cable lost.

[@SueBobChicVid]

@@joshuaspires9252 It's a good argument. There needs to be hardware added for the loop circuit detection in the control box too. I'm sure a bean counter could do a cost analysis to see where the break-even point is. But it is not as simple as adding a wire loop to each cable they replace. And I expect it will not affect how many cables are stolen (no added deterrent).

[@joshuaspires9252]

@@SueBobChicVid So a detail you may miss, is that their is communication for the cable already. So a example charge point has a IO board at the top of the cable just inside the cabinet. that comes with a new cable every replacement. so the interface to the cabinet is already their. Thus they only would have to revise their cable.

[@garycard1826]

Another great Idea!

[@UNLOCKsilo]

They should keep the cables energized ⚡

[@american162]

If they are energized all the time, then there will be dangerous arc flashing whenever they are being plugged in a car and at possibly 1000 volts and 500 Amps, that can be enough to kill someone from that arc flash.

[@CadgerChristmasLightShow]

There must be some way to engineer a sensor or something so that when the cable gets tampered with, very strong charge is applied to it and makes whoever is doing the tampering severely regret their life choices.​ @american162

[@Buddie21341255612351]

​@palerider7924 it doesnt work like that, you need to cut each conductor separately (almost impossible with those cables). Or you will short 1000v into the cutter head generating little to not resistance. Amps will rise as crazy and something fused for 400-500amp isnt generaly made to operate fast enough to prevent an arc flash explosion.

[@dmunro9076]

I recently planned a drive to Roswell NM in my M3 and I noted that Plugshare stated that the cables to the Francis Energy DCFCs had been cut. I phoned the gas station that hosted the DCFCs and asked them to inspect the cables...they did so and confirmed that the cables had been cut. I then phoned Francis Energy and informed them... and this was the first that they'd heard of it!!! It took over a month for the cables to be repaired.

[@enginerdy]

This is crazy when they’re all network connected and you can assume one that hasn’t been used in a week is probably broken

[@mikeselectricstuff]

The plugs have temperature sensors so the charger can immediately detect & report a cut cable. Maybe they should add indelible dye to the coolant on cooled cables.

[@JasonKopp-e7s]

This is reflective of a bigger issue in society which is the perception by many that theft and vandalism is acceptable. It starts early in life with either poor or no parenting and It is reinforced when there are no consequences for their actions.

[@ST-cy6we]

How about electing prosecutors who will, you know, prosecute

[@TKevinBlanc]

It's drugs. Maybe one of the biggest issues in American society.

[@JayCAlan]

@@TKevinBlanc Like 90% of crime can be traced back to drugs (a statistic I just made up but is probably close)

[@beyondfossil]

Unfortunately, bad human behavior is an even harder problem to fix than climate change! 😮

[@ST-cy6we]

@@TKevinBlanc Thankfully, we ended the "remain in Mexico" policy and now the drugs can run over our border freely. It's a good thing..

[@brady783]

I used an EA station last week that has a sign on the dispenser stating "no high value metals".

[@gregorymalchuk272]

The town should have a sign that says "no high value citizens".

[@alleyoop5185]

That’s if the idiots can even read! Lol

[@supernova743]

The copper is about $20 per cable and if you grab 5 thats $100. If you cut 10 thats $200. While its costly to replace and the reward is low there is also almost no risk to the thieves.

[@millsbobster]

if EV charging stations weren't isolated deserts devoid of anything that would encourage owners to hang around while charging, this would disappear instantly. i've only had my Kia Niro EV for 11 months and i'm aghast at how unwelcoming EVERY charging station i've ever seen is. no protection from weather, often stuck somewhere out of the way, etc. makes for the ideal site for unobserved theft.

[@jfbeam]

Bull. Guy pulls into empty charging spot, gets out, cuts cable, leaves. Are you going to do a damned thing to stop him?

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

Having a cafeteria or such (tables with charging ports for devices?) on the lot so owners can keep an eye out could help.

[@jnawk83]

No protection from weather? My EV has a roof and a heater. Is yours a permanently open convertible?

[@millsbobster]

@@jnawk83 never seen snow and ice, eh? and i don't know anyone who Enjoys hooking their EV up in the pouring rain, but maybe you do. the point, ultimately, is why intentionally make it more unpleasant than any normal gas station?

[@michaelmehrer2177]

The cable should come out of the cabinet once payment is established.

[@markc19821]

Kyle's version of "a short" 😂 LOVE IT!

[@SpottedSharks]

Good topic. More awareness is always preferable to ignorance.

[@AaronStarkLinux]

It doesn't matter how many videos you make about this, don't expect thieves to have enough IQ to understand there is no benefit. When they steal, they don't think, but they see a thick cable and an opportunity, same when they steal anything else... Like a bag inside a car and they decide to break the glass... There is never a benefit, but there is no brain, except misleading rumors between thieves. It's like an infection that is impossible to stop.

[@Skylancer727]

I mean $15 a wire is actually pretty good value. How many things can you steal that you can both easily run off with yet are worth over $10? And this guy went to a station and cut basically the entire station making nearly $200 in less than 30 minutes. That's better pay than most actual jobs.

