In the past year, thieves in Seattle have stolen over 100 electric vehicle charging cables, driven by high copper scrap prices. This has left frustrated EV owners scrambling to find working charging stations, often traveling long distances. The problem, worse on the West Coast, has even hit Tesla Superchargers in the San Francisco Bay Area. With criminals targeting anything containing valuable metals, the situation has reached epidemic levels, highlighting a growing challenge for progressive cities struggling to enforce law and order. Will Seattle find a solution, or will EV drivers continue to face this electrifying dilemma?
Over the last year, burglars in the Seattle metropolitan region have stolen over 100 electric vehicle charging cables, primarily due to rising copper scrap values. This is extremely annoying for EV owners, who arrive at these charging stations only to discover severed wires and an inability to charge.
In the last 12 months alone, thieves have stolen at least 100 EV charging cables across the city in pursuit of the small amounts of copper within that can be sold as scrap.
The thefts are particularly painful for drivers who lack home chargers and are left scrambling to find a way to juice up their vehicles.
-GeekWire
“It’s a serious and frustrating problem around Seattle,” said resident Elaine Wong, who only uses public charging stations.
In one year, Electrify America stated that 93 cables had been severed from their charging network in Washington.
Wong pointed out that she hadn’t visited an Electrify America station in months. Some EV owners on the social media platform Nextdoor grumbled about having to travel as far north as Everett to find a working station.
“Cable theft from public chargers has been an issue in this area for over a decade, but it has reached epidemic proportions in the last couple of years,” said Jay Donnaway, president of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association.
Donnaway said that the cable problem looks to be considerably worse on the West Coast than elsewhere.
Last Monday, half of the cables at an EVgo station at the QFC in Ballard were severed. Thieves have reportedly targeted charging stations in other Washington cities in recent months.
Many of these criminals have only been emboldened to steal because progressive cities refuse to enforce basic law and order.
Earlier this year, robbers targeted a Tesla Supercharger in the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving drivers unable to charge their vehicles.
Thieves have also targeted car catalytic converters, copper wire and pipe, light poles, and anything containing base metals.
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