Ants attracted to charging port

[Zidarich]

Has anyone seen this before? Ants are swarming to the charge port. Images attached.

Is this something common with electric cars - are there certain kinds of ants attracted to electric currents like this? I’m in Northern New Jersey, so we don’t have raspberry crazy ants up here (I think). I know they can be attracted to electricity.

Anything I need to be concerned about? Not sure if there’s any real damage they can do.

Will leave some terro traps around where the car chargers.

 

[xpitxbullx]

Damn!

 

[mrsandman]

I once had ants nesting around a gfci in my kitchen wall. The amount of eggs they laid was crazy and I was concerned it was going to cause a short and lead to a fire. There is a good chance they are doing just that on your car. Any chance you can put the car in a small garage and bug bomb the garage? Would that kill ants? You should intervene before it gets out of control. Especially before the eggs hatch.

 

[plasmo]

I think you have a Ghost in the Machine stealing your quantum energy

 

[suwaneedad]

Has anyone seen this before? Ants are swarming to the charge port. Images attached.

Is this something common with electric cars - are there certain kinds of ants attracted to electric currents like this? I’m in Northern New Jersey, so we don’t have raspberry crazy ants up here (I think). I know they can be attracted to electricity.

Anything I need to be concerned about? Not sure if there’s any real damage they can do.

Will leave some terro traps around where the car chargers.

I've had this happen twice so far, both times in Florida, and both times when the cable was on the ground btw the unit and the vehicle.
Both times involving destination chargers.

In fact, it strikes me as a really good reason that supercharger cables are so short.

I didn't have any lasting issues from either incident, although in both cases I was on top of it within probably 8 hours of the start.
My son had a similar issue twice when charging our LEAF at his house in Atlanta...cable on the ground.

I have no idea if ants are attracted to something electrically. I just know that keeping the cable from touching the ground has solved any risk for me.

 

[ibdb]

There have been a few threads on the topic here, and similar threads on Leaf and Volt/Bolt forums, too. A quick look didn't seem to find any consensus on why the ants were attracted to the charge port, other than it was easier to follow a charging cable from the ground than to go all the way through tire, suspension, and so on. Ant control efforts near where your charging cable is stored, and trying to keep it off the ground as much as possible, seems to be your best bet.

 

[rachelhikes]

According to this:

Most Common Ants In New Jersey

Crazy ants are found in New Jersey, in buildings where they have protection from cold weather. And they can cause problems. It isn't easy to be sure, but your photos look like crazy ants to me.

 

[Zidarich]

Wow - didn’t know we could get them up here.

Keeping the cable off the ground did the trick last night. None this morning. Will be extra careful though - don’t need these guys nesting in my new car!