[@thiseye]

Is it really about the copper though or about something more sinister to discourage EV adoption? It probably is about the quick cash but wouldn't be surprised if it's being encouraged/promoted quietly by special interests

[@tjncooke]

@@Skylancer727 Gotta remember, he has to process the cable to get the copper out. It's probably a pretty big pain and takes time, which cuts down on the $/hr. But maybe it's the fact that scrap yards may not ask questions, where as eBay might start asking for documentation if you try to offload your stolen retail goods there.

[@macbook802]

Exactly.

[@Foersom_]

9:30 "AI" to detect charger not used for a while? Why would that require AI? An algorithm can detect that?

[@covetthecamper2289]

This is happening all over. Not just EV charge cables. It’s street lights and traffic signals as well.

[@steverogers8163]

Yes I saw a report from down in LA apparently thieves have stolen all the copper wiring in that new overpass bridge over the rail yard they built a few years ago.

[@timothykeith1367]

Yes, with EV manufacturing increasing the price of copper...

[@natehill8069]

Are they stealing them for copper or just vandalizing to prove how superior gas cars are?

[@phillyphil1513]

A: yes...

[@Hotspur37]

my thougts as well

[@JD-yx7be]

copper theft has been a problem before electric cars where a thing. Ask any electrician

[@allangibson8494]

@@JD-yx7beAsk anyone who has a new house built - and had the wiring stolen out of the walls.

[@murraymadness4674]

Or making a point about the charging unit not working --- again..and again and again, well they will not miss this cable that never works...right?

[@sgstuff]

If you count your time reading the comments it is about an hour long video! Thanks Kyle!

[@KennethRobinson-rf9wj]

Your videos are solid, keep up the good work

[@ericnewton5720]

And shorter. Over 15 min is too long and really just sounds like he likes hearing himself talk.

[@onthetrench4178]

Maybe it’s not about the copper, rather anti-EV

[@Joes_Morgue]

Considering the profits, I'm guessing you are right. Especially for the repeater, who has seen how little copper they're actually is...

[@tjsean0308]

@Kyleconner This is certainly part of the issue here in Seattle.

[@ericnewton5720]

I think it’s mostly copper theft not vandalizing. Nevada is prob more vandalizing than theft.

[@Snerdles]

Yeah, those crack addicts really have a hate on for EVs.

[@JD-yx7be]

ask any electrician copper theft has always been a problem

[@rctezluh42069]

Scrap yards need to recognize what they are taking in,

[@slash196]

If scrap yards had to stop buying stolen shit they'd all go out of business.

[@Dutch84]

Honestly, how would they know. It's not like people are turning in the cable to them. All the scrap yard sees is copper wire. Who is to say the person didn't get the copper legitimately.

[@phillyphil1513]

unfortunately copper wire theft ain't like the "scourge" of Catalytic Converter theft that we've had since 2020.

[@656hookemhorns]

They melt the copper down, often times making it impossible to know where it came from

[@timothykeith1367]

​@phillyphil1513 The catalytic convertor threat is easy because lithium ion rechargeable batteries make practical very efficient cutting tools

[@LCCB]

Best way to stop it? Call your congress representatives, call your mayor, bring it up in town hall meetings. Push on your local leaders long enough and they’ll make it a priority.

[@murraymadness4674]

Why does the government have anything to do with this problem? Are you calling them about how often these things don't work?

[@davegilbo]

In February, I was in Hayward, CA visiting my aunt. I rented an electric car, a Solterra BTW, to get an idea of range anxiety before buying an EV. I was excited to see a large bank of EVGo chargers in the parking lot of the nearby grocery store. However when I went to charge, 10 out of the 12 chargers were vandalized with the charging cables missing. Of course, the entire bank was shutdown. My family said the incident made the news but I have no idea if the police were able to locate the culprits.

[@justinr9753]

For what? Located them and da drops charge after they get out on no bail?

[@ironsword7]

When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.

[@RS-ls7mm]

When a culture floods the country that doesn't think crime is wrong but only embarrassing to get caught is also wrong. The d's voted for this. Most people don't realize that not everyone has their sense of values.

[@nlpnt]

The fact California is *third* when it has by far the most EVs, the most chargers and the most population tells me that this is a very few people doing this on at least a semi-organized basis.

[@SofaKing85]

It's a shame we have reached this point but sounds like the only solution is hardening the charging stations against such vulnerabilities. 1. Cameras 2. Alarms 3. Making the cable inaccessible until a valid customer enters credentials 4. Punishment and prosecution when all else fails Tho I also suspect some of these "thefts" are not for monetary gain but instead just the anti EV crowd taking out their childish insecurities on us.

[@Fetidaf]

while I don’t want to say “us” since I drive an ICE, but you’re probably right that it’s not for the monetary gain. I’ve seen dash cams of guys in trucks rolling coal onto teslas, following and keying them, flattening their tires, blocking charging spots etc just because they don’t like EVs… which I don’t understand at all. That’d be like preferring coke over Pepsi so you’re running Pepsi trucks off the road and trashing the fridges that have Pepsi in them… it’s asinine.

