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Stealing HPWC cables..why?

Discussion in 'Supercharging & Charging Infrastructure' started by blkswn, Jan 4, 2021.

  1. blkswn

    blkswn Member

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    I just saw at an office building that I frequent regularly that their clippercreek and 2 tesla wall chargers had their cables cut just below the box. I mean, how much copper is that worth...$30 a cable at most? I can understand stealing of mobile chargers, but cutting cables of fixed public charging stations (with surveillance cameras) is another level...sad AF. Is there a way to prevent this from happening to a HPWC in a condominium setting? Do the thieves not get shocked when cutting through the cord?
     
  2. DSolie

    DSolie Member

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    $30/cable can buy a lot of meth
     
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  3. SSedan

    SSedan Active Member

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    If criminals were thoughtful and logical they wouldn't be criminals
     
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  4. iluvmacs

    iluvmacs Member

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    No, that's part of the point of an EVSE. No power available until the connection to a car is negotiated.
     
    • Informative x 1
  5. Watts_Up

    Watts_Up Active Member

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    In Europe, you need to use your own cable to connect to a public AC L2 charger, not a DC fast charger,
    this is less practical because you need to remove it and store it in your trunk or frunk, but this avoid vandalism.

     
  6. GtiMart

    GtiMart Member

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    Happens in Canada as well. Seems a few dollars is enough to risk it for some people. Damn thieves... Cables needs to be made of straw :) Seriously, maybe we need smaller wires with liquid cooling so they're not worth much. You know, like V3 superchargers...

    Or we need to leave some current on them even before the negociation :mad:
     
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  7. Dave EV

    Dave EV Active Member

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    Clean scrap copper is currently worth around $2.50/lb right now. But insulated wire is a fraction of that - probably $1.00-1.50 lb or so. Assume that the cables are 15' long, and have the equivalent of 3 10 GA wires in it and they bother stripping the wire to bare cable for maximum value. So 45' of wire. 10 GA wire weighs 31.5 lbs for 1000 ft, so about 1.4 lbs of copper in each cable, worth about $3.50. Even if the cables are 25' long, at most about $6/cable in raw copper.

    Yeah, so they vandalized those EVSEs for about $24 of copper at MOST - and probably far less. The cost to repair each one is likely $200-300/ea once you factor in time and labor.
     
    • Informative x 1
  8. chronoreverse

    chronoreverse Member

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    Isn't it more likely someone just wanted to vandalize it?
     
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  9. Midnightsun

    Midnightsun Member

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    I do not think they are after the copper. The Tesla connector is worth quite a bit, Probably could just add a 220v plug to the end of the cord and plug it into the wall since I assume the car handles the charging part.
     
    • Disagree x 4
  10. SSedan

    SSedan Active Member

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    Straight vandalism would be a hassle. Cord wouldn't cut easily with a knife, why leave with the cable.
    The cable seems big and they might have guessed the wires wwre larger.
     
  11. swaltner

    swaltner Active Member

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    Why? Sell the copper at a scrap metal recycler. Same reason someone stole the condenser out of my previous house’s AC unit. Cause $1,000 worth of damage to “make” $20 to buy some drugs....

    Edit: Selling the cable on eBay or craigslist as a working unit gives these creeps too much credit. They’re too stupid to realize the could sell it for $350 in working condition and will instead just sell the main cable for $20-30 for scrap metal.
     
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  12. GtiMart

    GtiMart Member

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    Well, there was an article in a local newspaper that indicated it was indeed cable theft here. As surprising as it sounds, for me too, they're after a meager few dollars without regard to consequences
     
  13. Midnightsun

    Midnightsun Member

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  14. SSedan

    SSedan Active Member

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    Absolutely, but that is a tool a thief "invests" in, not one a random vandal has in their pocket.
     
  15. TM3blu

    TM3blu Member

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    Thieves steal copper wire out of street lamps. These are LIVE wires. Do you think they have regard for safety
     
  16. SSedan

    SSedan Active Member

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    They are likely doing so to buy illegal drugs that even if you are in favor of legalizing you hbe to admit things like meth aren't made to safe standards.
    If willing to take poison cooked in a storage unit by an addict why would you worry about a live wire? A $5 voltage checker can let you know you managed to trip a breaker, how do you know if your illegal drugs are safe and pure?
     

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