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From: moviePig
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Yet Another Reason EVs are a Bad Choice
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2024 22:27:15 -0400
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On 6/13/2024 8:05 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> On Jun 13, 2024 at 3:31:22 PM PDT, "moviePig" wrote:
>
>> On 6/13/2024 6:00 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
>>> On Jun 13, 2024 at 1:36:30 PM PDT, "anim8rfsk" wrote:
>>>
>>>> moviePig wrote:
>>>>> On 6/12/2024 8:20 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
>>>>>> I've noticed that several of the EV charging stations at my local mall
>>>>>> seem to
>>>>>> have the cables ripped out. (There are also huge swaths of L.A. that
>>>>>> are now
>>>>>> dark at night because thieves have ripped apart streetlights to steal the
>>>>>> copper inside.) So now even if you happen to find one of the rare chargers
>>>>>> that can 'fuel-up' your EV, you're likely to find it useless due to
>>>>>> thievery.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----------------------------------
>>>>>> DETROIT (AP) — Just before 2AM on a chilly April night in Seattle, a
>>>>>> Chevrolet
>>>>>> Silverado pickup stopped at an electric vehicle charging station on
>>>>>> the edge
>>>>>> of a shopping center parking lot. Two men, one with a light strapped
>>>>>> to his
>>>>>> head, got out. A security camera recorded them pulling out bolt
>>>>>> cutters. One
>>>>>> man snipped several charging cables; the other loaded them into the truck.
>>>>>> In
>>>>>> under 2½ minutes, they were gone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The scene that night has become part of a troubling pattern across the
>>>>>> country: Thieves have been targeting EV charging stations, intent on
>>>>>> stealing
>>>>>> the cables, which contain copper wiring. The price of copper is near a
>>>>>> record
>>>>>> high on global markets, which means criminals stand to collect rising sums
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> cash from selling the material.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The stolen cables often disable entire stations, forcing EV owners on the
>>>>>> road
>>>>>> to search desperately for a working charger. For the owners, the
>>>>>> predicament
>>>>>> can be exasperating and stressful.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Broken-down chargers have emerged as the latest obstacle for U.S.
>>>>>> automakers
>>>>>> in their strenuous effort to convert more Americans to EVs despite
>>>>>> widespread
>>>>>> public anxiety about a scarcity of charging stations. About 4 in 10 U.S.
>>>>>> adults say they believe EVs take too long to charge or don't know of any
>>>>>> charging stations nearby.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If even finding a charging station doesn't necessarily mean finding
>>>>>> functioning cables, it becomes one more reason for skeptical buyers to
>>>>>> stick
>>>>>> with traditional gasoline-fueled or hybrid vehicles, at least for now.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Two years ago, according to Electrify America, which runs the nation’s
>>>>>> second-largest network of direct-current fast chargers, a cable might
>>>>>> be cut
>>>>>> perhaps every six months at one of its 968 charging stations, with 4,400
>>>>>> plugs
>>>>>> nationwide. Through May this year, the figure reached 129-- four more than
>>>>>> in
>>>>>> all of 2023. At one Seattle station, cables were cut six times in the past
>>>>>> year, said Anthony Lambkin, Electrify America's vice president of
>>>>>> operations.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "We're enabling people to get to work, to take their kids to school,
>>>>>> get to
>>>>>> medical appointments," Lambkin said. "So to have an entire station that's
>>>>>> offline is pretty impactful to our customers."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Until a month ago, police in Houston knew of no cable thefts. Then one was
>>>>>> stolen from a charger at a gas station. The city has now recorded eight or
>>>>>> nine such thefts, said Sgt. Robert Carson, who leads a police metal-theft
>>>>>> unit.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In one case, thieves swiped 18 of 19 cords at a Tesla station. That day,
>>>>>> Carson visited the station to inspect the damage. In the first five
>>>>>> minutes
>>>>>> that he was there, Carson said, about 10 EVs that needed charging had
>>>>>> to be
>>>>>> turned away. In very large cities like Houston, charging stations
>>>>>> typically
>>>>>> contain an especially large number of plugs and cables, so thefts can be
>>>>>> particularly damaging. "They're not just taking one," Carson said. "When
>>>>>> they're hit, they're hit pretty hard."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The charging companies say it’s become clear that the thieves are
>>>>>> after the
>>>>>> copper that the cables contain. In late May, copper hit a record high of
>>>>>> nearly $5.20 a pound, a result, in part, of rising demand resulting from
>>>>>> efforts to cut carbon emissions with EVs that use more copper wiring. The
>>>>>> price is up about 25% from a year ago, and many analysts envision further
>>>>>> increases.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Charging companies say there isn’t actually very much copper in the
>>>>>> cables,
>>>>>> and what copper is there is difficult to extract. Carson estimates that
>>>>>> criminals can get $15 to $20 per cable at a scrap yard. "They're not
>>>>>> making a
>>>>>> significant amount of money," he said. "They're not going to be
>>>>>> sailing on a
>>>>>> yacht anywhere."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Still, the more cables the thieves can steal, the more they can cash
>>>>>> in. At
>>>>>> $20 a cable, 20 stolen cables could fetch $400.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The problem for the charging companies is that it’s much costlier to
>>>>>> replace
>>>>>> cables. In Minneapolis, where cables have been clipped at city-owned
>>>>>> charging
>>>>>> stations, it costs about $1,000 to replace just one cable, said Joe
>>>>>> Laurin,
>>>>>> project manager in the Department of Public Works.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sounds like you'd want to strongly discourage this particular theft...
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sounds like whoever’s charging $1000 a cable may be the real crook
>>>
>>> My favorite EV moment was the idiot who we saw standing next to his car at
>>> the
>>> mall, holding the charger the same way people hold the gas nozzle while
>>> filling up. He was "pumping" electricity into his car, I guess.
>>
>> I bet a lot of people do that ...once.
>
> This guy was still wearing a mask outdoors in 2024, so I suspect he'll be at
> it for a while.
He was wearing a mask against fumes from the electricity.
>