[@mrb2349]

You are exactly right, quite a lot of these people are EV and Tesla haters. I tried to point this out in YT comments before, also including some of the examples the above commenter gave, and dozens of people attacked me saying that there's no such thing as an EV hater and nobody does that out of spite. I also drive a V8 which I love, but I can clearly see unfounded animosity against EVs and people keying EVs less than half the price of the sports car they drove in, people who throw drinks inside and on the windshields of EVs etc., as well as cheering for the financial difficulties of American EV startups such as Lucid.

[@Fetidaf]

@@mrb2349 I mean, Lucid was just a sh-t show, I generally support EV’s but I’d be lying if I said that whole thing wasn’t amusing to me. That and remember Nikola? Those two companies deserve the Corporate Darwin Award imo

[@mrb2349]

@@Fetidaf I honestly don't understand how you can humor yourself with Lucid's struggles. They delivered a premium, quick sedan on par with hundred-year old industry giants. Nikola was fake as far as I know, but Lucid delivers.

[@Fetidaf]

@@mrb2349 if they did all that then they wouldn’t be where they are right now. They were trying to be on par with the giants. But the product they delivered was massively inferior yet they expected people to pay the same price as they would an actual car from a real manufacturer. Tesla captured lightning in a bottle by using off the shelf components to sell a simple, yet effective, proof of concept. They didn’t start out building the Model S and charging $100k for it, which is what Lucid should’ve done although I don’t think that would’ve worked either since the efficacy of EV’s has already been proven. Instead they treated it like a tech product, “this is first gen so it kinda sucks but it’ll get better!”. Which that’s fine for a $1k gadget or gizmo, not so much when you’re talking an $80k car that people are expected to trust their lives with for the next 5-7 years.

[@benjaminnead8557]

I don't know if anybody else here has suggested this already (1000+ comments as I type this) but charger manufacturers might want to find a way to have at least some electrical current running through the cable at all times. When thieves are found lying on the ground with industrial wire snips next to them and that becomes an increasingly common phenomenon, problem solved.

[@coulomb3042]

One of the problems is that for the safety of EVs, the battery and chargers have to be floating with respect to earth (not totally sure about the chargers). So even if you were stupid enough to cut the cable while a vehicle is charging, I think you wouldn't actually get shocked. The biggest danger is from molten copper shooting everywhere, and ultra violet light from the high current arc. Plus a really huge bang. And your cable cutter is totally ruined. I suppose for theft limitation you could put a voltage with respect to earth on the cables, and take it away immediately that the vehicle is plugged in. You could possibly even be humane and make it non-lethal, but instead just really, really unpleasant. And you could detect the breach and activate cameras etc. But the first time some dude with a weak heart dies, the charger manufacturers could be in big trouble. Really I think that the most practical solution is to include a very thin wire that loops from inside the charger, out to the plug, and back on itself. As soon as the cable is cut, that breaks the loop, sets off an alarm, you could have flash cameras go off, make a big fuss. Maybe play a MP3 through horn loudspeakers of how law enforcement has been notified, your picture is published, and you're going to prison.

[@murraymadness4674]

you really don't get it. They use battery cutoff wheels, you won't get shocked at all, it will just spark. Have you ever cut a live wire????

[@timothykeith1367]

There would be a lawsuit - you can't set traps for thieves . You can scare them with a very loud noise. but not harm them.

[@jnawk83]

Build them in doors, credit card swipe (or charge network fob) to enter, and if a cable is cut, lock the doors and alert the police that the perp is detained.

[@Jiriki999]

Pressurize the cooling system and mix the coolant with blue dye. That should make it easy to identify the smurfs stealing cables 😊

[@JD-yx7be]

won't matter if the DA won't prosecute

[@jnawk83]

Use mark rober's fart and glitter spray.

[@tonysales3687]

Damage to infrastructure is prosecuted severly here in the UK. Because it affects society. The police in any given country have a duty to serve society, and go after criminals.

[@thedopplereffect00]

Isn't the UK too busy arresting people for mean tweets?

[@CraigMatsuura]

Make it a felony to damage a charger, once one guy is prosecuted it will stop.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

It is a felony in Washington State if you vandalize in excess of $1,500. These acts would qualify as felonies.

[@noewiy4524]

It already is a felony based on damage in $. The problem is that Seattle police don’t actually arrest people because they’re too worried about catching discrimination charges if the arrested party is a member of any protected group (pretty much everyone in Seattle is a member of one protected group or another)

[@downix]

​@noewiy4524 That is nonsense. Seattle PD is infamous for targeting minorities, to the point I am more confident that they know the thief isn't a minority, hence the lack of interest. After all, since when has risk of suit stopped SPD before?

[@krakken-]

This should qualify as a felony already, based on the damages. The felony threshold is $1500, which is less than the cost of a single cable.

[@benjamindbarr]

​@@JeanPierreWhitepolice have to stop laughing long enough to prosecute, the anti EV attitude of the cops in Seattle area is pretty bad. Force them all to drive EVs and use public infrastructure and I bet the cable cutting with lower extremely fast

[@peterrempala7982]

Why can’t they imbed a smal gauge wire in the cable. Essentially a loop ➰ so when it gets cut the charger would know.

[@LaserFur]

they could

[@macbook802]

A loop that explodes when tampered with dousing the entire area with pepper spray

[@tedgray489]

@@macbook802 Better yet... purple stain that is dispensed at face/eye level that can't be washed off.

