Thieves steal cables from Tesla EV charging stations in Bay Area for copper

In California’s Bay Area, thieves are stealing cables from Tesla and other EV charging stations. Why? Because of the copper inside those cables.

Thieves cut cables from nine supercharging stations and left Tesla EV drivers stressed. Repairing of these EV charging stations might now need tens of thousands of dollars, reports NBC Bay Area.

Copper theft is a billion-dollar problem in the US, with the US Department of Energy reporting $1 billion in annual losses, according to a report.

Copper thieves are threatening US critical infrastructure by targeting electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits, according to the FBI.

“It most likely happened in the night, and we found it early in the morning,” Josh Beckler of Vallejo, a city in California, said about the cable thefts at the EV charging stations.

Beckler and his wife were the first ones to find the cable cut off from their cars on the morning of Mother’s Day. He is an ex-Marine and was also an investigator for a leading home improvement retailer and has investigated such cases earlier as well.

“You know, they left five charging stations. I’m pretty sure after they racked up, I don’t know what the quantity was, but almost 20 cables with nozzles. Those are extremely heavy, so I’m imagining that’s all they could haul at one given time,” Beckler added.

The cables were found cut in all the nine supercharging stations during the weekend. The Vallejo police were then informed on Sunday morning.

“I think this is the second time, or third, that these have been cut, so they need to put some gates up or something. I don’t know what they can do, but this is pretty inconvenient,” John Brown III said.

Beckler even said these thefts are a sign of the general situation in the Bay Area. People are willing to commit a crime for a small amount of money. Tesla energy technicians brought all the stations back to working in a day

However, this is not the only complaint of EV cables always being stolen from the US.

Such thefts have also took place in Texas and Houston recently, according to Teslarati. Thieves did the same in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the beginning of 2024.

These incidents can only happen when cars are parked in Supercharger spots and Tesla is coming up with new ways to avoid them. After the cables are cut, the charging stations cannot be used until the technician can repair them and this makes them more prone to metal that runs through them.