DETROIT (AP) — Just before 2 a.m. on a cold April night in Seattle, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck pulled into an electric vehicle charging station at the edge of a shopping center parking lot.
Two men got out of the car, one with a flashlight on his head. The surveillance camera recorded them pulling out the bolt cutters. One man cut several charging cables; another loaded them into a truck. In less than two and a half minutes they were gone.
The scene that night has become part of a disturbing pattern across the country: thieves targeting electric vehicle charging stations, intent on stealing cables containing copper wiring. The price of copper on global markets is near record highs, meaning criminals could be making growing amounts of money from selling the material.
Stolen cables often knock out entire stations, forcing electric vehicle owners to frantically search for a working charger. For owners, the predicament can be frustrating and stressful.
Broken chargers have become the latest hurdle for U.S. automakers in their strenuous efforts to get more Americans into electric vehicles, despite widespread public concern about a shortage of charging stations. About 4 in 10 adults in the US say they think electric cars take too long to charge, or don’t know of any charging stations nearby.
While even finding a charging station doesn’t necessarily mean finding functioning cables, for skeptical buyers this is yet another reason to stick with traditional gas or hybrid cars, at least for now.
America’s biggest automakers have made big financial bets that buyers will abandon internal combustion engines and embrace electric vehicles as the world grapples with the worsening effects of climate change. Accordingly, companies have invested billions in electric vehicles.
Stellantis expects that by the end of 2030, 50% of its passenger vehicles will be electric vehicles. Ford had set a goal of producing 2 million electric vehicles a year by 2026 — about 45% of its global sales — although that goal has since been delayed. General Motors, the most ambitious of the three companies, has pledged to sell only electric passenger cars by the end of 2035.
Any such timetables, of course, depend on whether companies can convince more potential EV buyers that tolls will always be available when traveling. The rise in cable thefts is unlikely to strengthen the position of automakers.
Two years ago, according to Electrify America, which operates the nation’s second-largest network of DC fast chargers, a cable could be cut about every six months at one of 968 charging stations with 4,400 plugs across the country. By May of this year, that figure had reached 129—four more than in all of 2023. At one station in Seattle, cables were cut six times in the past year, said Anthony Lambkin, vice president of operations for Electrify America.
“We give people a way to get to work, take their kids to school, get to doctor appointments,” Lambkin said. “So having an entire station operating offline is very important to our customers.”
Two other leading electric vehicle charging companies, Flo and EVgo, also reported an increase in thefts. Charging stations in the Seattle area have been frequently targeted. Facilities in Nevada, California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Pennsylvania were also affected.
Stations of Tesla, which operates the country’s largest fast charging network, were damaged in Seattle, Oakland and Houston. Seattle police have reported seven incidents of cable theft from charging stations this year, matching the number for all of 2023. Thieves have hit Tesla stations four times this year, compared to just one incident last year, Seattle police said.
“Unfortunately, vandalism of public charging infrastructure has increased in the Seattle metro area,” EVgo said.
The company said law enforcement officials are investigating the thefts as it tries to repair failed stations and considers a long-term solution.
The problem is not limited to urban areas. In rural Sumner, Washington, south of Seattle, thieves twice cut cables at a Puget Sound Energy charging station. The company is working with police and the property owner to protect the station.
Until a month ago, Houston police were unaware of any cable thefts. One was then stolen from a charger at a gas station. There are currently eight or nine such thefts reported in the city, according to Sgt. Robert Carson, head of the police metal theft unit.
In one case, thieves stole 18 of 19 cords from a Tesla station. Carson visited the station that day to inspect the damage. In his first five minutes there, Carson said, he had to turn away about 10 electric vehicles that needed charging.
In very large cities like Houston, charging stations tend to have a particularly large number of plugs and cables, so theft can be especially damaging.
“They don’t just take one away,” Carson said. “When they get hit, they hit pretty hard.”
Roy Manuel, an Uber driver who usually charges his Tesla at a station in Houston that has been seized by thieves, said he fears he won’t be able to do so because of the stolen cables.
“If my battery was really dead, I would have serious problems driving,” he said. “If it was so low that I couldn’t get to another charger, I could be in trouble. You may even need a tow truck.
Charging companies say it has become clear that thieves are after the copper contained in the cables. The price of copper hit a record high of nearly $5.20 a pound in late May, partly the result of rising demand driven by efforts to cut carbon emissions with electric vehicles that use more copper wiring. The price is up about 25% from last year, and many analysts are predicting further increases.
Charging companies argue that there isn’t actually much copper in the cables, and the copper that is there is difficult to extract. Carson estimates criminals can get $15 to $20 per cable from a scrap yard.
“They don’t make significant money,” he said. “They’re not going anywhere on a yacht.”
However, the more cables thieves can steal, the more they can make. At $20 per cable, 20 stolen cables could fetch $400.
The problem for charger companies is that cables are much more expensive to replace. In Minneapolis, where cables at city-owned charging stations have been cut, replacing just one cable costs about $1,000, said Joe Laurin, project manager for the Department of Public Works.
Charging companies are trying to fight back. Electrify America is installing more security cameras. In Houston, police are visiting recycling centers in search of stolen metal.
But in landfills, it is often difficult to definitively determine whether the metal came from a charging cable. Thieves often burn the insulation and simply sell strands of metal.
The 1,700-member Materials Recycling Association is warning law enforcement officials about scrap metal thefts so its members can keep an eye out for suspects and stolen goods.
Because charging stations are often located in remote corners of parking lots, Carson suggested more security cameras are needed.
Meanwhile, Electrify America reported that Seattle police are trying to track down the thieves in the video. Carson said Houston police are investigating whether the Tesla was stolen.
“We’d like to stop them,” he said, “and then let the court system do what they have to do.”