[@supergeek02468]

Yeah, I don’t buy that EA can’t detect this. There are temperature probes in the cable that will no longer report valid data once the cable is cut

[@steves9028]

This reaction from Seattle police makes the “defund the police “ crowd sound more reasonable. Why pay for cops who refuse to do their job?

[@michaelterrazas1325]

The defund people said to not enforce vandalism laws... This is what they wanted. To me, this is WHY the defund movement was so stupidly unreassonable.

[@pondking2801]

The defund the police wanted the police to stop beating up and arresting minorities for no reason. They want to fund real police work, not thugs on a power trip.

[@Jcewazhere]

Yup kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnSoop2OfpaGgs0

[@justinr9753]

It was the other way around, vote blue 💙, revolving door jail, da won't do nothing, so why arrest them

[@Wayne-e6l]

Simple solution just remove the cable. Just have an outlet and have the vehicle owner provide the cable. Which should be included when they buy the vehicle.

[@bobstevenson4396]

Provide Police departments highly discounted kwhs so they convert more squad cars to EVs so they more frequently visit charging stations!

[@garycard1826]

Great idea!

[@elonmask50]

Good thinking, let’s have all the squad cars parked up all night charging, instead of doing their job.

[@Hayethcod]

@@elonmask5030 minutes of charging is not all night.

[@elonmask50]

@@Hayethcod you been doing comedy long? You're not good at it, nor Math apparently, nice try though 🤪.

[@joepalmer1594]

That station has two days worth of meth. Add to that, Grandma wont let them in her house anymore since they stole her jewelry.... That's why they are stealing them.

[@anthonyc8499]

Exactly. The charging cables are just free money for the taking. If you live in a tent and having nothing but time, then it's not a problem to strip out the copper.

[@macbook802]

But guys it's cost 6k for electrify America to replace that two days of meth. It's not a fair trade

[@zilfondel]

You're so on point. And to add to that, the guy had the typical meth dog - a brown pit bull. I bet this guy talks to himself and yells at the sky too.

[@ericnewton5720]

EA, being a government agency will find a way to pay the most money for the least value. EA needs to fail so the real free market in EV chargers can succeed.

[@richardjohnson8009]

And it refills, its like a gold mine

[@downix]

As a Soul EV owner, I feel the pain over the loss of Chademo. I used this very spot more than a few times over the years.

[@JoeSchmow]

Thank you for once again solidifying the case for keeping my super efficient, very well maintained gas car as long as humanly possible.

[@zilfondel]

There are currently FOUR EA stations that are completely knocked out by this! Screw this guy, honestly.

[@LaserFur]

Mixed metal is a pain to recycle. so copper plating AL strands would lower the resale value more than the value of the copper or the AL. Add in a few strands of steel and it would be a mess to recycle. edit: and even if you add a few AL strands and a few steel strands the result would be a wire that could be identified. Sure there is still catalytic converter theft, but that has a higher value. reducing the shiny copper to the mixed metal price would lower the value.

[@FB-rn1bn]

This is the idea I've heard by far. Sounds inexpensive ,once the cable manufactures are set up for it and makes the product of theft not worth the effort.

[@SirOsisofLiver]

Most of the utilities I've worked with have replaced the old stranded copper ground conductors with copper clad steel. It's essentially worthless as far as theft. The difficulty with aluminum is it doesn't like to be manipulated and tends to fracture with repeated bending. But I'm sure some material's science guy could come up with some alloy that would do the trick. The chargers could have the cables on reels. They'd be locked inside the unit until a payment card is swiped and account confirmed. Added expense for the companies though.

[@rcjbvermilion]

​@@SirOsisofLiver even if the other steel or aluminum cables weren't energized, they could just be there to mess with the recyclers.

[@jamesrsnyder6951]

For theft it sounds like a possibility, but for future recycling it is also a problem.

[@LaserFur]

@@jamesrsnyder6951 Radiators with AL fin with copper tuning are already recycled. The steel would end up in the bottom of the melt.

[@1MarkKeller]

1 Charging stations should have 4K security cameras fixed on their charging station lots. 2 Make the crime a felony for both state and federal courts. Charge them with both jail time AND a fine to the amount necessary to fix or replace the damaged chargers. 3 Retractable cables and plugs at all charging stations ... even destination chargers, I can't count how often I see these cables just laying all over the ground. I'd wager that most people doing this aren't doing it for money they are doing it because they don't like EVs or Tesla/Elon or specific EV stations.

[@JD-yx7be]

nope, copper theft has been a problem for decades. I worked as an electrician and had to replace stolen lines often before even the tesla roadster existed

[@Gamebuster]

free 4k cameras out in the open, nice

[@taterskinny]

EV charging is quite literally critical infrastructure and destruction of chargers should result in very harsh penalties. It's a shame police don't seem to care. Millions and millions of our tax dollars going to them just to get a "🤷‍♂️" is absolutely wild to me

[@mpmanley1]

You should email the news stations here in Seattle with a link to your video. This is the type of things news stations love to run with.

