EV charging cables cut off and stolen from chargers in Oakland
OAKLAND, Calif. - Vandals sliced through thick cables at an Oakland electric vehicle charging station, leaving drivers powerless.
Nearly a dozen charging cables are missing from the EVgo charging station at 409 Washington Street near Jack London Square. The chargers have been out of commission for at least a week.
"I think it’s very crazy," said Aleksi Virtapuro who was visiting from Finland. "Why would somebody do something like that?"
The charging cables and components were stolen and the exposed wires near the top of the charging units have since been wrapped in black electrical tape.
The Oakland Police Department did not have any incident reports of vandalism at the site, but EVgo said it did alert local police.
Some drivers suspect the draw may be the metal contained inside the cables. Reports across the country document thieves targeting the EV charging cables for copper.
"I think it’s ludicrous," said EV driver Andre Ferguson of Oakland. "It’s absolutely disgusting. This is a bad situation."
Even the surveillance video cameras’ wiring at the charging station appeared to be tampered with.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/ev-charging-cables-cut-off-and-stolen-from-chargers-in-oakland
Copper is big bucks. All metals are big bucks right now. Charging cables are lots of copper and/or aluminum alloy.
I was doing a HUD project in the City of Detroit by the river and a short walk from Ford Field and Comerica Park back in 2008 the last time the economy sucked this bad. This was a huge apartment complex and we were replacing old damaged concrete throughout, like curbs and sidewalks and such. I had my skidsteer there in a parking lot with the bucket on it as we tore out concrete. The forks I had left in the parking lot next to the one we were in about 150 feet away.
As we are working one of my guys busted out laughing and pointing. I looked over and 2 guys were trying to lift my extremely heavy forks into the bed of their pickup truck (they had no chance and thats why my guy was laughing, they weigh around 400 lbs back then). We all ran over there and asked wtf. They said they thought someone abandoned them there and they were gonna scrap them lol. In the city at that time, abandoned houses were being stripped of their copper wiring and pipes. Manhole cover were being stolen and sold for scrap.
Scrapping for cash is a big business when scrap prices rise.