- Since November 2023 Instavolt has reported 174 cables stolen from 27 sites
- Thieves want the copper wiring, but the amount’s so minimal it isn’t worth much
- The disruption is undermining the reliability of the charging network
The electric vehicle charging industry is the latest target car crime with cable thefts said to be on the rise.
Experts are warning that thieves are after the copper in cables at rapid and ultra-rapid charger sites, in a spate of criminality dating back to November.
Autocar says Instavolt – Britain’s largest operator of rapid chargers, running Osprey Charging and BP Pulse – have had 174 cables stolen from 27 sites since.
Instavolt – the UK’s largest rapid charging provider – has reported 174 EV charging cables have been stolen from 27 sites since November in the latest spat of car-related crime hitting the UK
Nottinghamshire residents first flagged up the issue of missing charging cables at The Malting Retail Park, Northgate and at Waitrose, Ossington Way in November – around seven months after four Osprey high-powered EV chargers were first installed in Northgate.
This type of charger has the cable attached to the charge point, which the EV owner plugs into their car in order to charge it.
At the time ZapMap, showed that EV charging points at Albert Street and Appletongate – both owned by BP Pulse – were also offline.
An Osprey spokesman confirmed that Osprey was ‘aware of coordinated vandalism targeting public charging sites in the Leeds, Newark, Rotherham and Derby areas’ and said it was working with the police and other operators to share CCTV.
The type of charging cable being targeted comes attached to rapid or ultra-rapid chargers, usually found at motorway service stations, retail parks, and large venues
Instavolt has over 1,500 live chargers across the UK, which puts the 174-affected sites as reported by Autocar, just below 12 (11.6) per cent of the network.
Each cable cut costs charging providers between £700 and £1,000 – an expensive problem, but Instavolt is most worried about the way it could jolt public confidence.
Delvin Lane, Instavolt chief executive, told Autocar: ‘These thefts are extremely frustrating for our customers and for us.
‘The EV revolution is already under way, with more than one million EVs on the road [in the UK].
‘Our mission is to make EV charging as easy as possible, and reliability is one of our core values.’
The Government recently introduced a new reliability requirement that charge point operators that their network of rapid charge points on average is working at least 99 per cent of each calendar.
Why are cables being cut?
It appears organised gangs of thieves are cutting charging cables to strip and sell the copper wiring inside to illegal scrap dealers, or on places like Facebook Marketplace and eBay.
In March copper hit an 11-month high with prices rising to $9,164.50 a ton on the London Metal Exchange.
The International Copper Study Group predicts global copper demand will rise by 4.6 per cent in 2024, due demand from renewable energy systems and electric vehicle fleet expansion combining with global supply constraints.
Thieves are cutting the cables off in order to strip them and sell the copper wiring to illegal scrap dealers or on Facebook Marketplace and eBay
But, while the price of copper might be tempting, the cable wiring isn’t worth as much as vandals would imagine.
Lane told Autocar ‘that the cable isn’t a solid copper bar, it’s just lengths of thin wire that takes ages to extract. It’s a misconception that the copper brings real financial gain.’
A recent CBN News report looked into charging cable thefts in Canada and found that EV chargers only contain about $5 worth of copper metal – that’s about £3.93.
For the 174 reported Instavolt thefts vandals have netted less than £700, which considering the effort it takes to cut and steal the cables – Lane says vandals will keep coming back to the same site to strike again – is not much of a payoff.
BP Pulse has also been affected, as has Gridserve and Osprey. While there is no direct cost to EV drivers, ‘the thefts just cause disruption to EV drivers – including those in the emergency services – looking to charge their vehicles’ Lane says
Which devices are affected?
In 2022 This is Money reported there’d been a spike in cases of EV drivers having their charging cables pinched, at the same time there was a wave of catalytic converter thefts across the country.
Standard AC cables for slow charging at a wallbox or public charging point are worth around £200 were stolen.
But the current wave of cable thefts now are happening to charging operators with rapid and ultra-rapid chargers typically found at motorway service stations and retail parks.
As of 1 April 2024, the Department for Transport and ZapMap confirmed there are 61,232 EV charging devices across the UK: 22,924 of these are the 50kW and above chargers thieves are currently attacking.
While there is no direct cost to EV drivers, ‘the thefts just cause disruption to EV drivers – including those in the emergency services – looking to charge their vehicles’ Lane says.
Improvements to charging security
Instavolt has introduced robust measures at its charging sites nationwide to deter any further damage including security patrols, installing extra CCTV cameras at each site, and using Smartwarter tags on its cable to deter thieves and to track devices.
Lane said: ‘We are taking this very seriously and are engaged with the police at all levels. We are calling on the industry to come together to use the full force of the law. It’s not just the thieves we’re after, but also the scrap dealers who are handling this stolen product.
‘We’re hoping the devices will take us straight to the scrap dealers handling the cables.’
Charge point providers have taken additional security measures including installing more CCTV cameras, organising security patrols and Smart tagging the cables to track them
Osprey also added additional CCTV and tagging security when its chargers were stolen in 2023.
A spokesman confirmed at the time: ‘Osprey is enhancing its security measures across all sites in these regions, installing additional CCTV as well as tagging and marking cables so that they can be traced by police.
‘The team continues to work closely with the Police to support monitoring and prevention of further vandalism to public EV charging sites in these areas.’
Gridserve’s also been a victim of the crime with a spokesman confirming to Autocar its looking into ‘additional anti-theft measures’.
Instavolt say the industry ‘needs to see swift law enforcement against the criminals causing disruption to EV drivers’ while ChargeUK – the trade association for the charger industry – told Autocar it’s working with the Home Office and a new dedicated police unit to solve the problem.
This is Money has contacted Instavolt, Gridserve and BP Pulse for additional comment.