[@rikb.7772]

maybe they should charge the cable sheathes with thousands of volts.. 20K+ Volts actually. I was once a security guard and we guarded temp power lines. There where thieves that tried to steal these... the key word is "where" they took bolt cutters to them and the flash and explosion so violent that the guy was covered from head to toe with 3rd degree burns.

[@mfurmyr]

In Norway many of the chargers are close to 24/7 “Energy” stations. Toilet and food is more important than cheap power according to surveys.

[@JD-yx7be]

norway has far less crime in general

[@eddiegardner8232]

Why the hell isn’t this guy being identified, prosecuted, and jailed? Do felonies not count as important in Seattle? Not a place I would want to live if they don’t take felonies seriously. Why are they paying the cop’s salary if they do nothing?

[@Skylancer727]

Crime rate is high there so petty theft is thought of as almost a waste of resources with how much they deal with crime, domestic violence, and public endangerment. You see similar in New Jersey where begging is rarely punished so much that they're everywhere.

[@eddiegardner8232]

This does not address the fact that people who arrive at these charging stations at very low state of charge, expecting to continue their travel to safe resting spots, can get “trapped” at these stations, some of which are in unsafe locations to walk away from, especially in dangerously cold winter conditions. Does someone have to die or be killed before the cops take these crimes seriously?

[@colonelboyle]

Most of the blame is with the prosecutors who refuse the charge the few people the police do arrest

[@ST-cy6we]

It isn't the cops who are the problem. It's the mayor, the city council, and the DA.. Arresting anyone does nothing if the Soros-funded DA won't prosecute .

[@rchender]

Another point to make is whether the theft of cables is a felony or misdemeanor,, the Soros-elected DA's refuse to prosecute, so they simply let arrested thiefs out of jail!

[@NiekNooijens]

In Europe, except for DC chargers, people bring their own cables. You plug it into your car and the charger, tap your charge card, and the cable will lock into place.

[@seamonlark9282]

Yea that's pretty much the obvious sollution.. Sure vandals could disable the plugs on the station - but that is easier to solve. Also enables to have different design for the station..

[@jnawk83]

Only works because of the design of the type 2 connector, which isn't the prevailing standard in north America because they don't believe in 3 phase electricity. (Hell, they don't believe in 1 phase either, instead electing to cut a phase in half. 😂)

[@RenlangRen]

These are dc chargers.

[@vonlouie77]

As long as there’s a market for these items you will never get rid of the problem. Copper has had a black market for a very long time. Then saying it only $15 that a lot of money for someone. Then people saying can we fry them, have never heard of insulation. Here in the uk people are stealing copper wiring out of empty home along with copper piping

[@louisjov]

The best way to prevent the theft of fast charging cables is to have less fast chargers. The proliferation of cheap to install, low speed destination level 2 chargers is far more important for EV adoption than fast chargers. Bonus, with a cheap level 2 charger, you don't need to install a charger. You just need an outlet with a mechanism to lock your own personal charging cable in place while it's plugged in.

[@panameradan6860]

I’ve been saying for years, apparently to deaf ears (including out of spec), that BEVs will not take off for the masses unless/until fast-charging stations convert to the gas-station model of having full-time attendants (with all the benefits that come with that, including restrooms, food, windshield-washing supplies, ability to pay by credit card and cash, to help handicapped & senior customers who have limited strength/mobility, ability to immediately fix or get repairs for a broken charger, and of course provide safety for both the chargers and the customers). And ubiquitous canopies to protect from rain and sunlight, as you have at most gas stations, is a necessity, not just a convenience. This current model of unattended chargers will fail if not changed, and mass adoption of BEVs will never take off without it; spending billions of dollars to build out charging stations in the unattended form is largely a waste of money ... it's best to spend a decent portion of that to build up the site of each charging station, not just throw in charging stations without the on-site support.

[@muskrat3291]

That is already kind of happening with Circle K, Shell, 7-Eleven, Pilot Flying J and others installing charging at their sites.

[@henrymalong4542]

Spot on.

[@JosephHale-d6r]

The gas station/supercharger system of charging EV's sucks. EV's should be charged where people are going to stop anyway. The supercharger system of making people go out of their way and sit there twiddling their thumbs while the vehicle charges is stupid. Most modern vehicle manufactures track where their vehicles stop and how long they stay there. It's not rocket science to put chargers in convenient places.

[@covetthecamper2289]

This is already happening.

[@pstoppani]

I agree and the faster this happens the better for EVERYONE

[@EVnerd2.1]

You can bet the police would get involved if someone was cutting gas station hoses off

[@JD-yx7be]

doubtful, gas stations get robbed all the time

[@Neojhun]

This Video is 15 Minutes Long (Don't Get Use to It) Felt like there was an error with Out Of Spec Reviews video.

[@AaronStarkLinux]

The shortest video in the Kyle's history 😂

[@thiseye]

A big reason I'm watching this one tbh. Usually I have to carefully think about whether I want to invest a quarter of my day on the video's topic and/or whether the kids will let me watch it to completion before I get distracted

[@dpav02]

Yea for most out of spec videos I scrub through. I don’t have 3 hours to see how a car drives. For that I mostly go to TFL.

