Vandalised chargers

[GaryMG4]

Had my first time of seeing chargers with the cables cut off yesterday. I decided to go skiing in Milton Keynes yesterday, despite setting off with 80% charge and GOM of 200 miles for a round trip of 170 miles the combination of cold temperatures and 70 mph roads meant as I headed home the GOM and sat nav had the same number of miles. So I decided to grab a quick charge for the 3rd time this year, My first stop 4 of 5 were in use , the 5th out of order, so I decided to stop half way home but the nav showed another charger nearby this turned out to be a pair of BP Pulse chargers with all their cables cut off! I ended up using an MFG near Huntingdon which had 7 of 8 free and gave 120+ kW @79p although they took £45. I think I would have been around 5 miles short of getting home without the charge.

 

[salty]

What a shame, they don't get fried to a crisp! Certainly wouldn't do it again!

 

[Everest]

Who would do that then? The "Just-stop-electricity" mob?

 

[Alb]

Stealing electrical cable when you don't know whether it's live is not the brightest of ideas. It's certainly not unknown for thieves to lose their lives as a result.

 

[salty]

Who would do that then? The "Just-stop-electricity" mob?

I'm presuming the copper wire thieving, scumbags.

Stealing electrical cable when you don't know whether it's live is not the brightest of ideas. It's certainly not unknown for thieves to lose their lives as a result.

Any pity for them.

 

[GaryMG4]

Stealing electrical cable when you don't know whether it's live is not the brightest of ideas. It's certainly not unknown for thieves to lose their lives as a result.

I guess they soon realised that EV cables have so many safety systems in they are pretty safe cutting them when they are not connected.

 

[Coulomb]

I've seen a video of someone cutting the cable to a Tesla while it was charging! The resulting arc was impressive. The thief would no doubt need a new cable cutter and set of underwear.

This sort of thing seems to be rife in the USA with so many poor people; it's sad to see it spreading to what I presume are more affluent countries like the UK.

 

[Everest]

it's sad to see it spreading to what I presume are more affluent countries like the UK

LOL... if only! Maybe 20 years ago.

We've had our fair share of copper thefts from telephone wires being pulled out from underground ducts. I just would have thought that there wasn't enough copper in the short length of charging cable to make it work it. Obviously wrong there

 

[GaryMG4]

LOL... if only! Maybe 20 years ago.

We've had our fair share of copper thefts from telephone wires being pulled out from underground ducts. I just would have thought that there wasn't enough copper in the short length of charging cable to make it work it. Obviously wrong there

IIRC a report from the US said there was a couple of $s worth of copper in a cable.

 

[5teep]

Cable theft is getting so bad in some areas they are putting alarms on the chargers that go off when the cable is cut. I'd have thought with Britain being what it is they would have done that years ago.

Again, with the uptake of fibre optics you would think the price of copper would be falling.

 

[Ian Key]

A good few years British Celanese in Spondon had an overnight power cut. Which was odd as they had their own power station. On investigation they found an axe welded to one of the main supply cables. They never did find out who did it.

 

[salty]

A good few years British Celanese in Spondon had an overnight power cut. Which was odd as they had their own power station. On investigation they found an axe welded to one of the main supply cables. They never did find out who did it.

Pity the thief wasn't welded to the Axe.

 

[Mickandsej]

Still happens on the railway. They nick quad bikes then ride down the track and rip them up. About 15 years ago when I was learning to drive the HSTs there was a bridge just outside Cardiff that was literally creaking under the amount of floral tributes caked to it. Turns out a couple of tinkers were riding quads up the track in the middle of the night. They didn’t plan on meeting an empty train heading for Newport at 4am.

 

[dicky ticker Dave]

I had my charger installs so our ring camera has it in view. Won’t stop scumbags steeling but we will see who it is. Also our car insurance covers the charger against theft and vandalism.

 

[Bam Bam]

Cable theft is getting so bad in some areas they are putting alarms on the chargers that go off when the cable is cut. I'd have thought with Britain being what it is they would have done that years ago.

Again, with the uptake of fibre optics you would think the price of copper would be falling.

People used to talk a lot about lithium and rare earths but Copper is probably the thing that is most in demand for the energy transition compared to available supply.

The good news is that Aluminium can be used as an alternative so it doesn't make the transition impossible, but alu isn't as good a conductor so copper will always be preferred.

 

[Wendwell]

Cable theft is getting so bad in some areas they are putting alarms on the chargers that go off when the cable is cut. I'd have thought with Britain being what it is they would have done that years ago.

Again, with the uptake of fibre optics you would think the price of copper would be falling.

Thank goodness for fibre cables because without this invention copper prices would be far higher.
Developing countries are still bringing electricity to large numbers of people and the citizens of developed countries keep buying goods that use copper.

A typical EV uses a staggering amount of copper and about four time as much as petrol/diesel equivalent.

 

[dicky ticker Dave]

A good few years ago I worked for BT . Every morning I would walk th perimeter where my office was .One particular morning as I got to the rear of the building I noticed a hole in the chain link fence and that a cable drum had been dragged around the back and the cable had been cut into 4 foot lengths. They must have cut about 100 yards of fibre optic cable up about 3.5 grands worth but good look weighing that in