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From: BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Yet Another Reason EVs are a Bad Choice
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On Jun 13, 2024 at 1:36:30 PM PDT, "anim8rfsk" <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

> moviePig <nobody@nowhere.com> 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.