[@Neojhun]

@@dpav02 I listen / watch out of spec videos like a podcast in the background. 2 hours is about the max i'd go through the whole thing. 1 hour plus is the sweet spot.

[@judithwood6419]

Prius is not totally eco-friendly because it’s still uses gas. Some of them are doing it because if the gas goes, their livelihood goes to something like that it’s most likely some kind of personal vendetta. Not for the money.

[@misteraon]

Why can’t they just add a simple small gauge two conductor cable that serves as a closed loop down to the connector and back as a closed loop. When the cable is cut it breaks the circuit which can trigger an audible alarm, notify the authorities and also set the charger to display as out of service.

[@benvanmil6761]

Kyle, one thing you miss on this topic is that many live in an age of survival. Like catalytic exhaust component theft here in western Canada which are gone in 60 seconds these cables take a bit to cut yet is far easier compared to finding empty beverage containers in areas where recycling happens, to come up with $18 in recycling takes all day or longer. The world increasingly is a world of people who have nothing Vs people who wreck a cybertruck just because. Not saying there is anything wrong with wasting one's money but many people have this as a unreachable dream. Not saying you wreck vehicles just making the point that $18 worth in 60 seconds is a windfall for those who have nothing. It's not up to the police to secure cables, let charge point providers look after their property the same way store owners secure their stores with security. Bottom line it's a sad reality of today's world. Also, your KZbin won't increase the thefts as most people who commit these thefts do not have the time to read messages like this.

[@slash196]

People stealing 18 bucks worth of copper are not poor, they're junkies.

[@cdnbaconeh7321]

It's not about the money it's about EV hate. The forums and social media comments can be complete vitriolic poison.

[@tweezerjam]

I know. People equate teslas with liberals, even though musk is a conservative. And liberals are so evil. 😂

[@justinr9753]

Are you serious? Copper theft has been a problem. I live in red state so it's not just free to take, the jail doesn't have a revolving door, the da doesn't drop every case, scrap yards require proof and they have an offer there

[@justinr9753]

That's the most ridiculous thing ever, just got cut the end off of that's the case

[@johnjay7822]

The cables are probably dumped in a pile and never even cashed in. These aren't "copper thieves" so much as they are saboteurs. These are the people who complain that they would never buy an EV because the charging stations are always broken.

[@amyself6678]

Well, if Dems admit they're gonna try to ban my choice of normal car wont person be angry and fight back w EV vandalism? It's human nature. You start to ban meat you can bet people will vandalize vegan stores. You are pissing off 100 million people and 1% will fight back in dumb ways... It's not right, buy it's human...

[@656hookemhorns]

Keep dreaming

[@ab-tf5fl]

I hate to say this, but have we reached the point where some of the chargers need to have their access limited to daytime use only, with the entire charging apparatus locked behind a fence every night?

[@joelredfearnnpwdrl3755]

Here is a way to fix it, that's not political.(which could fix it) Run a small gauge continuous wire looped through the cable that when a cable is cut it sends a open signal to the company and or device. At that point it can contact authorities, spray them with paint, pepper spray turn on surveillance cameras, really anything. You could even put a capacitor in the cable and shock the crap out of them. Just make sure you put warning labels on the chargers.

[@AlRoderick]

I hate to be the one to have to inform people but you can't just throw enforcement at the problem and expect it to go away. Police in this country are actually really well funded, they get about half of the average municipal budget. We spend more on policing than almost any other country in the world and we have more of our population in prison than almost any country in the world, and crime still happens. You can't even really economically disincentivize it, this Prius guy is going around destroying a $2,000 cable that's going to cost probably hundreds of additional dollars in labor to replace and costing probably dozens of hours of lost time for EV drivers just so he can waste a lot of his own time picking through the cable very carefully to extract about $20 worth of copper. He's probably driving a Prius because that's the only way that he can not spend more money on gas driving around than he gets from the crime.

[@zilfondel]

How does enforcement not solve the problem? We have a situation where one guy has stolen 97 cables. If he were in jail, he would no longer be stealing cables. It's not like there's a huge list of cable thieves.

[@ericnewton5720]

What if he does it to get the work? 5head.

[@tom_hoots]

To quote just about every battery electric vehicle driver in the comments on KZbin: "And I never have to go to a gas station, ever again!" DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE AT GASOLINE STATIONS? "Staff." "Human beings." WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU EXPECT with the concept that battery electric vehicle charging stations must sit around abandoned, at all hours of the day and night? HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU EXPECT that these aren't targets for anyone who wants to make a few quick bucks? HERE'S ONE THING TO INVESTIGATE: By all means, find out how many of these "cable thieves" have been arrested, let alone convicted and served any time incarcerated? "Good luck with that."

[@AlRoderick]

@@tom_hoots We don't actually want them to be sitting around abandoned all day, that's certainly not a choice we'd have made if we'd been allowed to choose where the chargers go. We'd be thrilled If more charging stations were located by a nice convenience store or a restaurant, or at least a place with shade and a bathroom. Entirely too many chargers are located in isolated places where you can't safely access any kind of service on foot, and they're placed there because the land was cheap, or possibly because that was the only place the high voltage grid connection could go. Although at least a few of these chargers that have been targeted seem to be located at existing service stations, and the fact that we got footage of him doing the crime means that they are already under observation.

