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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Yet Another Reason EVs are a Bad Choice
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2024 18:32:55 -0400
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On Thu, 13 Jun 2024 21:56:00 +0000
BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

> On Jun 13, 2024 at 2:16:20 PM PDT, "Rhino"
> <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>=20
> > On Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:20:39 +0000
> > BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
> >  =20
> >>  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.
> >> =20
> >>  ----------------------------------
> >>  DETROIT (AP) =E2=80=94 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 2=C2=BD minutes, they were gone.
> >> =20
> >>  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.=20
> >>  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.
> >> =20
> >>  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.
> >> =20
> >>  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.
> >> =20
> >>  Two years ago, according to Electrify America, which runs the
> >> nation=E2=80=99s second-largest network of direct-current fast charger=
s, 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.=20
> >>  "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."=20
> >>  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.
> >> =20
> >>  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."
> >> =20
> >>  The charging companies say it=E2=80=99s 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.
> >> =20
> >>  Charging companies say there isn=E2=80=99t 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."
> >> =20
> >>  Still, the more cables the thieves can steal, the more they can
> >> cash in. At $20 a cable, 20 stolen cables could fetch $400.
> >> =20
> >>  The problem for the charging companies is that it=E2=80=99s much cost=
lier
> >> 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.
> >> =20
> >>   =20
> >=20
> > I can think of several solutions to this problem, though some would
> > require some research:
> > 1. Find a material to use that isn't copper but works well enough.
> > (That's the one that requires research.)
> > 2. Wrap the cables in metal cladding to make it harder to cut.
> > That's been done for years.
> > 3. Instead of providing a cable at the charging station, let the car
> > owner provide it; the charger would only contain a port/receptacle
> > for the cable. Initially, the cable could be kept in the trunk like
> > booster cables but eventually the engineers would figure out a more
> > elegant way to keep it hidden away and just pull out of the car
> > somehow. =20
>=20
> Then you're just going to have thieves breaking into cars and
> stealing their cables the same way they're vandalizing gas-powered
> cars for their catalytic converters.

Probably. Still it would entail somewhat more risk than just pulling up
to a vacant recharging station and cutting the cables with bolt cutters
so it might discourage SOME theft while implementing the better
solutions.=20
> >=20
> > 4. Figure out how to charge wirelessly. I can charge my phone
> > wirelessly by just laying it on the charging station. (Doing the
> > same for a car might require some research.)=20
> > 5. Secure the facility so that only EV owners with a key card can
> > enter. That would make it harder for the thieves to do their
> > thieving. =20
>=20
>=20
>=20



--=20
Rhino