If you drive an electric vehicle, you've probably seen firsthand a growing problem with charging stations across the United States.
EV refueling locations are regularly struck by vandalism, with the severing of charging cables making it impossible for a driver to charge their vehicle's battery.
In Seattle, the issue is particularly pronounced. According to Geekwire, 100 EV charging cables have been stolen across the city from July 1, 2023, to the same date in 2024.
"Cable theft from public chargers has been an issue in this area for over a decade, but has reached epidemic proportions in the last couple of years," said president of the Seattle EV Association, Jay Donnaway.
As electric vehicle sales rise — 1.6 million were sold in the United States in 2023, up from 1 million the previous year — so does the demand for charging infrastructure. While many owners can boost a battery at home using domestic charging technology, long journeys require access to publicly accessible spots.
But whether it's to steal the copper within cables or to make a point about distaste for the rise of EVs, thefts are increasingly common.
"It's a serious and frustrating problem around Seattle," said EV driver Elaine Wong, who told Geekwire that they hadn't been to an Electrify America station in the city that wasn't vandalized in recent months. "It's a vicious cycle," Wong added. "Once they have been fixed, a few days later they are cut again."
As the publication observed, such acts of criminality might be undermining efforts throughout Washington to avoid dirty fuel–powered cars. The state has set a goal to ensure all new purchases of cars and light-duty trucks are electric by 2035.
While measures have been introduced to discourage the sale of EV charging cable copper wiring at scrap sites, it is difficult to police, with the source of the metal tough to determine once it has been stripped of its outer casing.
But something needs to be done soon to encourage more people to ditch gas guzzlers and invest in electric vehicles. Even when accounting for the precious metals that need to be mined for battery technology, EVs are still far better for the planet throughout their life cycle than vehicles that run on fossil fuels.
Unlike internal combustion engine cars, electric vehicles produce no tailpipe pollution. This toxic smog decreases air quality — causing or exacerbating respiratory illnesses like asthma and increasing the risk of stroke — and persists in the atmosphere, trapping heat that results in rising global temperatures.
Those rising temperatures make extreme weather conditions, like droughts, flooding, and wildfires, stronger and longer lasting, putting people and homes at risk.
In order to boost uptake, potential EV drivers need to see that one of the major barriers to purchase — the availability of charging stations — isn't a problem. With the Earth witnessing 13 consecutive months of respective monthly temperature records up to June 2024, that switch needs to happen sooner rather than later.
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