[@ab-tf5fl]

@@tom_hoots To be fair, many of the newer EV charging stations are, in fact, at gas stations, so benefit from whatever staff and amenities the gas station has. (I don't see it with EA, but I do with other brands).

[@seanplace8192]

Wow. So someone is doing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to public infrastructure and the police won't do anything about it? I just took a quick look at Plug Share around the Seattle downtown area and I can see that tons of the public chargers are "Under repair" with users reporting that the cables were cut.

[@justinr9753]

The jail has a revolving door and da drops every case, it's called vote blue 💙. Nobody is stealing it, just like how retailers had to shut down when all the products were made free up to $900

[@badtoro]

EA should welcome the "cable theft" issue. They can now blame a legit reason why their charging stations never work.

[@fluffycritter]

I live in Seattle and have definitely come across the cable theft problem, especially on public L2 chargers. It’s gotten to the point where it’s more surprising when a charger *hasn’t* been vandalized.

[@michaelbrannaka4046]

My solution to cable theft in Tesla & other EV charging stations is a secured automatic retractable electric cord reel for all charging stations that way only paid customers have access to the electric cord cable.

[@DirectCurrentRides]

We can't rule out that it's simply just anti-ev vandalism. Even if there's little value in it, there's 100% reward in the d-bag sending a message.

[@JD-yx7be]

minimum wage is $7/hr stealing a copper cable is $15 in 5 minutes.

[@DirectCurrentRides]

@@JD-yx7be it's not if you still have to dig into the rest of the cable and retrieve the copper, then find a way to sell it. So take out half the value in time and fuel costs

[@raybr1727]

Perhaps there is a black market for the whole cable with connector. Somewhere in the world, low cost, low quality charging stations are being manufactured with cables that are about 3' shorter than in the USA.

[@mt2nv1]

I seriously doubt this is theft. There are a lot of people who hate EVs. Vandalism is more probable explanation. Another reason to develop wireless charging and take the option for theft/vandalism out of the equation…

[@SheriffJackCarter]

An easy way to prevent a charger showing as available if the cable is missing, to me is simple. They can add 1 extra wire (can be a single-strand 24 gauge) down the length of the cable that goes into the connector then loops back to the charger. This wire would be monitored by a 1-bit circuit that simply says (1) The cable is present or (0) The cable has been cut. If cable monitor =0, then the charger can report that it's not available to users, can set off an audible alarm at the station to draw attention to the area, notify a local representative of the issue and could even send an automated alert to the police for vandalism. Having the wire loop through the length of the cable would allow monitoring of the cable if it is cut anywhere along the length of the cable, even if someone decided to be a malicious a-hole and cut just the connector off. It could even be able to detect if someone absentmindedly drives away without unplugging it somehow, even tho I'm (hopefully) sure the car has a way to prevent this.

[@ericroe]

Not only is it only $15 per cable, that $15 is for a stripped bare copper that isn’t burned, so it’s a very labor intensive $15. And for a Supercharger cable it what, $3? I feel like most of these cable thefts are anti EV people and not doing it for the scrap value. The dude in the Prius, not really sure.

[@chuckm260]

I have two ideas for the charge point operators albeit at their cost - one reactive and the second proactive. 1. Install surveillance cameras at each charging station. If vandal caught on camera doing any damage to the charging unit, post video on social media and shame them. (I would even consider posting footage of people ICE'ing a charging stall.) 2. Have the charging cable retract into the unit when not in use.

[@thedopplereffect00]

How would you shame a person in a mask that has no shame? You have to have cops informed immediately and arrest them on scene

[@chuckm260]

@@thedopplereffect00 - Well, I'd say you haven't thought your reply all the way through. First, they don't always wear a mask as evident in this video, and most don't. Second, it's irrelevant. Once the video is posted, the locals will probably recognize the offenders (or their vehicle like in the this video) and then maybe even report them to the authorities. What I will agree upon is that some of these knuckleheads just don't give a rat's a$$ because they have no scruples / morals / decency thus no shame. None the less, it can still help deter people who do have shame and are tempted to vandalize the charging station. Regardless, I really don't care if they have shame or not as long as something is being done to help mitigate this from happening. So instead of people complaining about it, proactive ideas are being presented. What ideas are you putting forth to help prevent or discourage charging station vandalism?

[@justinr9753]

1. People vote blue 💙, that's what they wanted, they crave it! Whole foods shutting down, yes please, Walgreens locking everything in the store, heck yeah, in and out burger closing, please do! Brazen daytime smash and grabs, I take some of those. 30 rental cars a day getting windows broken, sold! News reporters getting windows smashed while reporting it, okay. Reporters getting robbed, yeah that too. 2. They can't get chargers right as it is now

[@kencotton4645]

The thieves are facing felony charges if caught due to the cost of the cables.

[@freelanceminion7396]

"We got bigger things to worry about." I don't cry for large corporations, but $2000 per cable, 10 of those is $20,000 that's quite easily a felony, it is a major cost to citizens, insurers and local businesses and a drag on the transportation infrastructure. Plus the people who do this are probably into other crimes and this could lead police to those and maybe a larger criminal conspiracy.

