One aspect of electric vehicle charger theft and vandalism that's not talked about a lot is the cost to entities that fund the infrastructure.
One Canadian city has been hit hard by this problem, losing a dozen chargers available to the public in one night, as the Rocky Mountain Outlook reported.
Six cables from six stations at each of St. Albert Place and Fountain Park Recreation Centre in St. Albert were stolen recently. Even some of the charger handles were taken, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began an investigation.
The city had 26 EV chargers, though only six were operational as of Aug. 20 since another theft, of eight cables in June, had gone unaddressed. Fixing the damaged stations at St. Albert Place would cost $2,795, the outlet reported.
"Copper wire theft not only accounts for many millions of lost revenue for oil and gas, utilities, and municipalities, it also presents risks to the public, as exposed high-voltage wiring can shock or electrocute people, livestock, or wildlife, and start fires," Alberta RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff told the Outlook.
Though many people attribute charging station destruction to theft, the copper from a 25-foot cable is worth only about $7, the Outlook reported.
Flo, a charging company, said 23% of repairs to its Level 2 chargers in the last quarter of 2023 were a result of damaged cables, barely up from 21% over the first three quarters.
DC fast charger cable repairs rose from 2% in the first quarter of 2024 to 2.9% in the second quarter. It noted that misuse, rather than theft or vandalism, was a significant factor.
Solutions to the problem include installing cameras at stations and placing the chargers in well-lit, high-traffic areas. Electric Vehicle Association of Alberta board member Andrew Batiuk told the Outlook that drivers could be required to bring their own cables, though that would mean reworking the hundreds of thousands of chargers throughout North America.
As more cities and businesses install EV chargers, they will have to find solutions to problems that arise with the green infrastructure, which will only speed up the transition to EVs, which save drivers money and are significantly better for the environment than internal combustion engine vehicles.
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