California City Shows Opposition to Electric Vehicles by Cutting Chargers

At the end of July, the city of Vallejo began construction on charging ports for three community centers and installed new chargers in four downtown parking lots through a partnership with EVCS. 

As part of the city’s plan to open charging stations, the first parking lot was simply waiting for Pacific Gas & Electricity’s approval to turn on the power. 

It was not clear if the city knew about the issue of the vandalized charging lots, as it had not answered requests for comment.

This is no longer the case. Many people who cut electric chargers do so because they want to make some money. However, the money they make is incomparable to what it costs the city to replace the chargers.

One specialist said the vandalized stations were introduced that very week, yet now “it could take weeks to get replacements,” according to the Times-Herald report.

In the event that those wires cost equivalent to the ones from comparable organizations, the Times-Herald has assessed the city would be forced to pay “more than a half a million dollars and change for chargers that the public hasn’t been able to use yet.”

This is frustrating to electric car owners, the city, and the owners of the sites of electric chargers. Car owners are struggling to find places to charge their vehicles, and site owners and the city are frustrated because of how much the repairs cost them.

Copper is roughly $5.20 a pound, and electric vehicle chargers make it easier for thieves to steal and make a fortune. Many electric car owners are asking for something to be done, as they cannot charge their cars and feel they should have stuck to gas.

The situation has become so bad that people are willing to risk being arrested just so that they can make some money from stealing and selling the copper.

Many people, including the police, hope that those responsible will be found, but it is unknown what charges they will face.

For example, in the Minnesota-St. Paul area, officials discovered that approximately 83 chargers had been damaged, necessitating costly repairs and a lack of EV owners’ access to charging stations. 

The amount of electricity inside an EV charging cable can be fatal. As most charging cables contain just over two pounds of copper, people risk their lives to make a little over $10.

In this particular instance, the workers were shocked because the charging stations had only been fitted a week before the incident, and they had no idea the thieves were working so quickly.

It is believed that people were stealing the wires very early in the morning. As security also isn’t hired during the holidays, it is believed that people might have been stealing the wires during this time as well.

The Times-Herald noted that the city of Vallejo had previously declined to comment on whether newly installed charging stations would increase property security. 

Some have suggested extra security, such as putting up gates when sites are closed to prevent people from getting in. This is just one suggestion; most people give out suggestions in the hope that one of them will work.

The city was planning on moving ahead with construction while SolTrans had decided they were going to stop replacing the stolen wires at Curtola Parkway commuter lot last week.

The city has a current contract with AX9 Security who are tasked with patrolling downtown lots as well as the lots behind City Hall which saw their wires cut.

The U.S. Department of Energy has reported that constantly replacing EV charging stations and cables results in at least $1 billion in annual losses.

This figure is set to grow at a rapid rate as 1,000 new chargers are anticipated to be added every week.

It appears that the thieves will stop at nothing to get their hands on the copper, and the situation continues to worsen. Copper is stolen within days or weeks of being replaced.

Eventually, the chargers they steal from will have to be replaced with another, giving them even more opportunities to steal the copper. The hope is that preventative measures will soon be implemented to stop the thieves from doing this.

According to Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, “The Biden-Harris Administration has been clear about America leading the EV revolution, and thanks to the historic infrastructure package, we’re building a nationwide EV charger network to make sure all drivers have an accessible, reliable, and convenient way to charge their vehicles.”

However, officials are under the impression that the number will actually be surpassed thanks to the increases in weekly EV charger implementation.

According to US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the figures will reach 1.2 million chargers at the start of the new decade.