[@noftishawk]

I mean, $15 is $15. But they aren't just doing 1 cable. $60 for 4 chargers in 10min of work, that's not a bad payout, sadly. It would be interesting to see if other industries have electronic component theft (thinking power distribution sites) and what they are doing to protect their assets.

[@AerialWaviator]

Am pretty sure this is targeted "EV station vandalism" directed at EV drivers/owners. It's not a case of simple property theft, it's the disruption of a business and public services! If someone where to steal cable from traffic light, the police would be all over it. This should be no different. The point of "why is there not a sensor" built into the station (9:00), this is easily solvable as part of the design. The connector holster just needs to have a J1772 socket where the pilot-ground points connect and complete the pilot circuit. Combined with software feature to monitor, it could alert the exact moment a cable was cut (as pilot would fail, while the connector was still hosted). This could trigger a sound like a car alarm, extra cameras or other alerts. BTW: To add insult the the charging station vandalism issue, Washington State EV owners pay an annual $150 "EV registration fee" that was said to help support the development of EV infrastructure. note: You have to consider the issue of EV station vandalism is increasing ahead of a federal election where one candidate is very anti-EV.

[@francis_lang]

The drug users do not care what effects their actions have on anyone else. The only care is to make a small amount of money to feed their addiction. If any tesla users want to start parking teslas near the superchargers one week to get the evidence to get the person arrested and filing a group criminal case.

[@FrankWhite-t2v]

How come the local cops are not doing under cover work to catch these people

[@PhilKulak]

Yeah... cops in the PNW got their feelings hurt real bad during the pandemic and haven't worked since.

[@Jack.Waters]

So similar to stealing Cat Convertors. Low payoff for the thief very high cost to owner. Stealing charging cables almost sounds like vendetta more than a Cooper smelter.

[@TheMrMarkW]

It's not just happening in the USA. We're seeing similar in the UK - in one town in Worcestershire (Kidderminster) a couple of weeks back, someone went round in one evening and cut 12 cables from all the rapid chargers in the town. I don't know if it's a cable theft grunt thing just for the copper or if it's EV haters / ICE obsessives who are doing it to try and penalise EV drivers. Some of them have been repaired by Osprey with new CCTV to catch them in the act, but there are still some chargers that are down (thankfully Zap-Map in the UK shows they're down - it's how I found out about it as I was travelling through that area and noticed lots of chargers showing offline - and then looked at the photos people had posted in the chat of severed cable stubs left...)

[@dirkvornholt2507]

Adding an AirTag to the charging cable handle might be an easy solution.

[@thedopplereffect00]

They would cut that part off

[@justinr9753]

What does everyone not understand about vote blue 💙? Catch them, released on no bail, da drops charge and they do it again

[@eddluireg]

Police are the problem in Seattle , the citizens need to vote for better police people which actually starts with voting for better mayor so start there

[@westsailsmusic]

Aren’t they the same people who were protesting demanding “defund the police” just a few years ago?

[@bradleyanderson4315]

If the courts won’t require bail or the criminal is not actually prosecuted why should police bother to arrest them?

[@eddluireg]

Yes then those people need to be voted out

[@Nun195]

@@bradleyanderson4315u r dumb.

[@keepingdistance4404]

Another benefit of defunding the police and no prosecution. No cop wants to put his/her life on the line for $18 worth of copper.

[@SCWgreg]

I suspect it’s more about EV haters. Vandalism. Not copper acquisition/profiting. What about putting tracking tags into the cables?

[@JD-yx7be]

copper theft has been a problem long before EVs existed.

[@SCWgreg]

@@JD-yx7be I think everyone understands that. But in this case, I would think if it was about copper theft, it would be even more rampant. More wide spread, and would’ve been happening years ago. Hard to say for sure. Could be a mix of reasons.

[@louisjov]

One thing I've never understood: unless it's a fast charger, why is there a cable always hardwired? EVs come with charge cords, and level 2 chargers are especially just extension cords. Why not just install an outlet you can plug into, that has a pin lock rhat engages when charging? You pull up, plug into the 30-50 amp outlets, plug it into your car, and unplug everything when you leave. It's much easier to secure the wire feeding outlets behind panels than it is to secure a big $2000 cable that's out in the open. As an electrician, I've always said with EVs, we don't need chargers, we just need a bunch of outlets

[@MrPir84free]

Thieves won't care that it costs $2K+ to replace it. Thieves only care that they can turn a quick buck for the effort. If they can turn a net profit of even a buck, thieves will still cut it and steal it. There should be a sensing circuit added so that the removal of the cable fires off an alarm, preferably super-loud. At the same time, if there's no effort by the police to curb the theft, there will be no resolution. Police not caring about curbing the theft is an indication of the politics involved; people in the area voted for liberal policies, i.e. democrat soft on crime policies, and this is the result. VOTE DIFFERENT ! Honestly, if the owners cannot curb the theft, the solution may be to add in a few wires, that don't connect to anything, and pump high voltage thru the entire cable when not in use; shocking, but that may be what is needed in certain areas. Rampant theft is what is seen in these democrat controlled areas with soft-on-crime policies; it's now getting to the point where people have to take the law into their own hands to effect change. Reality is that it's time for a new government in these areas.