On Nov 18,2016 the Barstow Supercharger was rendered inoperative, reportedly due to the theft of multiple circuit breakers from the locked enclosure.
On Feb 23, 2017 the Cabazon Supercharger was rendered inoperative and took about 2 weeks to be put back into service. One TMC member reported that a Tesla owner they knew said that "the cables were cut", whatever that means. I haven't found a reliable first hand report of what actually happened.
On Mar 11, 2017 the Indio Supercharger was also rendered inoperative. A TMC user reported "cables were stolen" fron the enclosure (not the charging cables attached to the pedestals) but it is not clear to me how they knew that.
On Mar 18, 2017, the Gustine, Bakersfield, and Buttonwillow Superchargers were all rendered inoperative on the same day. One TMC member reported being at Gustine and speaking with a Tesla employee on site to repair it and was told that a circuit breaker was stolen. As of this post I don't have any information on what happened at Bakersfield and Buttonwillow.
Although the most likely explanation is simply theft with the intent of selling valuable circuit breaker parts for hundreds of dollars each on the black market, I am not ruling out deliberate vandalism with the intent of making Tesla look bad. The vandalism could even be designed in some instances to make it look like the perpatrators were after the circuit breakers but their real motive was simply to take down the Supercharger location. Some may find such speculation (and that is all it is at this point) veering towards paranoia, but it is possible.
It is also possible that the six Supercharger locations were not all targeted by the same perpetrators.
Tesla can attempt to solve this problem by adding additional protection to the enclosures where all the expensive hardware is located, such as chain link fencing on top to form a "roof" of sorts. However that can be penetrated without a great deal of effort. A more secure roof will require extensive modifications to the enclosures, and it will have to have sufficient ventilation to handle the heat generated by the transformers and inverters.
If these incidents continue to occur, this could be a serious problem for Tesla. Security cameras could help, but can't stop such incidents since the perpatrators could park their vehicle away from the cameras and then wear hats/masks/hoods to obscure their identity.
On Feb 23, 2017 the Cabazon Supercharger was rendered inoperative and took about 2 weeks to be put back into service. One TMC member reported that a Tesla owner they knew said that "the cables were cut", whatever that means. I haven't found a reliable first hand report of what actually happened.
On Mar 11, 2017 the Indio Supercharger was also rendered inoperative. A TMC user reported "cables were stolen" fron the enclosure (not the charging cables attached to the pedestals) but it is not clear to me how they knew that.
On Mar 18, 2017, the Gustine, Bakersfield, and Buttonwillow Superchargers were all rendered inoperative on the same day. One TMC member reported being at Gustine and speaking with a Tesla employee on site to repair it and was told that a circuit breaker was stolen. As of this post I don't have any information on what happened at Bakersfield and Buttonwillow.
Although the most likely explanation is simply theft with the intent of selling valuable circuit breaker parts for hundreds of dollars each on the black market, I am not ruling out deliberate vandalism with the intent of making Tesla look bad. The vandalism could even be designed in some instances to make it look like the perpatrators were after the circuit breakers but their real motive was simply to take down the Supercharger location. Some may find such speculation (and that is all it is at this point) veering towards paranoia, but it is possible.
It is also possible that the six Supercharger locations were not all targeted by the same perpetrators.
Tesla can attempt to solve this problem by adding additional protection to the enclosures where all the expensive hardware is located, such as chain link fencing on top to form a "roof" of sorts. However that can be penetrated without a great deal of effort. A more secure roof will require extensive modifications to the enclosures, and it will have to have sufficient ventilation to handle the heat generated by the transformers and inverters.
If these incidents continue to occur, this could be a serious problem for Tesla. Security cameras could help, but can't stop such incidents since the perpatrators could park their vehicle away from the cameras and then wear hats/masks/hoods to obscure their identity.
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