Thieves stealing copper from electric car charging stations
Posted August 20, 2014 7:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Thieves targeting copper wires in electric charging stations are creating headaches for drivers and taxpayers alike.
Bruce Stout with the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association says thankfully it’s not happening in epidemic proportions, but admits it is a concern.
“You drive there in your in car and you get very little range left and you notice that someone has cut the cable, that really strands you there. It’s a very serious problem if somebody damages, vandalizes or removes the cable from one of these stations.”
Stout says there is a possible solution.
“What they will be doing is looking seriously at retrofitting the stations with aluminum cable because of the lack of value of the aluminum cable.”
“There are some charging stations, the way they work, the cable is on a retractor or on a spool and so the cable doesn’t stick out unless it’s plugged into a car, and most of these cars will lock the cable out of the car and they’ll also set off an alarm if the cable is unplugged while the car is being charged,” adds Stout.
Stout says there are 93 charging stations in the Lower Mainland.
